Iowa's Ava Heiden Sweeps National Player of the Week Honors

For the second time this season, Iowa Hawkeyes center Ava Heiden was named United States Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week.

Her second USBWA National Player of the Week honor comes after she was already named Naismith Player of the Week and B1G Player of the Week.

Heiden has been unstoppable nearly all season long, but this recent three-game stretch showed what she's truly capable of.

A trio of 20+ point double-doubles speaks for itself as Heiden won not one, not two, but three National Player of the Week honors in the same calendar week.

Who Can Stop Ava Heiden?

That's a sweep 🧹@ava_heiden is the USBWA National Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/qQrJj6PdbW
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 24, 2026

If No. 6 Michigan struggled against Heiden this much, one can only imagine how much momentum she'll be carrying into the B1G and NCAA Tournaments. Knowing Iowa was recently projected to be a No. 2 seed in March Madness, that makes their road to the Sweet 16 that much easier.

This team can't get too far ahead of itself, though, as they have a pair of games left in the regular season against Illinois and at Wisconsin. These are two teams the Hawkeyes have yet to play in B1G competition this season.

Heiden has led the team in scoring in five of their last six games, including three consecutively. The sophomore dropped 27 points on Nebraska, 21 on Purdue, and 24 on the Wolverines. To put things into perspective, her 24 points against Michigan were as many as their two leading scorers had combined.

Heiden Averaged 24.0 Points Per Game and 11.3 Rebounds Per Game

Iowa C Ava Heide — Iowa center Ava Heiden (5) takes a shot at the basket against Minnesota guard Amaya Battle (3) and Minnesota center Sophie Hart (52) on Feb. 5, 2026, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. | Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Those two stats are impressive enough for a three-game stretch, but Heiden shot 75% from the field (33-for-44) as she improved to fourth nationally with her 64% field goal percentage. Through 27 games, she's averaging 17.3 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game, which really shows how dominant she's been in their last three games.

Heiden is searching for First-Team honors and is in contention to be the B1G Player of the Year. Coming off a year where she averaged just 9.8 minutes per game, Heiden has solidified herself as an unstoppable center. She's started all 27 games this year and is averaging 25.4 minutes per game.

The 6-foot-4 Oregon native hasn't shot under 50% in a game since Jan. 11 when she went 6-for-17 against Indiana. Her last three games have been great, no doubt, but this has been building for quite some time as Heiden continues to get better every single time she steps onto the court.

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