IOWA CITY — Tension arrived inside steamy Carver-Hawkeye Arena about 48 hours ahead of schedule.
A pressing environment has become a mainstay in round-of-32 women’s NCAA Tournament basketball games here in recent years, but not often in the first-rounders. But a disappointing final 13 minutes of No. 2-seeded Iowa’s first half against No. 15 seed Fairleigh Dickinson had the 14,332 fans here and hundreds of thousands more at home feeling uneasy for what would become a hang-on-for-dear-life hour ahead.
The ugly third quarter didn’t get much better. So how would the Hawkeyes (who were 32½-point favorites) respond with owning a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter? When No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament had never lost to a No. 15 in 126 meetings?
The answer could speak to this young team’s touted resiliency … and forecast how long (or short) the Hawkeyes’ NCAA run could be.
The answer turned out to be: Reluctant Hawkeye star Ava Heiden.
The sheepish sophomore isn’t sure she wants to be the go-to player. But she sure was in the nick of time in this March 21 battle. Heiden scored 15 fourth-quarter points, including 12 straight for her team, as Iowa survived an upset bid from Fairleigh Dickinson with a 58-48 triumph.
Survived … and advanced.
“We weren’t hitting necessarily, and Ava was firing,” Hawkeyes guard Taylor Stremlow said. “You can’t really stop her. So, just continuing to go with what works.”
With the Hawkeyes clinging to a 44-43 lead, Jan Jensen called for a timeout with 6 minutes, 17 seconds to go. She dialed up Heiden, who rolled into the lane on a feed from Chit-Chat Wright for two. Heiden knocked in two free throws after a defensive stop, and the crowd was roaring.
FDU’s 3-point weapon remained relentless, though, with Bella Toomey knocking in the 10th Knights shot from deep to cut it to 48-46. Tension rose as the clock wound below 5 minutes.
Heiden scored again in deep on a feed from Kylie Feuerbach, then again on a dime from Stremlow after a Feuerbach block at the other end. Heiden knocked down another two free throws to push the lead to 54-46 with 3:10 to go.
Heiden was Iowa’s first-team all-conference player this year. She was a difference-maker all season. The 6-foot-4 sophomore was THE difference in her first career NCAA Tournament start. Remember, a year ago in the postseason, she was just emerging as a valuable contributor for the Hawkeyes after spending most of the season on the bench.
“I think I’m finding my way,” Heiden said. “I’ve never been the person to be like, ‘I want that final shot.’ Like, ‘No, let someone else take it.’ I’m growing. Logically and statistically, that’s how my brain works. If my field-goal percentage is 65%, I get that it’s the most likely shot that’s going to go in. So I’ll take it if I need to.”
Heiden finished with a career-high 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 from the line.
In that crucial timeout in a one-point game, Jensen had to decide quickly what message to deliver. She chose to be stern. She told them to believe in what brought the Hawkeyes to 24 regular-season wins and the No. 2 seed line. That message was received, especially by Heiden. Iowa closed on a 14-5 run.
“Getting them to believe in how much belief the rest of us have in them,” Jensen said. “… That’s a sophomore that is learning to get used to the big bright lights of the biggest stage. She’s not quite there, but me — I’d give it to her 16 times out of 16.”
Hannah Stuelke added 13 points and 16 rebounds for Iowa despite going 7-for-16 from the foul line. Feuerbach added a career-high 11 rebounds in a game that was uglier than anyone in black and gold hoped … but the result was the main thing that mattered.
Iowa (27-6) now advances to face No. 10-seeded Virginia here at Carver at 1 p.m. CT Monday (ESPN), for a shot at the Sweet 16 in the Sacramento 4 Regional.
The heat was up, in more ways than one
The second-round opportunity felt, for more than a few brief moments, fleeting on Saturday afternoon inside an arena with no air conditioning and outside temperatures in the 80s. Iowa facilities people said the inside temperature reached 90 degrees during the game.
It was a factor.
“The difference from in here (the air-conditioned locker room) to out there was insane,” Iowa freshman Journey Houston said. “Actually getting (playing) time made it even worse. So that’s why we had ice at every timeout and every break to try to keep everybody cooled off.”
Feuerbach, who is well-conditioned even by basketball standards, said it was actually easier to play than to be on the bench. But she said tired legs set in around the start of the fourth quarter.
Ava Renninger, who led FDU with 13 points, said the high temperatures didn’t affect how the Knights played, but it was an issue that they had to address.
“Coming out for warmups, it was like a smack in the face how hot it was in there,” Renninger said. “I already sweat a lot as it is. There was a towel or two towels given to me every timeout, every break possible.”
What should be the over-arching takeaways from the afternoon at Carver?
For starters, Iowa’s defense continues to be something it can depend on. Fairleigh Dickinson scored 14 points in the final 3:13 of the first quarter — with four 3-pointers coming in a stretch of 2:32.
In the 6:47 that preceded that stretch and the 16:44 that followed, FDU had 12 points. Twelve, in more than 22 minutes of court time.
“Especially in March, you know, defense is going to win the games,” Feuerbach said. “Defense is going to win the championships. Defense is what stopped them from scoring as much as they could, and that’s what ultimately helped us win this game.”
Remember, too, it was Iowa’s defense that locked down No. 2 NCAA seed Michigan to an average of 43.0 points in two meetings to secure a pair of 17-point wins. So this wasn’t a completely concerning day, in that sense.
But also, its offense was freezing up too much unless Heiden gets the ball down low consistently. That’s a major concern, considering the next opponent likes to sag on the posts (more on that later).
After Wright made Iowa’s first 3-point attempt, the Hawkeyes missed 12 in a row from downtown and were clinging to a 35-33 lead entering the fourth quarter. They didn’t attempt a 3 in the final 10 minutes.
