The Price of a Miracle

Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Less than 24 hours after the Iowa Men’s Basketball team found themselves celebrating a historic March Madness victory over the #1 seed Florida Gators, the women were on the receiving end of a crushing March defeat. An 83-75 loss to the #10 seed Virginia Cavaliers in double overtime.

Alvaro Folguerias’ clutch three pointer won the game for the men. The women lost because they couldn’t get one for themselves.

The basketball gods work in mysterious ways. Maybe that’s the price of a miracle.

The struggles that doomed the women’s team against Virginia were the same ones that nearly ended their season on Saturday against the #15 seed Fairleigh Dickinson Knights: three point shooting.

Iowa went 1-for-13 from deep against FDU. They closed out the first half against Virginia with an eerily similar mark of 1-for-12.

“When I briefly looked at the box score, I didn’t believe we deserved to win it,” head coach Jan Jensen said after the game.

Iowa finished 5-for-29 from downtown against Virginia, but it would be a mistake to reduce their season to their three point struggles down the stretch. This year was a resounding success. 

They went from being picked to finish outside the top five in the Big Ten to being conference tournament runner ups and a March Madness #2 seed. They suffered an injury to a key senior in Taylor McCabe and seemed to get even better with breakout sophomore Taylor Stremlow starting in her place. Two of their best players were sophomore center Ava Heiden and guard Chit-Chat Wright. Those two made 1st and 3rd Team All-Big Ten respectively.

But the loss also marks the end of Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach, Jada Gyafmi, and McCabe’s storied careers. The last key contributors from Iowa’s national championship bids in 2023 and 2024.

“Spending time with these girls has been such a blessing to me,” Stuelke said.

“It’s just really hard to process those emotions, and it’s really hard to know that I won’t be able to play again,” Feuerbach said.

When the clock hit zero in Iowa City, Stuelke tearfully embraced her mother as a swarm of photographers descended upon the scene. The same thing played out in Tampa Bay when Folguerias found his mother in the stands. Their emotions could not have been more different.

Grief and glee. The dichotomy of college sports.

Ryan Paris