Iowa Girl Prominent Presence for Hawkeyes

Iowa Women with Strong Connection to State's High School History

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder shouts instructions from the sideline during a game against Dartmouth on Dec. 21, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

Jean Berger was named executive director of the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union in 2016. She’s worked tirelessly to promote the Iowa Girl since taking over an organization that has been a national leader in providing opportunities for young ladies in the athletic arena since it was founded in the 1920s.

I thought of Berger on Saturday when Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said this at her pre-NCAA Championship game news conference in Dallas.

“I’m proud to be an Iowa girl leading the University of Iowa,” said Bluder, who played at Linn-Mar High School in Marion.

Later she added that “it means a lot for me as an Iowan to represent our state. We’re proud of our state. We believe in hard work. We believe in honesty and integrity, and I want that to shine through with my team because I want my team to have the values of what we represent back home.”

As I watched the Hawkeyes take down No. 1 South Carolina Friday I also thought of the late E. Wayne Cooley, who promoted girls’ athletics with pride and pizazz in his time as the IGHSAU’s dynamic executive director.

Saturday morning, Berger was already dreaming of bringing in Caitlin Clark to do a clinic in conjunction with the 2024 Girls’ State Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. She joked that Clark’s star stature and impressive list of NIL deals might make it too costly for the IGHSAU to pull off.

Girls in Iowa have been playing in a state basketball tournament since 1920. Cooley, who took over the IGHSAU in 1954, was proud of the fact that the Iowa girl had to take a back seat to no one when it came to athletic opportunity in the Hawkeye State.

“I take a lot of pride that every girl walks down every main street in every town in Iowa just as tall as a boy,” Cooley once said.

Friday’s scintillating Hawkeye victory, snapping South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak, was a testimony to Clark’s playing ability and Bluder’s coaching expertise. Two Iowa Girls now on the cusp of a national title.

This Iowa team has a lot of links to the IGHSAU. Bluder and assistant coaches Jan Jensen, Jenni Fitzgerald and Abby Emmert Stamp were all high school basketball stars in Iowa.

Clark is one of five Iowans on the Hawkeye roster, joined by Hannan Stuelke, Sharon Goodman, Shateah Wetering and Jadi Gyamfi.

As I watched Iowa basketball be the headline story on ESPN’s SportsCenter after the game, I thought back to the first time I watched Clark play. She was a high school junior at Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, playing in a 2019 Class 5A semifinal. Bluder and Jensen were there recruiting her.

Four years later, they will be in the brightest of spotlights Sunday - the national championship game against LSU.

When Clark signed a letter of intent with Iowa in November of 2019, she mentioned the Final Four as one of her goals. After Clark signed, Bluder talked about what kind of player was headed to campus.

“Caitlin is a premier guard that has an incredible offensive skill set,” Bluder said. “She has the ability to score at will, while also being an uncanny passer in feeding her teammates the ball. She is an exciting playmaker in all realms.”

Coach sure got that one right. Clark’s third season in a Hawkeye uniform ends Sunday, and it’s been more than any Iowa fan could have expected: Two Big Ten Tournament titles, a Big Ten regular-season title and a trip to the national championship game. Clark’s personal accomplishments are astounding as well, which is why she’s been a three-time all-Big Ten selection, a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, a two-time consensus all-American and now the national player of the year. She has a chance to add national championship to that list in 40 minutes of action on Sunday.

At Iowa’s media day last fall, I asked Clark to describe herself. Feisty and passionate were two words she used.

She’s played with passion, and an attitude all season. Her scoring is incredible. But her passing, a skill Bluder mentioned when the Hawkeyes signed her, might be the most brilliant part of her game.

Rarely do you see a prolific scorer share the ball like Clark does. That’s one reason this Iowa team has a school-record 31 victories in 37 games. Clark is the talk of the nation, but she plays on a team that knows their roles and plays with a chemistry that is the envy of any coach.

Clark and Monica Czinano run the pick-and-roll to perfection. Gabbie Marshall is a stout defender. McKenna Warnock battles inside, and Kate Martin is the glue that holds it all together. Hannah Stuelke brings energy off the bench. Marshall, Warnock and Martin can be nightmare matchups because of their ability to score from behind the 3-point line.

“We have a team full of people who want to buy in,” Martin said.

Before the 2022-23 season started, Iowa announced it had sold a program-record 5,200 season tickets. Soldout games became the norm at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and the love that fans have for this team is reflected by all the black and gold inside the American Airlines Center for the Final Four. That love affair continues Sunday in Dallas.

And it’s one more opportunity for the Iowa Girl to stand tall.