Iowa vs. Penn State Takeaways: Depth on Full Display

Coming off a dreadful loss to the No. 1 team in the nation, the Iowa Hawkeyes made sure they weren't embarrassed again. In the end, they took care of business, taking down Penn State, 99-76.

Center Ava Heiden set a new career high as she continues to be the life of this offense. When she's hot, she's extremely hard to stop and she's proved that time and time again during her sophomore season.

That said, this was a true team performance against the Nittany Lions. Head coach Jan Jensen was thrilled to see six Hawkeyes end the night with double digits.

It wasn't just a career night for Heiden as freshman guard Journey Houston picked up the first double-double of her career. Clearly, the future is extremely bright for this team.

Six Hawkeyes Finish In Double Digits

WBB FINAL: #14 Iowa 99, Penn State 76
--Heiden career-high 27 pts (13-19 FG)
--Stuelke 14 pts, 8 rebs (4-11 FT)
--Wright 16 pts, 6 asts
--Stremlow 14 pts, 4 asts
--Deal 13 pts (6-8 FG)
--Houston 11 pts, 11 rebs
--McCabe 3 pts (1-9 3FG)

Next: Iowa (11-2, 2-0) vs. #20 NEB on 1/1
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) December 28, 2025

When hearing that Heiden set a new career high, one wouldn't have expected as many players to contribute as much as they did. No one can take away Heiden's 27 point performance on 13-19 shooting, but she was one of four starters to finish in double digits.

Hannah Stuelke, Taylor Stremlow, and Chit-Chat Wright joined Heiden in the 10+ point category. Key bench players added big-time minutes as well. Coincidentially, they're both freshman.

Addie Deal added 13 while Houston finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Houston was the lone Hawkeye to have a double-double, and it just so happened to be the first of her career.

The Journey Houston Show

First career double-double for @Journey_Renae 😤

11 points, 11 rebounds pic.twitter.com/KJ0GIcIjGh
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 28, 2025

When Stuelke is the only senior to finish with double digits, you know something is going right. Iowa's depth cannot be questioned as their youth is on full display. No matter how in-experienced some of these players are, they continue to ball out on a nightly basis.

Houston was arguably coming off the worst game of her career against No. 1 UConn. While she only had two turnovers, she was huge liability on defense as the Huskies were far too much for her to keep up with. That said, Jensen showed how much faith she has in her as she played 18 minutes against the best team in the nation.

Thankfully for Iowa, Houston rebounded quite well. She scored double digits for just the second time in her career, grabbing a career high 11 rebounds. Penn State is no easy opponent as Houston has made it crystal clear she's ready to take on new heights during conference play.

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