Unfortunately, Hannah Stuelke has formally sent a powerful message to the team and supporters concerning…

Unfortunately, Hannah Stuelke has formally sent a powerful message to the team and supporters concerning…

seized the opportunity and began to beat. The third quarter was coming to a finish, and Iowa was leading Minnesota by a wide margin. However, Clark witnessed Hannah Stuelke, one of her top targets, secure a great position in the low post between her defender and the hoop.

Clark set a new Big Ten record with her 902nd career assist when she made a flawless ball to Stuelke from way beyond the 3-point line. Stuelke made the basket and drew a foul.

A regular staple on Clark’s highlight films, Stuelke is a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward who is playing a bigger role for the Hawkeyes this season. She frequently dishes up amazing dimes to Stuelke, like the one she did on Wednesday against Purdue, without even looking.

However, not always. Indeed, Stuelke got the rock at the top of the 3-point arc in the play that won the game for Iowa over Michigan State last week. The ball was briefly knocked away, but she recovered in time to pass it to Clark, who made her now-famous step-back, logo 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left.

Despite losing two multi-year starters, most notably Monika Czinano, who is the Robin to her Batman, Creme Clark is on the verge of becoming the national player of the year again as she leads the Hawkeyes to a 16-1 record. However, Stuelke, who is second in both scoring and rebounding for the Hawkeyes, has contributed to Clark’s success in re-establishing Iowa as a contender this year. And Stuelke’s present trajectory will be necessary for the Hawkeyes to return to the Final Four in what may be Clark’s last season in Iowa City.

We can go forward as [Stuelke] moves on,” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen said to ESPN. “The higher she takes her game, the higher it’s going to help us go.”

Stuelke, a rookie the previous season, established a role behind Czinano, who is consistently one of the nation’s most productive post players. Stuelke, a native of Cedar Rapids, had always imagined herself as a Hawkeye, so it was only natural for her to take some time in her first year to figure out her place on the court.

Stuelke’s career took off during conference play, which contributed to her being named the Big Ten Sixth Woman of the Year. During that stretch of the season, Iowa went 15-3 before going on to win the Big Ten tournament for the second time in a row and make its first Final Four appearance in thirty years.

Over the course of the NCAA tournament, Stuelke treated an ankle injury. However, it was Stuelke’s development to the coaching staff and the program’s faith in her to make an impact on such a big stage that she was charged by 2022 national player of the year Aliyah Boston in the first quarter of the national semifinals, the game in which Iowa upset then-undefeated South Carolina.

“When she turned that corner more confidently and comfortably,” Jensen stated, “that’s I think when our team really started to roll.”

With Czinano’s graduation this offseason, both Clark and Iowa saw a change in circumstances. After the steady presence of Czinano and the player she succeeded, Megan Gustafson, the Hawkeyes adopted a more by-committee approach to post-play, with Sharon Goodman and Addi O’Grady both seeing increased responsibilities. This was something the team was unaccustomed to.

Since the chemistry that Czinano and Clark worked on for three years could not be duplicated in a single day, the program’s message encouraged participants to accept that they were a new group.