IOWA CITY — The Iowa women's basketball team survived a upset scare against Fairleigh Dickinson in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, earning a 58-48 win.
The No. 2 seed Hawkeyes (27-6, 15-3 Big Ten) trailed for just 14 seconds in the first quarter against the No. 15 seed Knights (30-5,18-0 NEC), but did not lead by 10 or more points in the second half until the final 17 seconds.
Ava Heiden led all players with 29 points, including 19 in the second half. Hannah Stuelke added a 13-point, 16-rebound double-double.
Ava Renninger led FDU with 13 points as the lone Knight in double figures.
Iowa will face No. 10 seed Virginia (21-11, 11-7 ACC) on Monday at 1 p.m. with broadcast coverage provided by ESPN and the Hawkeye Radio Network.
Iowa goes on run after early FDU triple
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Q1 5:00 | FDU 3, Iowa 16
Iowa gave up a three-pointer on FDU's first offensive possession of the game to fall behind 3-2 before embarking on a 14-0 go-ahead run.
Ava Heiden scored six points and Chazadi "Chit-Chat" Wright added five during the run.
FDU closes first quarter on 14-2 run, trims Iowa lead to 3
END Q1 | FDU 17, Iowa 20
Over the final 3:13 of the first quarter, the Knights outscored the Hawkeyes 14-2 to erase a 18-3 Iowa lead.
The run allowed FDU to pull within three points after 10 minutes of play despite a scoring drought of more than four minutes to begin the contest.
Iowa pushes lead back to five, scrappy FDU muddies offense
Q2 4:30 | FDU 21, Iowa 26
While Iowa managed to push its lead back out to five with a 6-0 run early in the second quarter, the Knights managed to limit the damage.
Active hands clogged the Hawkeyes' passing lanes and forced two turnovers and a 3-of-11 start to the frame.
Iowa takes narrow lead into half against FDU
HALF | FDU 26, Iowa 27
Iowa goes 0-of-last-9 and 2-of-last-12 to end the first half.
A similar 2-of-12 shooting performance from the Knights allowed the Hawkeyes to maintain their lead going into the halftime break.
Iowa committed nine turnovers during the first half, leading to eight FDU points, and shot 1-of-9 from three-point range.
Heiden led all players with 10 points over the first 20 minutes of action.
Iowa starts second half hot, backs off four straight makes
Q3 4:56 | FDU 26, Iowa 35
The Hawkeyes connected on their first four field goal attempts of the third quarter to jump out to a nine-point, 35-26 lead with an 8-0 run.
Iowa's defense also forced eight straight misses from FDU and forced two early turnovers.
A scoring drought of more than two minutes between 7:31 and 5:00 prevented the Hawkeyes from further separating from the Knights.
FDU cuts Iowa's lead to two with 7-0 run to close third quarter
END Q3 | FDU 33, Iowa 35
FDU responded to Iowa's 8-0 run over the first three minutes of the quarter with a 7-0 run over the final seven to cut the lead back down to just two to being the fourth.
Iowa went 0-of-9 over the final 7:31 of the frame.
FDU pulls within one with 7-0 run in fourth quarter
Q4 6:17 | FDU 43, Iowa 44
Iowa scored nine of the first 12 points to being the fourth quarter and built an eight-point 44-36 lead with 7:51 to play. The Hawkeyes scored seven of its points at the free throw line as it made just one field goal over 11 minutes of play between 7:31 of the third quarter and 6:08 of fourth quarter.
However, like the first three quarters, FDU rallied. The Knights mounted a 7-0 run to trim the lead back down to one, 44-43, with 6:24 remaining.
Iowa survives upset scare
FINAL | Iowa 58, FDU 48
The Hawkeyes scored 15 of the final 20 points of the game to earn the win and survive the upset bid.
Of Iowa's 23 points in the final quarter, 15 came at the free throw line. The Hawkeyes shot 27 more free throws (29) than the Knights (2).
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at ethan.petrik@wcfcourier.com.
