Iowa basketball: Former woman Hawk finds opportunity overseas

Former women’s Iowa basketball player Hannah Stewart will be continuing her basketball career overseas in Australia next season.

The women’s Iowa basketball team had one of the best seasons in the history of the program this past season which culminated in an Elite Eight appearance.

Unfortunately, the women fell to the eventual national champion Baylor Bears. With the loss to the Bears, the collegiate careers of three outstanding members of the Iowa basketball team ended.

The star of the show, Megan Gustafson is now with the Dallas Wings after being selected in the second round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. She’s already two preseason games into her professional career and the results have been so-so to this point, but it’s incredibly early.

Another one of her former teammates will be joining the professional ranks though as it was announced yesterday forward Hannah Stewart signed a contract with the Lakeside Lightning in Western Australia.

The Lakeside Lightning play basketball in the Women’s State Basketball League and have claimed two championships in their almost 20-year history, including last season’s 2018 championship.  Lakeside has already played 10 games in the 2019 WSBL season, but Stewart still has plenty of time to make an impact with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

It’s a meteoric rise for the 6’2” Minot, North Dakota native who didn’t start until this past season when she started every single game for the top-10 ranked women’s Iowa basketball team.

For the Hawkeyes, Hannah was a versatile forward, averaging 11.4 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, and 2.3 assists per game while playing stout defense alongside National Player of the Year Megan Gustafson.

At 6’2” Stewart will be the second tallest person on the roster right behind former University of North Dakota women’s player Samantha Roscoe who is 6’3”.

As Stewart gets overseas and begins playing, we will keep you posted right here at Dear Old Gold.