IOWA CITY — The Iowa women's basketball team returns to action with a matchup against Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday.
The No. 2 seed Hawkeyes (27-6, 15-3 Big Ten) own a 3-0 record against the No. 10 seed Cavaliers (21-11, 11-7 ACC) all-time. The two programs last met in 2015 as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Iowa won 85-73.
A win would send Iowa to its 11th Sweet 16 in program history and fourth in five seasons. Virginia has 12 all-time Sweet 16 appearances and last made the second weekend in 2000.
Monday's contest will air on ESPN at 1 p.m. The Hawkeye Radio Network will also have broadcast coverage of the game.
Iowa, Virginia knotted after five minutes of play
Q1 4:48 | UVA 7, Iowa 7
The Hawkeyes and Cavaliers battled to a 7-7 gridlock through the first five minutes of action with neither team finding much rhythm offensively.
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Iowa shot 3-of-8 (37.5%) while Virginia went 2-of-7 (28.6%), but got to the free throw line three times early.
Of note for the Hawkeyes, sophomore center, and leading scorer, Ava Heiden picked up two early fouls and went to the bench. Layla Hays entered for her first NCAA Tournament minutes as Heiden's replacement.
Iowa, Virginia still tied after one quarter of play
END Q1 | UVA 13, Iowa 13
The Hawkeyes had a shot to extend a 13-11 lead with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter, but Kylie Feuerbach missed the corner three.
Virginia's Paris Clark corralled the defensive rebound and fired it ahead to Romi Levy who tied the game in the final seconds with a fastbreak layup.
Chazadi "Chit-Chat" Wright led Iowa with four points. Caitlin Weimar led the Cavaliers with four as well.
Iowa women take lead amid defensive battle with Virginia
Q2 4:26 | UVA 20, Iowa 21
Iowa managed to build a one-point lead over the first five minutes of the second half, outscoring Virginia 8-7 despite a 3-of-8 start from the field.
Wright and Heiden, who re-entered the game with 6:11 remainining in the second, lead the team with six points each.
Virginia rides 8-0 run into the lead against Iowa
Q2 1:48 | UVA 28, Iowa 21
Iowa's offense continued to struggle over the next three minutes of play while Virginia's caught fire. The Cavaliers connected on a pair of three-pointers — one from Adeang Ring and the other from Kymora — to take a seven-point, 28-21 lead.
The Hawkeyes went 0-of-5 during the stretch.
Iowa ends Virginia's run, Cavs take lead into half
HALF | UVA 28, Iowa 23
Iowa ended Virginia's 8-0 run as Wright got a floater to fall with 22 seconds to play in the first half.
The Hawkeyes then managed to suffocate the Cavaliers' offense on the final possession and prevented them from getting a shot up at the buzzer.
Wright and Weimar lead all players with eight points apiece.
Ava Heiden takes over to put Iowa in front
Q3 4:47 | UVA 34, Iowa 41
The Hawkeyes erased the Virginia lead with a 7-2 run over the first two minutes of the second half, getting a three-pointer from Wright and jumpers from Hannah Stuelke and Heiden.
Then, Heiden powered an 11-2 run over the next two minutes to put Iowa ahead by seven. Taylor Stremlow sparked the run with a three-pointer at the 6:44 mark of the third quarter. Heiden added an and-one layup plus the free throw, Stuelke got a layup to go and Heiden capped the run off with another and-one.
Weimar proved the lone points for Virginia during Iowa's rally on a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 41-34.
Ava Heiden, Hannah Stuelke power Iowa to 9-point lead to begin fourth quarter
END Q3 | UVA 39, Iowa 48
Heiden finished the third quarter with 12 points while Hannah Stuelke added six points and six rebounds in the frame.
Stuelke ignited the Hawkeye crowd with a buzzer-beating layup to close out the third quarter and put Iowa ahead by nine to begin the final quarter of action.
Heiden entered the fourth quarter with 20 points to lead all players.
Virginia, Kymora Johnson ties game with under two minutes to play
Q4 1:33 | UVA 57, Iowa 57
The Cavaliers came out in the fourth quarter firing and came all the way back to tie the game at 57-57 with 2:11 to play on a Johnson three-pointer.
Virginia outscored the Hawkeyes 18-9 over the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
Iowa--Virginia headed to overtime as Wright's last-second shot comes up short
END Q4 | UVA 57, Iowa 57
Both teams got the ball in the final minute with a chance to take the lead.
Virginia's possession ended in a Sa'Myah Smith turnover via Heiden steal.
Iowa's ended at the buzzer as a turnaround, fadeaway jumper from Wright failed to find the hole.
Iowa--Virginia tied at 63 with 21 seconds left in overtime
OT 21.4 | UVA 63, Iowa 63
Dueling runs of 6-0 and 4-0 have knotted the game at 63 going into the final minute of the overtime period.
Heiden leads Iowa with four points in the extra frame. Johnson leads the Cavaliers with four of her own in overtime.
Iowa--Virginia headed to second OT as Iowa miss pair of game-winners
END OT1 | UVA 65, Iowa 65
Johnson tied the game at 65-65 with 13 seconds remaining on a layup through traffic.
Ava needs to put that offensive rebound right back up. pic.twitter.com/3tSPwGnZZZ
— Ethan Petrik (@ethan_petrik) March 23, 2026
Iowa managed to get a three-pointer up from Taylor Stremlow which missed long. Heiden got the offensive rebound, but failed to get a quality look up before the buzzer.
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.
