SEATTLE — The Iowa Hawkeyes view their season in two segments: before the Maryland loss and after.

The 96-68 defeat to the Terrapins on Feb. 21 served as a not-so-gentle reminder of what can happen when the Hawkeyes don’t play the right way.

Now, the team is happy to address it, with candor and even humor. The game was a turning point and a big reason why they sat in Seattle on Thursday addressing the media ahead of their Sweet 16 matchup with Colorado on Friday night.

“I think it was honestly embarrassing what happened to us at Maryland and we all knew it,” fifth-year senior Monika Czinano said with a slight chuckle. “When you get 30-pieced on the road, it’s not fun.”

But the loss came at just the right time. With one regular-season game left, followed by the Big Ten tournament and March Madness right around the corner, the Hawkeyes needed that reminder. They went on to beat then-No. 2 Indiana and win the conference tournament. And when the NCAA Tournament began, they were finally able to put last year’s second-round loss to Creighton behind them as they advanced to the Sweet 16 with a win over Georgia.

But the Hawkeyes want more. They want to win a national championship. And to do that, they need everyone playing at a high level. Not just Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano. Everyone.

That’s what makes this Hawkeyes team different from last year’s squad. The supporting cast of players have elevated their games, going from bodies on the floor to legitimate scoring threats.

“They have all stepped up in big ways, and I think we all understand, too, that if we want to win two games here, we’re going to need everybody,” Clark said of the regional contests. “It can’t just be a couple people. It’s got to be all five players on the floor at one time.”

During the 2021-22 season, one that was cut short in the Round of 32, Clark and Czinano scored 57 percent of their team’s 84.2 points per game. This season, that number is down to 50 percent, and Iowa leads the NCAA with 87.5 points per game.

That 7 percent makes a difference.

Take the win over Georgia on Sunday as an example. Clark and Czinano had their usual stat lines, with 22 and 20 points, respectively. But McKenna Warnock also contributed 14 points, and Gabbie Marshall came up big with 15 points, all on 3-pointers to stretch the defense and open things up inside.

“I think obviously people are going to focus on Monika and Caitlin, as they should,” Marshall said. “I think, really, it’s harder for teams to guard us when we have bigger roles and we know that. I think especially after that Maryland game at Maryland, we knew that we had to step up and we had to knock down shots.”

In other games this season, different Hawkeyes players have stepped up. Sometimes that player has been Kate Martin, who showed in a loss to UConn in November that she is capable of putting up big numbers. Other times, it’s been freshman Hannah Stuelke.

Stuelke’s season averages of 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game earned her Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year honors.

The former Miss Iowa Basketball adds a new element to the Hawkeyes attack, with her ability to run the floor and create off the bounce. It’s a stark contrast to Czinano, who is a traditional post player. The dichotomy doesn’t allow defenses to get comfortable, as Iowa can change the way it runs offense depending on which big is in the game.

“Hannah having the ability to come in at the five just throws a type of offense at the defense that they’re probably not used to seeing,” Czinano said. “I’m such a traditional back-to-the-basket post. I never dribble really, if I can help it, and Hannah dribbles. She’s a dynamic player.”

Stuelke didn’t play against Georgia after turning her ankle in practice, but coach Lisa Bluder expects her to be available when the Hawkeyes play Colorado on Friday.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

The Las Vegas Aces celebrated their second-straight WNBA title on Tuesday with a banner raising and championship ring ceremony — as well as a pregame pep talk from NFL legend Tom Brady. 

It all unfolded before the Aces took on the Mercury in front of a sellout home crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena. 

Included in the ring design is the team’s 2023 motto, "Aces vs. Everybody," as well as 34 diamonds encrusting the team’s name to commemorate their league-record 34 regular season wins. It also features two trophies, signifying the back-to-back titles, with the trophy bases forming a reference to the franchise’s 14 playoff appearances. 

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"We're back," team owner Mark Davis announced during Tuesday's celebration. "Not only are we back, we're back-to-back world champions. All I can say is let's three-peat."

"We're so grateful to have a fan base that is supportive of us," two-time MVP A’ja Wilson told fans. "We're blessed to be in this situation. We worked our butts off to get to this point, so we just want to say thank you."

Brady’s attendance was a surprise for the players, with coach Becky Hammon saying she purposely didn’t tell players beforehand that the Aces minority owner would be visiting.

"I thought it would be cool to bring a sports figure in who's not only invested in our team, but also knows a few things about winning," Hammon said, smiling. "Just let him have the floor. He's somebody who has sat where they've sat — chasing history and trying to be the greatest.

"Those things don't just happen. You really have to be intentional about your work, your approach... And about winning the moments. We're certainly happy that he came and shared some of his knowledge and passion and really love for women's sports."

Brady shared a special message with the team ahead of the game, with Wilson adding a bit of insight after the final buzzer. The 2023 Finals MVP led the team with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists in the Aces' 89-80 win over the Mercury.

"He was saying, 'The banners are always going to be there, so you don't have to try to defend that. Just go do what you've been doing,'" Wilson said. "That message made the night for me. Because I feel like we get so caught up in, 'Oh, my God, we've got to three-peat.' 

“But that banner is going to be there forever. My ring is going to be in the trophy case forever. Let me focus on getting better, and then that's when everything else flows."

And as for the ring?

"The ring is nice... It's huge," Wilson said. "I was not expecting that. It's like diamonds all the way around — bling, bling, bling, bling, bling."

Caitlin Clark is taking some lessons away from her real first taste of WNBA regular season action. 

Clark walked away from the Indiana Fever’s 71-92 loss to Connecticut with a team-high 20 points — but she also committed 10 turnovers, the most in a career debut in WNBA history. It took her until well into the fifth minute of the second quarter to score as she adjusted to the Sun’s defense.

