Iowa used a 14-0 run early in the second quarter to pull away from Northern Illinois in a 91-73 victory to open the 2024-25 regular season. Transfer senior Lucy Olsen led all scorers with 19 points as well as a game-high seven assists in Jan Jensen's first career win as a head coach.

"It's nice to get that [first] one," said Jensen after the game. "Sometimes, too much is made of it, but I understand why. Lisa's iconic, and [I'm] taking over, a lot of new faces. It feels good to get it, and now I'm glad that we got it, and now hopefully really roll."

Kylie Feuerbach and true freshman Teagan Mallegni each added 14 points in Iowa's win, though the game wasn't without its challenges.

Senior guard Sydney Affolter has only recently returned to practice after offseason knee surgery, and though Affolter is ahead of schedule in her return, Jensen's hopes to get her on the court Wednesday never materialized.

"A key cog of our wheel is Syd Affolter," said Jensen. "Syd steadies a lot of waters."

Making matters dodgier on the wing, All-Big Ten forward Hannah Stuelke turned an ankle at the end of the first quarter, but returned to the game at the start of the second half.

"I didn't know what happened," said Jensen. "I just saw her on the floor, my heart dropped for a sec, and then Raina [Harmon] told me she's good. ... I think it was an ankle."

1. Welcome to Iowa City, Lucy: Lucy Olsen's 19-point spree set an Iowa record for transfers in their debut game, and her seven assists went to five different teammates.

If that's what a debut performance looks like, imagine what's going to happen when this team's used to practicing at full strength.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena gave Olsen the full experience, pyrotechnics, packed crowd and all, and she made sure to appreciate it.

"The energy, you could definitely feel it," said Olsen. "It's loud in there. It's really cool. I don't think I'll get used to running out of the tunnel. Every time I look around, I'm like, 'wow, there's a lot of people here'."

"She looked at me during the national anthem," said Feuerbach, piping in.

"I was just like, 'wow'," said Olsen. mimicking giddy amazement.

Olsen gave the fans plenty to be giddy about, especially from inside the arc. Her famed mid-range game was indeed on display, as Olsen scored on jumpers, in iso, pushing in transition and even off her own offensive rebound:

Though Olsen only went 1-for-5 from deep in the win, her one three-pointer is the sort of shot she needs to take and make for the offense to click against zone coverage. Olsen rotated into place for The Extra Pass™ off a defensive rotation to the wing, and didn't hesitate to drill it:

That three-pointer helped kick Iowa's decisive run into gear early in the second quarter, as a 16-15 deficit lurched into a 29-16 lead. Olsen, who didn't take her first break until the waning minutes of the third quarter and finished with a game-high 35 minutes, was a key factor in the run, contributing five points and a pair of assists in the spree.

That Olsen could be such a workhorse for the team — not only in minutes but orchestration of the offense — is a remarkable accomplishment, even in its early stages.

"You're coming in, trying to learn what we want her to do, and by the way, lead as a point guard that's been here for four years," said Jensen. "And she's really doing a good job. And she's so selfless. You see her kind of hesitate, 'should I shoot it or not shoot it,' and we're trying to encourage her just to lean in. Go with your gut."

Olsen, who averaged 23.3 points per game last season at Villanova, won't need much encouragement to call her own number as a Hawkeye. And Jensen trusting her ultra-athletic transfer as the steward of the offense from Day 1, even with an established senior leader in the backcourt, can only pay greater dividends down the line as the season continues.

2. This is Kylie's backcourt too: Indeed, for the well-earned hype by Olsen, perhaps the best player on the floor Wednesday night was fellow senior guard Kylie Feuerbach, who filled the stat sheet with 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and six(!) steals to only one turnover.

Feuerbach's four three-pointers were a career high, as were her rebounds and steals.

"Going in, I'm not always expecting [career highs] to happen," said Feuerbach. "I come in with the same mentality as I always do, just working as hard as I can."

"She is one of our most versatile players," said Jensen. "She can defend. One of our best defenders, between her and Lucy. Kylie can attack. And when she gets her three-ball going, man, she's a threat on a lot of different levels."

In years past, Feuerbach flashed promise through injuries, a transfer from Iowa State and a supporting role next to multiple future WNBA players. Wednesday, in her first year as a Day-1 starter, Feuerbach turned her years of unsung experience into excellence.

"When a kid stays true to the progression — the process — and is biding their time," said Jensen. "Then when they get their moment, all the work they've done in the dark, all the work they've done [in practice] to prepare a Gabbie Marshall from last year, a Kate Martin, a Caitlin Clark. And they were there, but partly in the shadows. And then when they get their moment, it kind of makes me choke up."

