By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With five newcomers on the Iowa women’s basketball team’s roster, including the much-celebrated 5-star guard Addie Deal, it’s easy to overlook veteran guard Kylie Feuerbach and everything she has been through.

Feuerbach is preparing for her sixth and final season in a college career that started with her playing for Iowa State as a freshman.

The Sycamore, Illinois native made the switch to Iowa after her freshman campaign and she has gone on to be a solid role player for the Hawkeyes, especially on defense where she can guard multiple positions with her quickness and length.

Feuerbach’s offensive productivity has been more sporadic, but she hopes to change that this season.

“I think that’s one aspect that I’m going to step up in,” Feuerbach said of her offensive productivity. “Whatever is asked of me over the years, but I think this year offensively is one of those things that I really want to step into and just continue to be more aggressive and take more shots and just keep getting better.”

The 6-foot Feuerbach, who turned 24 in May, showed signs of stepping up on offense down the stretch of last season as she scored at least eight points in the final six games, including a season-high 14 in the 96-62 loss to Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

She also combined to make 11-of-24 shots from 3-point range in the final six games.

“I think she started to become much more consistent last year when I think she kind of took a little bit off the pressure,” said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen. “She’s so explosive. She’s incredibly athletic and she’s got a heck of a first step.

“I love her attacking the basket, and if we can continue to get that from her, and then if they sag off her a little bit, her three ball has gotten so much more consistent.”

The challenge for Feuerbach will be to pick up this season from 3-point range where she left off last season as a reliable option down the stretch.

She had stretches last season in which her 3-point shot was way off target, including one four-game stretch when she missed all 11 of her attempts from behind the arc and another four-game stretch when she missed all six of her 3-point shots.

Feuerbach had 13 games last season in which she didn’t make a 3-point shot and 23 games in which she made one or fewer shots from three.

And while it had to be frustrating for her, Feuerbach never let her shooting woes affect the other parts of her game. She never let up on defense, or as a leader on and off the court.

Feuerbach was asked Thursday after practice what she expects her role to be this season.

“I think defensively just being that key aspect and offensively, every year just stepping up to whatever you’re asked,” said Feuerbach, who led Iowa with 43 steals last season. “And so whatever I’m required to do offensively, that’s what I want to do.

“Just continue to put in the work this summer. This is the time to get better.”

Feuerbach’s leadership should be beneficial for an Iowa team that has added five new players, including three freshmen.

She has been through so much in college, from transferring from Iowa State to Iowa to suffering a season-ending knee injury early in her Hawkeye career to playing for two NCAA runner-up teams at Iowa; Feuerbach epitomizes what it means to be a veteran leader.

“Just her wisdom in six years,” Jensen said. “Her maturity and what she’s been through and what she’s seen, her road and getting to this spot, I think that’s going to be huge for us.”

Feuerbach was among three Iowa players that met with the media on Thursday, along with senior guard Taylor McCabe and sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow.

And even though Feuerbach waited until near the end of last season to announce that she would return to Iowa for a sixth season, she was always leaning towards coming back.

“I think at the beginning of the season I just was like I’m going to play it out,” Feuerbach said. “But I think always in my mind I was pretty set on playing. I just didn’t want to make any decision too fast. But I knew I wanted to keep playing.”

Feuerbach spoke highly of Iowa’s five newcomers, which in addition to Addie Deal, include  freshman center Layla Hays, freshman forward Journey Houston, sophomore point guard Chazadi ‘Chit-Chat’ Wright and sophomore guard/forward Emely Rodriguez.

Wright and Rodriguez transferred from Georgia Tech and Central Florida, respectively.

“One thing that’s really stood out with all the newbies is the way that they are just composed and their IQ,” Feuerbach said.

However, the process of getting to know the five new players apparently still is ongoing.

“I just learned Chit-Chat’s first name yesterday,” said Taylor McCabe. “But I think it’s going to be a real fun team. We have very different players on this team, so we’re going to bring a lot of different looks for other teams to handle, which is going to be rally cool.”