“To get a win and shoot like that shows we have other strengths,” Stremlow said.
Additionally, the Hawkeyes had been ascending at the free-throw line throughout the season after a cold start. But the poor percentages at the line resurfaced, with Iowa going 17-for-29 for the game (58.6%). That’ll need to be cleaned up in time for Monday’s second-round contest.
“I’ve always been a mostly a glass-half full person,” Jensen said. “We found a way in March. We shot pathetically from 3, and I’m pretty sure they were wide-open looks. We missed a crazy amount of free throws.
“Our posts started out dominant. And then what happened was the tightness when they began to think about the what-ifs.”
Hear from Hannah Stuelke after Iowa women’s basketball survives vs. FDU
Hear from Hannah Stuelke after Iowa women’s basketball survives vs. FDU
Your stat of the game: 2 seniors, 27 rebounds
FDU had won 22 games in a row entering Saturday. The Knights believed they could win.
But the two Hawkeye seniors, on a rough day otherwise, delivered hustle play after hustle play.
Stuelke’s 16 rebounds tied her career high, most recently set against Washington. Eight of those boards were on the offensive end. Iowa owned a 47-28 advantage on the glass.
“That’s been really important for us this whole season, but especially today,” Stuelke said, “getting those rebounds, those extra possessions.”
Feuerbach’s 11 rebounds topped her previous career high of nine. All 11 were on the defensive glass. Pretty good day for a sixth-year senior whose career average was 1.9 rebounds in 162 career games.
Feuerbach said FDU’s guards are known to crash the offensive glass. FDU also fired up a lot of 3s, going 10-of-32 from deep to Iowa’s 1-of-13, creating a lot of long rebounds.
“We had to box out, because a lot of them O-board,” Feuerbach said. “A majority of the time the girl I was guarding, she wasn’t really crashing. So, I was like, ‘OK, well, everybody else is boxing,’ so that gave me an opportunity to get the ball.”
Hear from Kylie Feuerbach after Iowa women’s basketball survives vs. FDU
Hear from Kylie Feuerbach after Iowa women’s basketball survives vs. FDU
Taylor Stremlow’s presence remains a significant factor
Stremlow going to the bench with two fouls at the 5:38 mark of the second quarter might have been the biggest factor in creating in-house tension. Iowa was leading, 26-19, at the time after running in six points — including on a nifty putback by Stremlow off her own 3-point miss.
The sophomore has been the intangibles leader for the Hawkeyes’ since Taylor McCabe’s season-ending knee injury, and her on-court play has been terrific as well. But when she went to the bench, Iowa struggled. Freshman Addie Deal had a poor first half, going minus-18 (meaning Iowa was outscored by 18 points with her on the floor) and 1-for-5 shooting in 12 minutes.
Jensen surely would’ve loved to get Deal going early, considering she’s been a hot-or-cold performer for the Hawkeyes all year. But her struggles accentuated Iowa’s limited depth — and Stremlow’s importance — as this NCAA Tournament continues.
Stremlow wasn’t at her best, but she provided stability in the fourth quarter, playing all 10 minutes. She finished with four points but a plus-17 rating. And with her team-best seven assists, she overtook Wright for the team lead this season (139 to 135).
Taylor Stremlow looks at positives after Iowa’s first-round NCAA win
The sophomore guard had seven assists in a 58-48 win over Fairleigh Dickinson that was tenser than most expected.
An early preview of Iowa’s next opponent: Virginia
Virginia was a slight surprise to make the NCAA Tournament field, entering via a First Four matchup against Arizona State … which it won at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday, 57-55. Now the Cavaliers are in the round of 32 after surviving No. 7 seed Georgia in overtime, 82-73, earlier Saturday.
Virginia (21-11) poses an interesting challenge to Iowa. It has more size and experience than Georgia does, starting 6-foot-2 redshirt junior Sa’Myah Smith (23 points, 11 rebounds vs. the Bulldogs), 6-3 graduate Romi Levy (14 points, five steals, played all 45 minutes) and 6-4 senior Tabitah Amanze (four points, four rebounds).
Sometimes, extra size can be a difficulty for Iowa’s more athletic posts.
Additionally, the Cavaliers play a lot of zone defense — something the Hawkeyes didn’t see a lot of during the Big Ten Conference season. Iowa doesn’t have a true zone-beating 3-point assassin with Taylor McCabe (ACL) gone for the season, but it does have two starters who are shooting above 40% from 3 for the season in Wright and Stremlow.
“We’ve been playing quite a bit of zone lately,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “And it’s been helping us.”
Virginia likely will try to pack it in on Heiden and Stuelke and try to force outside shots to fall. That said, Virginia’s zone wasn’t overly physical against Georgia — it seems to have more length than power. That could offer opportunities for Heiden and Stuelke to draw fouls. Georgia attempted 35 free throws against Virginia.
The Cavaliers have a good point guard, too, in 5-7 junior Kymora Johnson, who had 28 points and six assists on Saturday. Iowa will have to choose whether Wright or Feuerbach, both excellent defenders, will D up Johnson.
Round-of-32 matchups against No. 10 seeds have never come easy for Iowa, as we know. Creighton was a 10 in 2022 when it shocked Cailtin Clark and the Hawkeyes in a second-round game. Georgia was a 10 in 2023 when it took an Iowa team that made the Final Four into the final minute.
But Virginia is the No. 40 overall seed by the NCAA Selection Committee for this tournament. The Hawkeyes were No. 6. They’ve got to take those odds, against a team that’s already played 85 minutes of basketball here in less than 48 hours, for a chance at the program’s third Sweet 16 in four years.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
