Beyond her dreams

Gary Emmert, longtime Winterset boys basketball coach who still assists the program in retirement, was often accompanied by his daughter Abby at practices and scouting trips.

Abby would often shoot alone in the gym after practice, forming big basketball dreams. The sport ran through her veins.

Her dreams of playing in the state tournament fell short when Pella ousted Winterset in a regional final on a last-second basket.

Little did she know at the time, but unforgettable experiences in basketball were ahead as both a player, and more recently as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. Now in her 14th year in the women’s basketball program and fourth year as an on-court coach, Abby Stamp is a key part of the Hawkeye women’s phenomenon that swept the nation all the way to the NCAA championship game in Dallas recently.

She and husband Quinn have a daughter, Mavis who turns 4 years old in May, and son Wyn born last November. Quinn is a construction manager for the university’s housing and dining services. It’s been a whirlwind five months in the Stamp family.

“Our son was born November 1, which is not ideal for a basketball coach,” Stamp said in an interview Wednesday. “Coach Bluder and the rest of the staff were so great and supportive. It’s been an incredible year. It started with a six-week maternity leave and ended at the Final Four. My husband has been our MVP. He flew to Dallas alone with the two of them to be together for it all.”

Hawkeye player

A 2004 graduate of Winterset High School, Stamp was a member of the Iowa women’s basketball team from 2005-08 and named co-captain in 2008. She helped lead the Hawkeyes to the 2008 Big Ten regular season championship. She scored a career-high 17 points against Iowa State as a junior in 2006.

After graduation in 2008 as a communications studies major, Stamp worked as a fund-raiser for the United Way of East Central Iowa in Cedar Rapids. She returned to the Hawkeye basketball program in the fall of 2009 as director of basketball operations. In that role she handled day-to-day scheduling and travel arrangements, and kept defensive charts during games.

The daughter of Gary and Nancy Emmert was named director of player development eight seasons later, but she always had a goal to follow her father as an on-court coach. That became a reality when Bluder named her an assistant coach four years ago.

Iowa’s run through the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament without a loss until falling to LSU in the championship game on April 2 was the high point in a basketball career that was spawned in those gyms as a youngster.

“I grew up with my dad as a coach, and it was something I always thought I wanted to get into,” Stamp said. “Starting with my role in operations, and then getting to be a coach, I was able to build relationships with these young women and help them learn and grow. And, I get to coach basketball while I’m doing that! So, walking onto that court at the Final Four in Dallas, it was a dream come true. I tried to soak it all in.”

Tourney road

Iowa went 31-7 in the 2022-23 season, tied with Maryland for second in the Big Ten regular season at 15-3 behind Indiana’s 16-2 conference mark. The Hawkeyes gained revenge for an earlier loss to Maryland with an 89-84 victory at the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawks then routed Ohio State, 105-72, in the championship game in Minneapolis.

As a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Iowa hosted the first two rounds with wins of 95-43 over Southeast Louisiana and 74-66 over Georgia. Those games sold out in less than 30 minutes, signalling the explosion of support for this squad.

All-American point guard Caitlin Clark, winner of all of the major awards as the nation’s outstanding women’s basketball player, along with WNBA draftee center Monika Czinano, Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall and McKenna Warnock became household names across the state as they finished a run of 92 games starting together by the conclusion of the NCAA tourney.

In the regional at Seattle, the Hawkeyes got past Colorado 87-77 and Louisville by a 97-83 score to earn the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 1993 under legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer.

It was a wild celebration, but short-lived as the next day they flew to Dallas to begin preparing for the daunting task of taking on No. 1-ranked and title favorite South Carolina. The Gamecocks were riding a 42-game winning streak and were listed as 12-point favorites in the semifinal game. Four team members were drafted in the WNBA on Monday, including three of the top 10 picks.

Stamp said the game plan was carefully crafted and the team went into the game feeling they had a legitimate chance to be successful.

“Honestly, from that first meeting on Tuesday all of us felt confident,” Stamp said. “Our team understood that maybe we had to make a few changes defensively and box out as hard as we’ve ever boxed out to try to keep them off the offensive boards, but otherwise we would just run our stuff and be who we have been all year and still win this game.

“What happened was, when you’re not shooting well and having trouble scoring consistently, that’s a different kind of pressure on them when we’re still able to score in our style of play,” she added. “We like to play fast and get down the court and react to what’s there and we did that. Caitlin (Clark) was orchestrating the symphony out there. We pulled from our different experiences against similar defenses and played well.”

Clark, the junior phenom from West Des Moines Dowling Catholic, scored 41 points for the second consecutive game that night and not only had the first 40-point triple-double (points-rebounds-assists) in NCAA Tournament history, there had never even been a 30-point triple double before.

