IOWA CITY,  Iowa – Every glance off the iron, every rim rattle rendered agony inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena Monday afternoon as Iowa women’s basketball’s Sweet 16 hopes fell out of reach. The second-seeded Hawkeyes fell to the 10th-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, 83-75, in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA tournament. 

Iowa had chances at the end of regulation and each overtime to take a lead, but shots wouldn’t fall for the Hawkeyes, who shot 37 percent from the field, including 5-of-29 from three. Iowa led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter before falling in the second round of the tournament for the second consecutive year. 

“The things that have hurt us earlier: foul trouble, missed free throws, and bad shooting percentages, it’ll show up,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said. 

Second-year center Ava Heiden led the team with 26 points on 11-of-22 shooting, followed by guard Chit-Chat Wright with 21 points and senior Hannah Stuelke with 15. Stuelke closed her Iowa career with a double-double, grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds. 

Third-year guard Kymora Johnson scored a game-high 28 points. Virginia teammate Paris Clark added 20 as the Cavaliers advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. 

Tied at 65, Iowa possessed the ball with 13 seconds remaining in the first overtime. Second-year guard Taylor Stremlow received a pass on the left wing, but her attempt rattled out.

“We have to make shots,” Stremlow said postgame. “That’s basketball. That’s what we’re here for. That’s why we practice so much. It just really sucks that they weren’t falling.” 

Center Ava Heiden collected the rebound in the air, landed, but then pivoted away from the basket before she rushed a putback attempt as time expired.  Heiden explained her move by saying she thought there was more time on the clock. 

“That’s on me. I’ve got to more aware of the clock,” Heiden said. “Something I’ll grow into.”

The teams traded baskets to begin the second extra period before Clark converted an and-one putback to take the lead. The Cavaliers wouldn’t trail again, as Johnson scored the next four points off two Iowa turnovers. Heiden then fouled out and Virginia added two more points from there and the contest remained a three-possession affair. 

Iowa finished the season 27-7 overall and is now 50-18 during Jensen’s two-year tenure at the helm. 

A physical first overtime featured a flagrant one on each team, both involving Stuelke. The senior hit a Virginia player with her left elbow on a putback attempt. She was fouled but missed both free throws, while her flagrant gave Virginia two made free throws and helped spark a four-point swing to give the Cavaliers a 63-59 lead. 

Heiden and Stuelke scored the next four to knot the game, then Stuelke was on the receiving end of a hard elbow from Virginia’s Sa’Myah Smith. Incidental contact in both cases, but only the Cavaliers capitalized. Wright took the ensuing free throws for Iowa but converted only her second attempt. Iowa finished 8-of-16 from the line. 

“No one feels worse than the people who miss it,” Jensen said.

Johnson then drove the lane to tie the game. The guard from Charlottesville stayed home to play for Virginia, and in her first NCAA appearance is averaging 24 points per game over three contests. 

“Usually when you win in March, somebody is going to make some big plays,” Jensen said. “They just made big plays.” 

Kylie Feuerbach blocked Johnson three-pointer on Virginia’s next possession, then played a key role on the Cavaliers final play of regulation, fighting through multiple screens to stay with Johnson along the perimeter and force a pass to the corner to Smith, who drove but had the ball poked out for a turnover. 

In her final game as a Hawkeye, Feuerbach contributed across the board, with four points, seven rebounds and five assists. 

After a timeout, Iowa ran one play with nine seconds remaining. Wright received the out-of-bounds pass, but couldn’t find anyone in the lane and settled for a turnaround jumper at the elbow that missed the rim. 

“We just wanted to get a pretty open look,” Wright said. “I think there were times where I had some good open looks, just didn’t make it.” 

For Jensen, the missed execution on the final play came from “hesitancy.” Wright and Heiden are third and first, respectively, in points per game this season but are only sophomores. Situational awareness, such as knowing the score and shot clock, eluded the Hawkeyes. 

“I’m not faulting them, but I think that basketball IQ, that savvy is really hard,” Jensen said. 

Before the overtime collapse, Iowa saw a third quarter resurgence. An 18-4 Iowa run flipped a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead in the first five minutes of the frame. Stuelke collected five rebounds during the spurt and notched a steal as Iowa forced four turnovers to break out in transition and score quickly. Heiden scored eight on 3-of-4 shooting. She finished with 12 in the third quarter, her second consecutive game recording double-figures in one quarter. 

“I think that we’re not here today without Ava,” Jensen said. “ We’re just really proud of her.” 

After shooting 30 percent from the field in the first half, Iowa hit seven of its first ten shots. After Stuelke’s layup beat the buzzer, Iowa piled on 25 points in the third quarter, surpassing its total from the previous two quarters combined. 

Iowa fed Heiden early in the post for four points to start, but the sophomore picked up two fouls in the game’s first five minutes and went to the bench for the remainder of the first quarter. Layla Hays subbed in but struggled, recording a travel and letting Caitlin Weimar slip through for an easy basket. Jensen opted for Journey Houston as a replacement, and the first-year delivered with four points in the first half. Houston led Iowa in minutes off the bench and grabbed four rebounds.

Operating at the center position, Stuelke thrived, making good reads at the block. She assisted Houston on the opposite block and recorded three assists in the first half along with five rebounds. But the senior couldn’t find the basket, limited to two points on three shots. 

With Heiden stuck on the bench (nine minutes in the first half) and Stuelke pressured in the post, Wright took command, finishing with a team-high eight points on a team-best 10 shots. After connecting on just 1-of-13 triples in its last game against Fairleigh-Dickinson, Iowa continued to struggle from deep, making just 1-of-12 from deep. In its last two games, Iowa is 7-of-42 from long range.

After falling to Oklahoma in the second round last season, Iowa has yet to make a Sweet 16 under Jensen. A two-year span without an appearance may feel like a drought, especially for fans used to the heights of the Caitlin Clark reign, but players who witnessed both eras, the Iowa program remains in good hands. 

“She’s not hard-headed and not wanting to change,” Stuelke said of Jensen. “She’s always changing, always improving, and I think that’s really important to have in a head coach.” 

Up Next  

Virginia will advance to play TCU on Saturday in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento. 

TCU is 31-5 overall, advancing to the Sweet 16 with a 46-point win over San Diego, then surviving Washington in overtime, 62-59, in the second round. Guard Olivia Miles leads the Horned Frogs with 19.4 points and 6.6 assists per game. TCU ranks 13th in Division I in points allowed per game.