Taylor Stremlow Providing Massive Spark For Iowa

Similar to when Taylor Stremlow started for the Iowa Hawkeyes when Chit-Chat Wright went down with an injury, Stremlow has done her part in guiding this team to victory even without Taylor McCabe.

While all of the attention was on Ava Heiden in the team's 80-67 win over Nebraska, Stremlow also set a career high in scoring.

It's incredible hard to top what Heiden is doing this season, but Stremlow has put together a stellar sophomore campaign. The Wisconsin native stepped up when this team needed her the most, and Jan Jensen's decision to start her over Addie Deal made a huge difference.

Stremlow has now started nine games this season, but no one would know that if they're watching her for the first time. The 5'10'' guard is as composed as it gets and she's ready to help take this team to the next level.

Taylor Stremlow's Career High vs. Nebraska

B1G Dawg. 😤@StremlowTaylor has a career-high 17 points! pic.twitter.com/hIBnI84p8c
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 16, 2026

It's no secret her 7.5 points per game average is up big time from the 2.4 points she had in her freshman season, though that comes as no surprise knowing she's averaging seven extra minutes per game. She did start a pair of games last year as a freshman, but this is easily Stremlow's best season yet.

The sky truly is the limit with her and a 17 point performance against the Cornhuskers further proved that. Stremlow was nearly perfect from the field as she went 6-7, three of those being three-pointers. After an 0-6 effort from three-point range against Minnesota a few games ago, Stremlow was able to turn things around quite quickly.

There's no world where Heiden can do everything for this team, but Iowa's depth is second to none. McCabe's injury could've easily derailed the entire season, but now Stremlow is proving this team still has what it takes to make a run in the tournament.

Stremlow Stepped Up When Iowa Needed Her The Most

🗣️ BEAUTIFUL!! @StremlowTaylor x @ChazadiW pic.twitter.com/GEBsEuXQY5
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 16, 2026

Jensen's decision to start Deal didn't come lightly, and it made complete sense as she was coming off a career performance against No. 12 Ohio State. For whatever reason, her extra spark wasn't coming to fruition in the starting lineup and that's where Stremlow comes into the picture.

Since joining the starting five, Stremlow has 26 points with four assists, and three steals with just three turnovers. She's shot 66.7% or higher in both of those games and has made all three of her free throws. It's a relatively small sample size recently, but don't forget the lengthy stretch she started when Wright went down against Baylor earlier in the year.

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