Red carpet walk

On the day of the championship game, an afternoon tipoff on ABC, the team walked a red carpet from the bus to the arena entrance. The UI Athletics Department published a wide-angle view showing the sea of black and gold-clad fans cheering them as they walked through, led by coach Bluder.

“They didn’t tell us when we got on the bus, but on our way there was an announcement that a red carpet arrival was planned,” Stamp said. “We were all shocked at what we saw. It was amazing, how long it stretched and how many people were there on both sides. I’m sure many on the team would say that was the highlight of the whole thing. The picture captures it so well. We all enjoyed it.”

LSU had its best shooting game of the season in a 102-85 victory over Iowa in the title game. Foul trouble affected both teams and LSU star Angel Reese was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, ending Clark’s run of major awards in the sport.

“They played really well and rose to the moment,” Stamp said. “At halftime we tried to say that’s what you would expect from a team like that, but they have to cool off a little bit and we know we can come back. Unfortunately, our run fizzled out, but we never stopped fighting. That’s how they were in all of our games.”

Later, there was a controversy over Reese’s gesture toward Clark near the end of the game, and pointing to her ring finger to signify earning a championship ring. It was noted that Clark had demonstrated the same gesture during the Louisville win, and it was a sports talk show topic for the next 48 hours.

Controversy diffused

However, Clark and Bluder both credited LSU for playing a great game and had no negative comments, only praise, about Reese’s performance. That seemed to extinguish the feud, including a polite decline to attend the White House along with LSU that had been spoken by First Lady Jill Biden after the title game. In essence, the message was that this was LSU’s moment to enjoy.

Stamp said she was not surprised by the mature, respectful responses of both Bluder and Clark.

“Coach Bluder is still the same person I played for and began working for 14 years ago,” Stamp said. “This is how she has managed things her entire career. As for Caitlin, we knew coming in about her incredible skills and talent, but we were quite surprised at how well she did in front of the media as a freshman. She’s always had a knack for that. She thinks about the bigger picture, like the passion people feel about the sport of basketball. And, despite all of her awards, she never loses track of how she treats little kids and making hospital visits. She really puts a lot into it, and works just as hard in a tough major (business) to do well academically.”

Coaching role

As a former point guard herself, Stamp coaches the perimeter players such as Clark, Martin and Marshall. During games, her specialty is end-of-game situations and calling plays coming out of timeouts or quarter breaks. There aren’t any spontaneous new ideas presented.

“We have a number of plays we run in those situations and we whittle them down to certain ones we want in a particular game,” Stamp said. “We share that quickly in huddles or timeouts and they know what we’re doing. We don’t spend time drawing up plays on a (marker) board. We try not to do things during games that we don’t practice.”

For example, Clark’s off balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Indiana at home was one of those designed plays that had been practiced several times.

Stamp and other assistants Jan Jensen, Jenni Fitzgerald and Raina Harmon share duties of opponent scouts, recruiting and transfer portal situations. With one scholarship available to fill, Stamp said a transfer addition is possible.

“It’s a different time for roster management for sure,” she said. “We always talk about what do we actually need? We will never fill our whole team from it. We’re about growing players and developing relationships, but of course sometimes there’s an opportunity for a quick replacement or a need from injury.”

Stamp thinks the manner in which the team played on the court, showing their personalities as well as their abilities, was a factor in generating such huge support. Iowa was part of record ratings for women’s basketball on TV, surpassing any NBA game shown on ESPN during the regular season. On the road, Iowa played in front of crowds averaging boosted attendance of 3,600 above normal. Season ticket sales for next year have been paused because of demand when requests quickly reached 6,800.

“We have always played a style in which everyone matters,” Stamp said. “We always point and smile and thank our passer. We are a high assist team. We like to play pretty basketball and efficient offensive basketball. This year I thought our defense improved so much. Even when Gabbie wasn’t shooting well early in the season, for example, she never let it affect other parts of her game. Her defense was incredible in the tournament. We feed off each other and people noticed that.”

For now, the pace has slowed as players concentrate on their academics and the coaches prepare for the summer, the team camps and recruiting. The tournament run hasn’t totally sunk in for Stamp yet, but she’s beginning to realize the enormity of the support. She hopes to watch the TV version of an NCAA game or two to observe what was said during the broadcasts.

“At Winterset I always wanted to make the state tournament and experience that feeling when the whole town gets behind you and follows you there,” Stamp said. “Now, we kind of had that for the entire state, if not more. We had Hawk fans fly to our tournament games from New York and all over the country. It’s hard to soak that feeling in when you’re in the middle of it working. But, I do know it was incredible!”