Women's College Basketball

Ava Heiden Scores Career-High 27 as No. 13 Iowa Beat Nebraska 80-67

Published Feb. 16, 2026 2:48 p.m. ET

Ava Heiden had a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, Taylor Stremlow added a career-high 17 points, and No. 13 Iowa beat Nebraska 80-67 on Monday to sweep the season series.

Iowa (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) secured its 10th straight 20-win season.

Heiden helped Iowa build a 45-27 lead by halftime after scoring 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Nebraska went on a 10-1 run early in the third quarter to get within 52-41, but the Cornhuskers did not get any closer the rest of the way. Iowa responded with a run of its own, 13-2, over the next 2:31 to reverse that progress and put the Huskers down by 23.

Iowa led by as many as 27 points, 76-49, with 7:54 left in the fourth.

Chazadi Wright chipped in with 14 points and seven assists, and Journey Houston added 10 points off the bench for Iowa. Heiden was 12 of 15 from the field, and Stremlow made her first six shots.

Britt Prince scored 13 points for Nebraska (16-10, 5-10), which has lost five straight games. Eliza Maupin added 11 points and Amiah Hargrove had 10. Prince had her consecutive free-throw streak end at 56 straight makes.

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Nebraska has lost 13 of the last 15 meetings with Iowa, and is 12th in the Big Ten, out of bye territory in the conference tournament.

Iowa, however, is now tied for third in the Big Ten at 11-3, alongside No. 10 Ohio State, and half-a-game up on No. 23 Minnesota, putting the Hawkeyes in position for one of the four double-byes for the conference tournament. While Iowa suffered three-straight losses following senior guard Taylor McCabe's season-ending ACL injury, the Hawkeyes have now defeated then-ranked Washington and Nebraska, and has just one ranked game left on the schedule, against No. 6 Michigan on Feb. 22.