The Gazette
Iowa guard Dani Carnegie (3) goes up for a layup during an NCAA women’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.
Iowa guard Dani Carnegie (3) goes up for a layup during an NCAA women’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.
IOWA CITY — Another Sunday. Another superstar.
Seven days after Connecticut’s Sarah Strong torched them for 39 points, the Iowa Hawkeyes have Mikayla Blakes with which to contend.
The 10th-ranked Hawkeyes (3-1) face No. 8 Vanderbilt (4-0) in a women’s basketball showdown at, of all places, the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. Tipoff is noon Sunday in a game televised nationally by FS1.
“Vanderbilt is a very quick, high-paced team,” Iowa freshman McKenna Woliczko said after the Hawkeyes beat Northern Iowa 78-40 Thursday night.
And Blakes, like Strong, is elite. The 5-foot-8 junior was a consensus first-team all-American last year.
Woliczko hinted that Amari Whiting might be Blakes’ primary defender.
“Amari is a great defender. I’m very confident in how Amari plays defense,” she said.
Here’s how Vanderbilt plays offense — fast.
The Commodores have scored 100 points or more in all four of their games. Their 103.8 points per game ranks fourth nationally, and so does their field-goal percentage of .555.
Blakes led the nation in scoring as a sophomore at 27.0 points per game and has gone for more than 50 on two occasions in her career.
Of course, Iowa has firepower, too. The addition of Dani Carnegie — a former all-SEC first-teamer at Georgia — has bolstered the Hawkeyes’ attack. She leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game, and struck for 22 points and six assists Thursday.
“I think we’re getting there,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “She has tremendous potential. She’s learning a lot about our system, about our expectations.”
Three other Hawkeyes — Ava Heiden, Chit-Chat Wright and Woliczko — are averaging between 12.5 and 13.0 points per game.
Iowa will need to be cleaner than it was Thursday when it committed 20 turnovers.
“We’ve got to get a lot better with our passing to the post,” Jensen said. “We have a lot of newer people. There wasn’t the attention to detail. Our post entry wasn’t grand.”
The Hawkeyes and the Commodores are meeting for the first time since the 1997-98 season.
Jeff Linder covers high school sports and Iowa women’s basketball for The Gazette. Contact him at jeff.linder@thegazette.com.
Time, TV, and game notes for Sunday’s women’s basketball game between No. 10 Iowa and No. 8 Vanderbilt.
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