As time wound down in the first overtime on Monday afternoon, Chit-Chat Wright drove into the paint, collapsed the defense and kicked the ball out to Taylor Stremlow in the left corner. The sophomore’s potential game-winning 3-pointer caught every part of the rim, but instead of falling through the net and sending No. 2 Iowa to the Sweet 16, it rattled out.
The miss summed up a heartbreaking day for the Hawkeyes, who went on to lose, 83-75, in double overtime to No. 10 Virginia in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. For the second consecutive year, Iowa’s season has come to an end before the second weekend.
Ice cold shooting dooms Hawkeyes
Stremlow’s miss, one of 24 from 3-point range for the Hawkeyes, highlighted an ice-cold two-game stretch for one of the best shooting teams in the country.
During the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament, the Hawkeyes shot 36.2% from 3-point range, good for 21st in the country. Over their two tournament games, they shot 14.3%. Among teams that played at least two games, only Baylor (11.4%) was worse.
Iowa went 1 of 13 from behind the arc in the first round as they narrowly avoided an upset against No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson, and then went 5 of 29 against Virginia.
Wright, the team’s leading 3-point shooter who averages 44.7% on five attempts per game, was 4 of 13 from behind the arc in the two games. The rest of the team was 2 of 29. Stremlow, the second-leading 3-point threat, was 1 of 10 against Virginia and 1 of 12 for the tournament.
|
Regular season + Big Ten Tournament |
219 |
605 |
36.2% |
|
NCAA Tournament |
6 |
42 |
14.3% |
The 3-point revolution hasn’t hit the women’s college game in the same way it has the NBA or WNBA just yet, but it’s still extremely hard to win when you shoot that poorly from 3-point range — especially when you can’t overwhelm the opponent physically like Iowa did in the first round. On Monday, Virginia didn’t have an exceptional shooting performance (9 of 27, 33%), but the Cavaliers still outscored the Hawkeyes by 12 from behind the arc, which helped make up for their 20 turnovers.
“[Virginia] played really, really well. But with us, I believe we took 20 more shots and we weren’t able to win it. I think we out-rebounded them,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “All the things you should do. But when you look at categories that need to happen, the free throws, the shooting percentage, you just — that hurts because those things are a little bit more controllable.”
Iowa also had a brutal showing from the free-throw line on Monday, and in the tournament as a whole, though that wasn’t as surprising as their poor 3-point shooting. The Hawkeyes shot just 68.5% from the line (278th in the country) in the regular season and Big Ten Tournament. In their two tournament games, they were even worse: 55.5%.
The Hawkeyes were 8 of 16 in the first round and 17 of 29 in the second round. Again, it’s hard to succeed when you’re leaving that many points on the line.
Notably, just before Stremlow’s devastating miss, Wright had a chance to put the game away at the line in the first overtime. After a review with 22 seconds to play, a foul on Virginia was upgraded to a flagrant, which gave Iowa two free throws and the ball in a tie game. Wright went 1 of 2 on the flagrant free throws and then, when Virginia fouled to stop the clock on the ensuing possession, went 1 of 2 again. Virginia went down on the other end and tied the game.
Hawkeyes have bright future after exceeding expectations
Iowa entered the second season of their post-Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder rebuild ranked No. 21 in the country, and were projected to finish outside of the top five in the Big Ten (the conference didn’t publish full preseason projections).
The Hawkeyes ended up going 24-5 in the regular season, made the Big Ten Tournament championship, were ranked No. 7 in the final AP poll and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Monday’s loss was a disappointing end to a successful season, during which the Hawkeyes far exceeded expectations.
Iowa will lose key seniors Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach and Taylor McCabe (who tore her ACL in January), but the future is bright in Iowa City.
“Well, obviously we had a really tremendous year that ended really with a disappointing moment. You know, I will also have to recall all the good things that happened during this year because when an ending happens like this, it’s always hard to remember,” Jensen said.
Three of the Hawkeyes’ starters were sophomores — Wright, Stremlow and Ava Heiden — and together they combined for 48.4% of the team’s scoring this season. Heiden was the leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, Wright led the team in assists and 3-point shooting and Stremlow was second in assists and 3-point shooting.
Add in a highly-touted freshman class featuring Addie Deal, Journey Houston and Layla Hays, and five-star recruit McKenna Woliczko, and there will still be plenty of talent in Iowa City next season for Jensen. And that’s if she doesn’t find some additional help in the transfer portal.
