No. 13 Iowa secured a win over Nebraska with an 80-67 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday. The Hawkeyes, now holding a 20-5 overall record and 11-3 in the Big Ten, have achieved their tenth consecutive season with at least 20 wins, marking only the second time this has happened in program history.
Sophomore Ava Heiden led Iowa’s effort, recording her sixth career double-double. She finished with 27 points on 12-for-15 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds, contributed three assists, and blocked three shots. “Heiden tied her career-high with 27 points,” according to team statistics. This performance also marked her second career game with at least 20 points and ten rebounds.
The game began strongly for Iowa as they started with a 10-0 run in the first quarter and forced five turnovers from Nebraska, resulting in ten points. Taylor Stremlow made all three of her attempts from beyond the arc during this period as the Hawkeyes shot over seventy percent from the field.
In the second quarter, Heiden scored fourteen of Iowa’s twenty points while making all six of her field goal attempts. By halftime, Iowa led Nebraska by eighteen points.
Nebraska narrowed the gap to eleven points midway through the third quarter before Chit-Chat Wright helped spark an eleven-to-one run for Iowa. The Hawkeyes ended the third period up by twenty points.
Iowa opened the fourth quarter with a seven-point streak—five coming from Heiden—to match her career scoring high. Overall, Iowa forced eighteen turnovers and scored twenty-seven points off those opportunities against Nebraska—its best mark this season versus a Big Ten opponent.
Stremlow also had a notable game with seventeen points on six-of-seven shooting along with two assists. “Stremlow tied her career-high with three 3-pointers (3-4)” and made her ninth start of the year; Iowa is undefeated when she starts this season.
Other contributions included Hannah Stuelke’s seven points and four assists, Wright’s fourteen points and seven assists (her third such performance in four games), and Journey Houston’s ten-point outing—all of Houston’s double-digit scoring games have come against Big Ten teams.
Coach Jan Jensen became “the first coach in Iowa women’s basketball history to eclipse the 20-win mark in her first two seasons.” Jensen joins C. Vivian Stringer as only the second coach to win twenty games by their second year leading Iowa women’s basketball.
Iowa has now won thirteen out of its last fifteen meetings against Nebraska and leads their all-time series twenty-seven to seventeen. The team remains unbeaten this season when leading at halftime or scoring eighty or more points under Coach Jensen.
Next up for No. 13 Iowa is an away game against Purdue on Thursday at West Lafayette; coverage will be available on B1G+ and via radio broadcast.
