![\"Kylie](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264625822-1024x683.jpg\")
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Kylie Feuerbach and her teammates look on during Iowa’s first round game. Michael Hickey \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
March 21, 2026 6:54 pm EDT<\/p>\n
IOWA CITY, Iowa \u2014 Unseasonably warm temperatures turned sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena into a sauna, and Iowa nearly melted down inside of it.<\/p>\n
The No. 2 seed Hawkeyes (27-6) repeatedly blew three-score leads and led 15th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson by just two points inside the game\u2019s final five minutes of Saturday\u2019s first-round NCAA Tournament game. Despite missing eight of 12 free throws over the final 83 seconds, the Hawkeyes outlasted the Knights 58-48 in an NCAA tournament first-round game.<\/p>\n
Record-breaking temperatures soared to 88 degrees in Iowa City, making for stifling conditions inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which does not have air conditioning. Courtside temperature reached at least 80 degrees at game\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
The heat perhaps impacted the Hawkeyes, who cruised to a 20-5 lead early in the first quarter. But a bevy of turnovers and poor shot selection, coupled with Fairleigh Dickinson\u2019s sizzling perimeter shooting, turned the game into a competitive matchup. In the end, there was too much Ava Heiden, who notched a career high with 29 points. Heiden, a sophomore, hit 11 of 16 from the field and connected on all seven free-throw attempts. She added seven rebounds.<\/p>\n
Heiden\u2019s performance masked Iowa\u2019s overall deficiencies at the free-throw line. The Hawkeyes were just 10 of 22 from the line, which kept the Knights within striking distance throughout the game. Fairleigh Dickinson hit 10 3-pointers while Iowa connected on just 1 of 13 3-point attempts. But the Knights missed their last six shots and attempted just two free throws during the game.<\/p>\n
Iowa moves onto Monday\u2019s second-round game, where it will face 10th-seeded Virginia (21-11), which beat No. 7 seed Georgia 82-73 in overtime. Fairleigh Dickinson (30-5) had won 22 straight before falling to the Hawkeyes. No. 2 seeds are now 127-0 against No. 15 seeds in the women\u2019s NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mar 21, 2026<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kylie Feuerbach and her teammates look on during Iowa’s first round game. Michael Hickey \/ Getty Images March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,1286,49,48,5481],"class_list":{"0":"post-825989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-iowa-hawkeyes","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116269801250639830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}