"I'm disappointed, and nobody likes to lose, but I don't think you can beat yourself up too much about one game," Clark said after the game. "I don't think that's going to help this team.

"Just learn from it and move on," she added.

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It was Clark’s "Welcome to the W" moment, as many veterans alluded to prior to her debut. Clark admitted that the game was "physical," and that she’s growing to expect that more than she did in college.

"Just expecting physicality was the biggest thing,” she said. "I think also just like some uncharacteristic stuff. Like, I pick up the ball and travel, I dribble off my foot, I pass it on the inbound, I turn it over. So just a few things that are just — you have to be crisper.

"I thought it took me a little while to settle into the game. I felt the second half was a lot better... but just getting more comfortable... that's just going to come with experience." 

Even still, Clark finished with 20 points — a solid debut for a rookie despite the turnovers. As for Indiana, Fever coach Christie Sides was critical of her team after the loss. NaLyssa Smith was the only other player in double-digits.

"They punched us in the mouth tonight," Sides said, before offering a more stout analysis.

"We got to have people coming back to the ball and then attacking getting in the paint," she continued. "We just weren't able to get down to yield tonight at all. If we could have gotten our feet in the paint and collapsed their defense, we would have been able to, you know, get some of our shooters. We just didn't get that."

The 2024 WNBA season got off to a hot start on Tuesday, seeming to pick up right where it left off last year. 

Las Vegas got a win, Alyssa Thomas got a triple-double, and Caitlin Clark had her "Welcome to the W" moment. 

The performance from Thomas — 13 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists — continued a trend she started a year ago, when she posted up seven triple-doubles in a single season to bring her career total to 11. A finalist for league MVP last season, she dropped her name into the early MVP conversation last night.

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"I think people thought it was a fluke to put up those kinds of numbers [last year]," Thomas said after the game. "It was unheard of. But this is my game. This is how I play each and every night. Pretty much every game last season, I flirted with a triple-double."

DeWanna Bonner made her own history on Tuesday, passing Candice Dupree for fifth on the WNBA all-time career scoring list. Sun guards Ty Harris and DiJonai Carrington also emerged as game standouts, the latter of whom spent the majority of the night guarding Clark — and locked her down in the process.

Clark’s first official game was filled with highs and lows as she put up a team-high 20 points but also committed a WNBA-record 10 turnovers in her debut. 

Another finalist for league MVP last year, A’ja Wilson put up big numbers in her first game of the season with 30 points and 13 rebounds. 17 of those points came within nine minutes of one another. 

While the lead flip-flipped a bit throughout the four quarters, the defending champions ended up beating Phoenix 89-80. 

In DC, the Liberty held off Washington 85-80 behind a 25-point performance from Jonquel Jones. Reigning league MVP Breanna Stewart notched eight points and eight rebounds in her first outing of 2024.

Minnesota, meanwhile, got their season off to a winning start thanks to a 20-point, 12-rebound performance from Napheesa Collier and a 22-point performance from Alanna Smith. Nneka Ogwumike had 20 points and nine rebounds in her first official game in a Storm jersey.

Next up: The Dallas Wings square off with Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky at 8 PM ET, followed by the Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream at 10 PM ET. Both will be available to stream on WNBA League Pass.

Decorated Iowa basketball coach Lisa Bluder announced her retirement on Monday, with assistant coach Jan Jensen next in line to take over the head coaching position.

Bluder retires as the winningest women’s basketball coach in Big Ten history, amassing 528 wins and five Big Ten tournament titles over her 24 years. During her time at the helm, Iowa made 18 NCAA tournament appearances, including back-to-back trips to the National Championship with star guard Caitlin Clark. 

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"It has been the honor of my career to be a part of the Iowa Hawkeye family," Bluder wrote in a statement. "And to lead a women's basketball program filled with so many talented and remarkable young women, who have gone on to do great things in their careers and, more importantly, in their lives."

She spent the last few years coaching the remarkable Caitlin Clark. The eventual No. 1 overall pick in April’s WNBA Draft, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in D-I basketball, men’s or women’s, this past season, winning back-to-back Naismith Player of the Year awards under Bluder's leadership. 

In a tweet posted Monday, Clark reacted to Bluder’s retirement by thanking her.

"Simply no one better at building a team," Clark wrote. "Thank you for believing in me more than anyone. Enjoy retirement, coach. Very much deserved."

Bluder said Monday that her decision to retire came as she began preparing for the offseason. The longtime coach has previously said she was taking it year-by-year.

"After the season ended, I spent time with our student-athletes and coaches reviewing the season and preparing those moving on for what comes next," Bluder said. "With that also came personal contemplation about what this journey has meant to me, how to best champion this program and what the future looks like for my family and me. After then taking some time away with my husband, David, it became clear to me that I am ready to step aside.

"There is never an ideal time to retire, and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players. But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women's basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program's biggest champion."

Bluder's coaching tenure dates back to 1985, when she coached at St. Ambrose University for six seasons before accepting a head coaching job at Drake in 1991. During her nine years in Des Moines, Bluder led the Bulldogs to four Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championships (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000) alongside three regular season titles (1997, 1998, 2000).

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Assistant head coach Jan Jensen has been tapped to take over the role at Iowa, having worked shoulder to shoulder with the outgoing Bluder for a major part of her career. After playing under Bluder at Drake, Jensen moved on to join her former coach off the court as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs.

"I love Jan to death," 2019 Naismith Player of the Year Megan Gustafson told The Gazette. "She deserves this, and she’s ready for it."

Gustafson's former Iowa teammate, post player Monika Czinano, echoed the sentiment. 

"It’s the perfect succession line, in my opinion," Czinano said. "She’s one of the main reasons for my development. She’s ready for it."