After a sluggish first quarter, the Iowa women’s basketball opened its regular season with a dominant 86-51 victory over Southern University Monday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Sophomore Ava Heiden led the team with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while senior Hannah Stuelke impressed with 20 points and nine rebounds of her own.
Transfer sophomores Emely Rodriguez and Chit-Chat Wright provided efficiency for the Hawkeyes’ offense as well. Rodriguez totaled 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting while Wright contributed nine points and seven assists.
“I do believe [Wright] has the ability to really take over a game when we need it, and I need someone to do that,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said postgame. “It’s been a long time since we haven’t known who’s going to do that.”
The Hawkeye offense was moving the ball well early on, but struggled to hit shots. The Hawkeyes’ field goal percentage dipped as low as 29 early in the second quarter. However, sophomore duo Chit-Chat Wright and Ava Heiden impressed from the gate. Wright’s facilitation and Heiden’s paint presence gave the team a pulse.
Momentum shifted in Iowa’s favor when Wright stole the ball on the defensive end and dealt it to sophomore Emely Rodriguez for a tough contested layup on the left side to take a 22-18 lead with six minutes to go in the second quarter. From that point on, it was all Iowa. The Hawkeyes proceeded to go on a 17-0 run over the next five minutes to cement their lead. Heiden and Stuelke each converted an and-one during the span.
The Hawkeyes outscored Southern 22-10 in the second quarter to take a 37-24 lead at halftime. Iowa shot 43 percent from the field but went 0-of-10 from three-point range through the first two quarters.
“I do think tonight was an anomaly,” Jensen said in regards to the team’s poor three point shooting. “I thought we got good looks.”
Iowa kept Southern at a comfortable distance throughout the second half, outscoring the Jaguars 49-27 in the final two quarters.Sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow excelled defensively, recording three blocks.
The stifling defense on display for the Hawkeyes has been a point of emphasis for head coach Jan Jensen during the offseason.
“[Defense] is going to be a pretty central part to who we are as a team,” Heiden said. “That’s going to help us separate from teams and keep us in league with these big teams that we’ll be playing against this year.”
The Hawkeyes thrived close to the basket, with 48 of their 86 points coming from inside the paint. After a 0-for-10 start from the three point line in the first half, Iowa began to find a rhythm from distance in the second half. The Hawkeyes shot 4-of-8 from three in the final two quarters. Stuelke, who shot just 11.8 percent from deep last season, drilled Iowa’s first make of the evening.
The Hawkeyes return to action on Sunday at 2 p.m. when they host the University of Evansville. The Purple Aces are coming off of a difficult 2024-25 season, where they finished with a 7-25 overall record.
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