By John Bohnenkamp

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It took a whole half before the Iowa’s women’s basketball team made a 3-pointer.

It took most of the first half before the Hawkeyes shook off a first-half opening-night funk.

The second half was better for them in an 86-51 win over Southern on Monday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Ava Heiden had 21 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Hawkeyes. Hannah Stuelke had 20 points, and Emely Rodriguez added 13.

It was a game that coach Jan Jensen thought was a product of the age difference on the Hawkeyes’ roster.

“We’re a lot younger than we are older,” she said.

That could be seen in who led the Hawkeyes in scoring. Stuelke is a senior, one of the few remaining products of Iowa’s back-to-back runs to the Final Four, while Heiden is a sophomore making her first official start.

Heiden was expected to become a big presence in the post for the Hawkeyes, and she showed what Jensen had been saying about her in the offseason, working to get her shot and demanding the ball.

“I wish you were there in practice, you would hear it a lot,” Heiden said.

“You’re seeing a real confident level in Ava, chasing another higher level,” Jensen said.

Stuelke, who moved to the ‘4’ in the offseason, made 8 of 11 shots, but two of those misses were 3-pointers.

Stuelke’s outside shot is going to be important for her to be effective in that position, and so knocking even one down is a good sign.

“It felt great,” she said. “I’ve really been working hard on it.”

“I just still think around the basket, she’s so stellar,” Jensen said. “And I think she’s buying into that. We’re playing her a little bit inside, playing her a little bit outside. And I think she just feels a little freer being able to do both.”

The Hawkeyes led just 37-24 at halftime but dominated the second half. Iowa had a 22-1 run on Southern during one stretch in the fourth quarter.

Iowa was 30 of 58 from the field, 18 of 30 in the second half. But the Hawkeyes made just 4 of 18 3-point attempts.

“I do think tonight was an anomaly,” Jensen said of the missed shots. “I was surprised we missed all 10 of our 3-pointers in the first half. I was really surprised.”

Just as concerning for Jensen was the Hawkeyes’ 24 turnovers against Southern’s press. It was a valuable lesson, she said.

“Their press did what they were wanting it to do,” she said. “But I do think it will be great data for us. You know, there’s one thing to have your male practice squad do a press, but there’s a whole other thing to have a team with the lights on doing it.”

Iowa missed its first 10 3-point attempts before Stuelke hit one 13 seconds into the second half.

“Broke our missing streak,” Stuelke said, laughing.

Iowa had a 52-21 edge in rebounding.

“As much as it wasn’t the prettiest game. It’s really going to help us,” Jensen said. “It’s going to help us because they had a face a lot of annoyance.”