Feuerbach also credited her seamless transition into a stat-stuffing dynamo to the preparation that preceded this season.

"Being consistent in the gym, getting my confidence up, knowing that I put in the extra work to get where I'm at," said Feuerbach. "I have great girls around me, and they're all very uplifting."

3. The freshmen have the sauce. On a team with the likes of Olsen and Feuerbach, to say nothing of Affolter or Stuelke, it might well be the case that the most must-see TV on this roster is coming from true freshmen Mallegni and Taylor Stremlow, Wisconsin natives who ran a fast break that had NIU spinning in circles — literally so, in the instance of the poor second defender down the floor:

Stremlow's wizardry was helped along by Feuerbach loading up on the perimeter — as a decoy, as it would turn out — such that even a slight feint toward the wing forced a shift in her attention away from the passing window to Mallegni to start the fireworks.

That preternatural court chemistry extends directly to Feuerbach as well, as the three combined for another highlight-reel transition lay-up — this one on a back-cut and assist for a layup, starting with a ridiculous pass by Stremlow to lead Feuerbach:

While Iowa's lack of healthy backcourt depth has stretched Stremlow's practice minutes across three positions in her first year, her playmaking ability and persistent energy on both ends of the court make her look like someone who's been around Carver-Hawkeye Arena (and Jensen) for years.

"Taylor Stremlow has that feel," said Jensen. "Taylor is that rare freshman that plays without fear. She's gonna make a pass, and she's not worried — she's not going to look over right away, like 'am I gonna come out?' She's gonna make the pass because she thought it was a good pass. It might be a terrible pass, but she's gonna make it."

Stremlow finished with only two points but three rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. That ability to affect the game on either end of the floor, in any way possible, ends up being infectious with teammates.

"Just her personality has that energy," said Olsen. "She came in and she was like, 'all right, let's get a stop!' She was getting down [on the floor]. She has some swag to her offensively and defensively. She's not afraid to do anything. So I think we needed that little kick."

Meanwhile, Mallegni was second behind Stremlow in bench minutes with 19 (Heiden completed the freshman trifecta with 16), and her 14 points were the most by a true freshman in their Hawkeye debut since little-known guard Caitlin Clark in 2020. Clark is now a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mallegni, a 6'1" guard, boasts a broad skill set to match her size, ranging from defending anywhere from the point to the 4, to a near-automatic green light from behind the arc. She only shot 1-for-5 from deep in Wednesday's debut, but went 5-for-5 inside the arc, including layups like this result of a 2-on-1:

While game-to-game plus-minus data is notoriously noisy, Stremlow's +10 in her seven minutes in the first half (+13 in 22 minutes total) appropriately matched her effect on the team's energy on the floor, to the point that one might wonder why Stremlow "only" saw seven bench minutes in the first half of her freshman debut.

These early-season games — especially with the competitive freedom allowed by a lower-ranked foe — are in fact crucial in the process of finding five-player units like the ones Stremlow and Mallegni fueled in Iowa's second-quarter surge. Just perhaps not staying with them.

"With these games, you're still trying to figure out who your people are," said Jensen. "We have a lot of depth, but you're trying to figure out how, and when, and who, and what combination. So sometimes we're kind of messing with it. And then you've got something going, but you want to try that [other] piece."

Still, the immediate impact shown by Stremlow and Mallegni as plug-and-play wing options, from Day 1 of practice to this official debut, means they'll be well within the rotation even after Affolter returns to a starring role as expected.

On the taller side of the rotation, freshman Ava Heiden came off the bench, as she did in the exhibition after returning from illness, but played 16 minutes to starter Addison O'Grady's 14 minutes.

O'Grady was plenty productive with her minutes, dropping 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting with three rebounds and two blocks. Heiden, meanwhile, struggled often with double-teams and weak-side help on entry passes, and finished with 2-for-7 shooting.

"Ava is processing a lot," said Jensen. "With freshmen and bigs sometimes, the game goes really fast. What they could do in high school, and what they were required to do, it is nothing on the inside [of the paint]. ... I just think it takes time. But I think you'll continue to see Ava climb."

Time isn't much of a luxury for the Hawkeyes, as the ambitious schedule takes them to Charlotte to play Virginia Tech this Sunday — the first of six major-conference foes on this season's non-conference slate.

While head coach Kenny Brooks has left the Hokies for Kentucky, leaving the job to new leader Megan Duffy, the Hokies still pose a formidable challenge for Iowa's still-gelling freshmen and rotations. Virginia Tech opened the season with a 99-57 drubbing of UNC-Wilmington on Monday, led by 18 points from guard Matilda Ekh.

That game tips off at 4:30 CT Sunday on ESPN2.