As the offseason grind enters the summer months, Iowa women’s basketball welcomed UCF transfer portal guard/forward Emely Rodriguez to Iowa City on Monday as part of an on-campus visit.
In her freshman season at UCF, Rodriguez averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 40.9% from the field, 33.3% from 3-point range, and 75.3% from the free-throw line.
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Despite missing five games with injury last season, Rodriguez registered 16 double-figure scoring games, including a career-high 21 against Iowa State on Feb. 25. The 6-foot wing also earned a double-double against Montana State and collected five or more rebounds in 17 contests. Before entering the transfer portal, Rodriguez was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team.
Originally from La Romana in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez came to the United States in 2021 to chase her basketball dream. In March 2023, she was recognized as the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year for Classes 4A-2A when she averaged 26.5 points per game and led Horeb Christian with 15.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.
Iowa women’s basketball head coach Jan Jensen recently spoke in an interview with the Register’s Chad Leistikow, in which she mentioned that adding forward depth to the Hawkeyes‘ lineup would be a desire as the team prepares for the 2025-26 campaign.
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“If we added some type of forward, just with our depth, that’d be great,” Jan Jensen said.
The Hawkeyes have already signed one player via the transfer portal this offseason as former Georgia Tech point guard Chazadi “Chit Chat” Wright committed to Iowa. A 5-foot-4 guard from Atlanta, Georgia, Wright appeared in all 33 games and started 12 with the Yellow Jackets, averaging 7.2 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game while shooting 37.1% from the field, 32.3% from 3-point range, and 88.6% from the free-throw line.
While Rodriguez still intends to visit Indiana on May 13, the Hawkeyes hope to grab yet another promising player from the transfer portal to add a depth scoring option as the program moves into Jensen’s second season at the helm.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women’s basketball welcomes UCF transfer portal visitor
