ORLANDO, Florida – No. 19 Iowa (5-0) defeated No. 7 Baylor (4-1) on Thursday night in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Showcase, 57-52.
Sophomore’s Ava Heiden and Taylor Stremlow led the game for the Hawkeyes. Heiden finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists. This was Heiden’s third game of the season with a double-double. Stremlow had a career-high 12 points along with four assists.
Both teams came out to a defensively competitive first quarter. Iowa came out strong with a 7-0 run. The Hawkeyes collected seven of their 11 first quarter points on six forced turnovers. Heiden found her way under the basket to lead the team’s momentum with four points, two assists, and two rebounds.
The second quarter opened up as a back-and-forth battle to the basket. Two baskets in the paint from Heiden and senior Hannah Stuelke gave Iowa a brief lead before Baylor got hot. Eleven straight points gave the bears their biggest lead of the game forcing an Iowa timeout. Heiden was able to draw a foul out of the timeout, making both free throws to pull Iowa out of a scoring drought. Senior Taylor Mccabe and Sophomore Chit Chat Wright responded with back-to-back three-point baskets off of opponent turnovers to tie it up 23-23 with two minutes left in the quarter. Baylor was able to edge out Iowa in the last few minutes up 28-25 at half.
Iowa proved resilient in the third quarter, ending it up 41-39. The Hawkeyes were able to get to the free throw line four times making five-of-seven shots. After a quiet two minutes of scoring at the 5:36 mark for both teams, Iowa went on a 7-3 run to take the lead. Heiden had seven points for the Hawkeyes in the quarter, followed by Stremlow with six of her own.
The Hawkeyes took control of the game to finish out the fourth quarter. Baylor came out with a three-point basket to start the quarter, before Stremlow responded with one of her own. Four consecutive back-and-forth baskets from both teams tied it up 48-48 with 6:20 left in the game. Iowa ended the game on a 9-4 run, leaving Baylor with zero field goals in the last 6:20 of play to close out a top-10 win for the Hawkeyes.
