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After arriving in Iowa City in June, two of the Hawkeyes' newest stars, forward McKenna Woliczko and guard Amari Whiting, recounted the warm welcome they received from Iowa's loyal fan base.
Woliczko, a five-star signee in Iowa's 2026 class from San Bruno, Calif., revealed that her move-in process was complicated by luggage delays, which forced her and her mother to visit Walmart at 5 a.m. The 6-foot-2 forward was quickly recognized.
"When we got here, the airport lost our bags because of our layover. We only had like 10 minutes, and they didn't make it. So the morning that we got here, I had all these appointments scheduled to get checked in here. And so we woke up at like 5 a.m. to go to Walmart, me and my mom, just to get some toiletries like deodorant, some clothes, things that we needed.
"And just being in Walmart, there were like five people that were like, 'Oh, hi, McKenna, thank you for choosing Iowa.' And it was just so awesome to see that I was here less than 24 hours, and for people to already recognize me, it's just so welcoming," Woliczko said.
Whiting, a senior guard from Burley, Idaho, played previously at BYU and Oklahoma State. Like Woliczko, Whiting has been impressed by Iowa fans' reception to her arrival.
"A lot of people that I've even met just want to know the random things about me. Not just like always talking about basketball, basketball, basketball. It's always just like, I meet people, and it's not like questions of like, 'Oh, how's the team? How are you gonna fit in? Or, what's your role?' It's like, 'How are you liking Iowa? Have you been here yet? 'Have you done this? How is it being without your family and all the things?' And so, I think those types of questions rather than straight to basketball is really cool, and I think it's just telling," Whiting said.
In 97 collegiate games, Whiting has averaged 10.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 40.3% field goal shooting, 30.1% 3-point shooting and 63.3% free-throw accuracy.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women's basketball newcomers recount warm welcome from fan base
