Iowa women's basketball guard discusses breakout vs. Wisconsin

Talking to the media after Iowa women's basketball's (24-5, 15-3 Big Ten) 81-52 win at Wisconsin (13-16, 5-13) from the Kohl Center, sophomore guard Teagan Mallegni spoke on her unique experience playing in front of hundreds of friends and family, as well as her journey back into the lineup following a few early-season injuries.

The 6-foot-1 native of McFarland, Wis., scored a season-high 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting and 2-for-4 from 3-point territory in 15 minutes of action against the Badgers, which was also her largest amount of playing time this season.

With McFarland only nine miles away from the Kohl Center, the joyous sophomore mentioned that she had around 130 friends and family in attendance to see her play her first game at the over 17,000-seat downtown Madison arena.

"All the support I have here is really amazing and just to see them all and to be able to have a performance like that, that was pretty cool...

"I've had it circled since the beginning of the year, just being able to come back here and just see all my people and have that feeling like I did in high school. It was great," Mallegni said.

When asked about her journey back into the Hawkeyes' rotation after early-season setbacks, including a tonsillectomy, she said that maintaining focus on improving herself and working hard to seek extra practice reps has kept her ready whenever her name is called.

"Just focusing on myself, I think and getting extra reps and working as hard as I can every day and just trusting myself," Mallegni said.

The Wisconsin product laughed when she shared how good her first made 3-pointer of the season felt.

"It felt pretty good. I've been waiting for it. I'm excited and it feels good," Mallegni said.

With postseason play often coming down to the depth of each program, Mallegni has proven she can be a valuable piece for a Hawkeyes team that enters the Big Ten Tournament having won six straight. Mallegni discussed how important it is that Iowa has a number of players into its bench it can count upon.

"It's great. Journey stepping up, that was amazing. She is always ready and it makes it so much easier on the rest of us, so she works incredibly hard and is super tough. Every position, we're all ready to go and want to play," Mallegni said.

Mallegni said Iowa enters the postseason brimming with confidence.

"A ton. We've got so many great pieces and we love each other and we work really well together, so I'm just excited to see what we can do in the coming weeks," Mallegni said.

Iowa opens its Big Ten Tournament run on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network against No. 7 seed Michigan State, No. 10 seed Illinois or No. 15 seed Wisconsin.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women's basketball guard discusses breakout vs. Wisconsin