1987–88 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team

The 1987–88 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team represented the University of Iowa as members of the Big Ten Conference during the 1987–88 NCAA women's basketball season. The Hawkeyes, led by fifth-year head coach C. Vivian Stringer, played their home games in Iowa City, Iowa at Carver–Hawkeye Arena. They finished the season 29–2 overall, 17–1 in Big Ten play, winning the conference championship. The team finished with the highest final ranking of any Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team at No. 2 in the final AP poll. For the second straight season, Iowa advanced to the Elite Eight in the women's NCAA basketball tournament.

1987–88 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball
Big Ten Conference regular season champions Orange Bowl tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 2
Record	29–2 (17–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	C. Vivian Stringer (5th season)
Home arena	Carver–Hawkeye Arena
Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Big Ten women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Iowa	17	–	1		.944			29	–	2		.935
No. 6 Ohio State	16	–	2		.889			25	–	5		.833
Purdue	13	–	5		.722			21	–	10		.677
Michigan State	12	–	6		.667			16	–	12		.571
Northwestern	8	–	10		.444			13	–	14		.481
Michigan	7	–	11		.389			14	–	14		.500
Indiana	7	–	11		.389			12	–	16		.429
Minnesota	5	–	13		.278			9	–	18		.333
Illinois	3	–	15		.167			9	–	19		.321
Wisconsin	2	–	16		.111			4	–	24		.143
Rankings from AP Poll

With big expectations entering the season, the Hawkeyes were ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP poll – the lowest ranking they would have all year. The team won its first 22 games, including victories over five top 10 teams, highlighted by takedowns of No. 2 Auburn and No. 1 Texas in the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami. The Hawkeyes themselves rose to the No. 1 ranking, a first ever for a Big Ten women's program, a perch they would hold onto for eight weeks. Iowa's lone regular season loss was a 58–54 setback at No. 8 Ohio State. The Hawkeyes finished the regular season 27–1 (17–1 Big Ten).

Ranked No. 2 in the final three AP polls, the Hawkeyes received the No. 1 seed in the West region of the NCAA tournament. Iowa defeated No. 8 seed, 19th ranked Stephen F. Austin and No. 4 seed, 15th ranked USC to reach the regional final. Iowa faced a team they defeated earlier in the season, No. 2 seed and 7th ranked Cal State Long Beach, but were beaten by 20 points in a virtual home game for the team from Long Beach.

Senior guard Michelle Edwards would be the first Iowa women's basketball player to have her number retired in 1990.

Roster

1987–88 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 10 Stephanie Schueler 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Fr Lincoln Sioux Falls, SD F 12 Lorelei Watts 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr Alleman Rock Island, IL F 14 Felicia Hall 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Green Oaks Shreveport, LA G 21 Robin Christian 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Jr Jamaica Plain Roxbury, MA F 22 Jolynn Schneider 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Sr Regina Grosse Pointe, MI F 25 Franthea Price 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So River Rouge River Rouge, MI G 30 Michelle Edwards 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Cathedral Boston, MA G 32 Pam Williams 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Lindblom Tech Chicago, IL F 33 Jody Ratigan 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So Tri-Center Neola, IA G 34 Jolette Law 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) So Wilson Florence, SC C 42 Shanda Berry 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Oelwein Oelwein, IA C 44 Marva Fuller 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Sr Holly Holly, MI	Head coach C. Vivian Stringer Assistant coach(es) Jennifer Bednarek Marianna Freeman Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 28, 1987*	No. 6	Missouri Amana-Hawkeye Classic	W 85–71	1–0	Carver-Hawkeye Arena (1,588) Iowa City, Iowa
Nov 29, 1987*	No. 6	Georgia Amana-Hawkeye Classic	W 66–56	2–0	Carver-Hawkeye Arena (2,097) Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 1, 1987*	No. 6	at Iowa State	W 93–49	3–0	Hilton Coliseum  Ames, Iowa
Dec 5, 1987*	No. 6	vs. No. 4 Long Beach State NIU Fastbreak Festival	W 82–75	4–0	Evans Field House  DeKalb, Illinois
Dec 6, 1987*	No. 6	at Northern Illinois NIU Fastbreak Festival	W 81–73	5–0	Evans Field House  DeKalb, Illinois
Dec 11, 1987*	No. 5	Nebraska	W 68–58	6–0	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 28, 1987*	No. 5	vs. No. 2 Auburn Burger King/Orange Bowl Tournament	W 73–69[1]	7–0	James L. Knight International Center  Miami, Florida
Dec 29, 1987*	No. 5	vs. No. 6 Virginia Burger King/Orange Bowl Tournament	W 75–59[2]	8–0	James L. Knight International Center  Miami, Florida
Dec 30, 1987*	No. 5	vs. No. 1 Texas Burger King/Orange Bowl Tournament	W 75–65[3]	9–0	James L. Knight International Center  Miami, Florida
Jan 8, 1988	No. 1	at Wisconsin	W 81–71	10–0 (1–0)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
Jan 10, 1988	No. 1	at Northwestern	W 81–43	11–0 (2–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 15, 1988	No. 1	at Minnesota	W 84–41	12–0 (3–0)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jan 22, 1988	No. 1	at Illinois	W 90–63[4]	13–0 (4–0)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, Illinois
Jan 9, 1988	No. 1	at Purdue	W 67–57	14–0 (5–0)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan 29, 1988	No. 1	Indiana	W 72–48	15–0 (6–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 31, 1988	No. 1	No. 8 Ohio State	W 75–64	16–0 (7–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 2, 1988	No. 1	at Michigan State	W 77–52	17–0 (8–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, Michigan
Feb 5, 1988	No. 1	at Michigan	W 89–54	18–0 (9–0)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, Michigan
Feb 12, 1988	No. 1	Minnesota	W 100–51[5]	19–0 (10–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 16, 1988*	No. 1	Drake	W 74–38	20–0	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 19, 1988	No. 1	Purdue	W 66–52	21–0 (11–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 21, 1988	No. 1	Illinois	W 87–36	22–0 (12–0)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 26, 1988	No. 1	at No. 8 Ohio State	L 54–58	22–1 (12–1)	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
Feb 28, 1988	No. 1	at Indiana	W 71–47	23–1 (13–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
Mar 4, 1988	No. 2	Michigan	W 76–55	24–1 (14–1)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 6, 1988	No. 2	Michigan State	W 52–46	25–1 (15–1)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 10, 1988	No. 2	at Northwestern	W 76–66	26–1 (16–1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
Mar 12, 1988	No. 2	Wisconsin	W 98–50	27–1 (17–1)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
NCAA tournament
Mar 18, 1988*	(1 W) No. 2	(8 W) No. 19 Stephen F. Austin Second round	W 83–65[6]	28–1	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 24, 1988*	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (4 W) No. 15 USC West Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 79–67[7]	29–1	Long Beach Arena  Long Beach, California
Mar 26, 1988*	(1 W) No. 2	at (2 W) No. 7 Long Beach State West Regional Final – Elite Eight	L 78–98[8]	29–2	Long Beach Arena (2,179) Long Beach, California
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West.

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Rankings

Main article: 1987–88 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	6	6	5	5	5	5	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	Not released
Coaches	7	6	5	5	5	5	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	6