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High-scoring transfer Lucy Olsen has committed to play final season at Iowa
At Villanova, she averaged 23.3 points per game last season as a junior
Jeff Linder
Apr. 17, 2024 5:58 pm, Updated: Apr. 17, 2024 8:12 pm
IOWA CITY — Lucy Olsen’s second recruitment consisted of one visit.
And one tornado warning.
“I’m not used to that in Pennsylvania,” she said Wednesday night, shortly after she announced her women’s basketball commitment to the University of Iowa. “We hunkered down in the locker room until (the warning) ended.”
Iowa’s most important transfer-portal addition of Lisa Bluder’s career, Olsen will play one season with the Hawkeyes. She played her previous three at Villanova, where she was an Associated Press honorable-mention All-American as a junior.
The 5-foot-9 point guard averaged 23.3 points last season; her scoring average was third-highest nationally behind Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (the national player of the year and No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft) and USC’s JuJu Watkins (the national freshman of the year).
“Villanova was awesome. It was close to home,” said Olsen, a native of Collegeville, Pa. “It was a perfect fit for me for three years.
“But I wanted my final season to be somewhere that women’s basketball is exploding.”
Iowa fits the bill.
The Hawkeyes (34-5 last season) played in front of a season-long sellout at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and their appeal reached far beyond Iowa City.
“I want to compete with and against new competition,” Olsen said. “And I want to go pro. I’m hoping Iowa can help me get there.”
Olsen entered the transfer portal on April 9. At the time, she knew none of Iowa’s coaches or players
“Coach Bluder called me right away,” Olsen said. “I hopped on a Zoom call with the staff, and they were the nicest people ever. They felt like family.”
The fifth-ranked prospect in the portal by ESPN, Olsen visited Iowa City on Tuesday, then committed Wednesday.
In addition to her prolific scoring tendencies, Olsen averaged 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. She shot 44 percent from the field, 29 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free-throw line.
She has scored 1,504 points in her three seasons, including 815 as a junior. She led the team in points, assists, minutes and steals as Villanova went 22-13 and advanced to the WBIT final.
Her arrival puts Iowa on a full scholarship complement of 15, and eases the sting of the departure of a senior class consisting of Clark, Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall, Molly Davis and Sharon Goodman.
She will be one of five seniors on next year’s roster, along with Sydney Affolter, Kylie Feuerbach, Addison O’Grady and A.J. Ediger.
“I’ll play the point. I’ll play off the ball,” she said. “I’ll play anywhere that gets me on the floor.”
At Villanova, Olsen wore uniform No. 3. That numeral belongs to Affolter at Iowa.
“I’ll probably go with ‘1,’” Olsen said. “That’s what I wore my freshman year in high school.”
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com