By Hawk Fanatic

Iowa freshman center Ava Heiden served notice with her performance in the Big Ten Tournament that she was ready for whatever challenge that might come her way.

The Oregon native certainly faced a challenge when starting center Hannah Stuelke picked up two early fouls in Saturday’s game against Murray State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

But instead of wilting under the pressure, the 6-foot-4 Heiden seized the moment by scoring 15 point as Iowa rolled to a 92-57 victory in Norman, Oklahoma.

“I think that just over the past few months I’ve been putting in a lot of extra work, and that has helped me get to the competence level and skill level to be able to come into games like this and perform well,” Heiden said. ”

Iowa had five players that scored in double figures, made eight 3-point baskets and finished with 28 assists, setting a program record for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game.

Iowa used all of its available 12 players in Saturday’s game and they all scored.

The win improved Iowa’s record to 23-10 and it also gave Jan Jensen her first victory in the NCAA Tournament as the Iowa head coach.

Jensen, a long-time Iowa assistant coach, was promoted to head coach on the same day Lisa Bluder announced her retirement last May.

“I’m just really thankful,” Jensen said. “It’s really special to be in the NCAA Tournament, and we’ve just had so many people step up at different times this year, and I get to sit up here with the future, right.” And these two were terrific high school players, and they have improved and met challenges. They stayed patient.

“I’m just really grateful to get this first win, and any time you can survive in advance in any tournament, but when you get to do it in the NCAA, it feels special. So I’m really thankful.”

Iowa will now face host Oklahoma (26-7) in the second round on Monday.

The Sooners, who are coached by former Hawkeye and West Des Moines Dowling graduate Jennie (Lillis) Baranczyk, defeated Florida Gulf Coast 81-58 in the other first-round game on Saturday in Norman.

Oklahoma closed the game on a 19-4 scoring run and finished with 23 assists and an NCAA Tournament record 72 rebounds.

Raegen Beers, a 6-4 center, led Oklahoma with 25 points and 18 rebounds.

Iowa, which finished as the NCAA runner-up in each of the past two seasons, is now 11-2 in the NCAA Tournament since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Jensen faced a daunting task in moving forward without former All-America point guard Caitlin Clark, and without most of Clark’s supporting cast from the previous four seasons.

And while there were some struggles in the regular season, most notably a five-game losing streak in January, the players have stayed the course and have stayed connected, winning 11 of their last 14 games.

Heiden’s playing time had been sporadic during the regular season, causing some fans and members of the media to wonder why she wasn’t playing more.

Stuelke and senior center Addi O’Grady had shared most of the playing time in the post throughout the regular season with Heiden as the third option.

But when opportunity presented itself in the Big Ten Tournament, Heiden was ready as she scored in double figures in two of the three games.

Heiden then picked up in the NCAA Tournament where she had left off in the conference tournament by providing instant offense off the bench as Jensen chose to play Heiden rather than O’Grady with Stuelke in foul trouble.

Heiden made 7-of-11 field-goal attempts in Saturday’s win and had seven rebounds, while senior guard Lucy Olsen, a Villanova transfer, finished with 12 points and 12 assists in her first NCAA game as a Hawkeye.

“Hannah is a great player, and I’m here to contribute as a team and make us as a whole better,” Heiden said. “But I get to come in and help the team in any way I can, and Hannah can get out there in the second half and do her thing. We all get our minutes, and we all contribute.”

Stuelke only played 14 minutes, but the Cedar Rapids native still finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Senior Syd Affolter also played her typical role, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Iowa led 18-12 after the first quarter, thanks largely to Heiden, who scored nine points off the bench in the quarter.

The Hawkeyes also forced six turnovers in the first quarter and controlled the tempo against the nation’s top scoring team.

Stuelke picked up her second foul with 8 minutes, 7 seconds left in the first quarter and then sat for the rest of the first half.

So, what could have been a major problem was avoided due to Heiden’s impact on both ends of the floor.

But then Heiden picked up her third foul late in the second quarter, as did Olsen, sending them both to the bench for the remainder of the half.

It didn’t matter, though, as Iowa despite having three of its best players on the bench closed the first half on a 7-0 scoring and led 42-30 at the break.

Heiden led Iowa with 13 points and six rebounds in the first half, while Olsen had 12 points and six assists in the first half.

Freshman guard Taylor Stremlow also scored eight points off the bench for Iowa in the first half and would go on to finish with a career-high 10 points.

“That’s our whole mindset is being ready when you’re name is called,” Stremlow said. “Obviously, today it worked well for us and everybody on the bench came off and did good and put some good minutes in.”

Murray State suffered a huge setback when its leading scorer, 6-1 forward Katelyn Young, was helped off the court with 9:20 left in the third quarter with what appeared to be a left foot injury.

She did not return to the game, leaving the Racers without a player whose jersey is already retired.

“Obviously, I felt badly that Katelyn Young got hurt in that third quarter,” Jensen said. “That’s a big blow. But I think we were on point.”

Iowa scored seven straight points to start the third quarter, expanding the lead to 49-30 and causing Murray State to call a time with the game in danger of slipping away.

The game would then turn into a rout as Iowa outscored the Racers 30-10 in the third quarter and led 72-40 heading to the fourth quarter.