Second-seeded Iowa survives upset bid from No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson, wins 58-48 in NCAA Tournament

By Canadian Press on March 21, 2026.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ava Heiden scored a career-high 29 points, including 12 straight for Iowa in the fourth quarter, and the No. 2-seeded Hawkeyes survived an upset bid from 15th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson with a 58-48 victory in an NCAA Tournament first-round game on Saturday.

Hannah Stuelke added 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (27-6), who advanced to Monday’s second-round game against 10th-seeded Virginia. But to do that, Iowa had to escape the Knights (30-5), who came into the game with a 22-game winning streak and were never rattled by the sellout crowd of 14,332.

Iowa only led 35-33 to start the fourth quarter and was up 42-36 when Heiden took the game over. The Knights were within 44-43 with 6:24 to play and 48-46 with 3:24 left, but Heiden answered with baskets inside each time.

Iowa held the Knights to just two points over the final 5:24.

Heiden was 11 of 16 from the field and added seven rebounds.

Iowa shot 41.7% from the field, but made just 1 of 13 3-pointers. Kylie Feuerbach also had 11 rebounds for the Hawkeyes, who had a 47-28 rebounding advantage.

The Hawkeyes opened the game with an 18-3 run, but Fairleigh Dickinson closed the first quarter with a 14-2 surge, a sign of what was to come in the game. Iowa was outscored 9-7 by the Knights in the second quarter, and only outscored them 8-7 in the third.

Ava Renninger led the Knights with 13 points. Ten of Fairleigh Dickinson’s 18 field goals were 3-pointers.

Up next

The Hawkeyes get a home game against Virginia, which will be playing its third game in five days in the tournament.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

John Bohnenkamp, The Associated Press