Ava Heiden’s double-double propels Iowa women’s basketball to season-opening win over Southern

IOWA CITY — Rehearsals are a thing of the past. No more practice pennies or intrasquad scrimmages day in and day out. The lights are on, playlist is running through the pregame requests and the buzzer is turned on.

No. 21 Iowa women’s basketball is back, and sophomore center Ava Heiden’s ready to go.

The Hawkeyes hosted Southern University in its season opener, the reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular season and tournament champions. Iowa had the advantage in the last three matchups between these two programs, and captured its first win of the season with a 86-51 win over the Jags.

There were mistakes on the court, sure, but the Heiden helped pave the way to Iowa’s first win of the year with her quick start.

Heiden soared to 15 points and eight boards in the first half, going 5-for-8 from the floor in 14 minutes. She led the Hawkeyes with 21 points, finishing the game with a career-high 14 rebounds for her first-career double-double.

“You're just seeing a real, confident player that's chasing that next level,” Head coach Jan Jensen said.

Heiden and guard Hannah Stuelke scored a combined 41 points and 23 boards for Iowa.

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Iowa couldn’t get a shot from three to fall in the first half, not that it mattered. Instead, it scored 48 points in the paint against the Jags, including 26 bench points.

The Hawkeyes strung together a 19-6 run in the second quarter to advance their lead into double figures, where it stayed the rest of the game. Iowa later put together a 23-3 in the fourth quarter, holding the Jags scoreless for over six minutes in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, however, Iowa allowed seven triples on 23 attempts — most of which coming in the first half. Stuelke knocked down Iowa’s first triple of the game, and season, on the first possession of the second half. The Hawkeyes were 4-for-18 from the arc.

“That was an anomaly,” Jensen said. “I was really surprised we were 0-for-10 at the first half.”

There were 44 combined turnovers in the game, with Iowa scoring 25 points off it.

Stuelke finished the game with 20 points, missing most of the third quarter in foul trouble. It was her ninth game scoring 20 or more points in her career.

Iowa opted to play 10 players against Southern, with guard Teagan Mallegni unavailable. Mallegni was listed as questionable leading into the season-opener, but remained in street clothes during shootarounds and the first team warmups.

The 10 Hawkeyes who did play, however, all recorded either a made basket, a rebound or both. Three players — Heiden, Stuelke and Emely Rodriguez — finished the game in with double digit points.

The Hawkeyes held Southern without a basketball for nearly the entire fourth quarter, leading to their second double-digit run of the game.

Iowa faces Evansville next on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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