IOWA CITY — Iowa women’s basketball will enter the 2026-27 season ranked No. 10 nationally, returning to the Associated Press preseason top 10 for the first time in three years as coach Jan Jensen begins her third season.
The poll, released Tuesday, October 20, places the Hawkeyes among nine ranked Big Ten teams — the most of any conference. Iowa returns All-Big Ten selections Ava Heiden and Chit-Chat Wright while adding six newcomers to a team coming off a 27-7 season.
Iowa will host Maryville in an exhibition October 29 before opening the regular season against Towson on November 2. Both games begin at 7 p.m. Central at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and will stream on B1G+.
Hawkeyes return to preseason top 10
The No. 10 ranking is Iowa’s highest preseason position since the 2023-24 team opened at No. 3.
Last season, the Hawkeyes started at No. 21, climbed as high as No. 7 and finished No. 16 in the final AP poll.
Iowa went 15-3 in Big Ten play, reached the conference tournament championship game and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The season extended the program’s streaks to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 straight seasons with at least 20 wins.
The Hawkeyes’ postseason ended with an 83-75 double-overtime loss to Virginia in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
Heiden and Wright lead Iowa’s returning players
Heiden returns after averaging 18.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 64.1 percent from the field last season.
The third-year center earned first-team All-Big Ten recognition and honorable mention All-America honors from the AP, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Earlier this month, she was named to the coaches’ and media preseason All-Big Ten teams.
Heiden also helped Iowa advance last March, when the Hawkeyes beat FDU 58-48 in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round.
Wright enters her third college season after earning third-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and honorable mention recognition from the media in her first year at Iowa.
The guard finished last season with 387 points and 138 assists. Her assist total ranked seventh on Iowa’s sophomore single-season list.
Taylor Stremlow, Journey Houston and Layla Hays complete the five-player returning group.
Transfers and highly rated recruits bolster roster
Iowa’s six newcomers include four transfers and two first-year players.
Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie arrives after earning unanimous first-team All-SEC honors last season. She averaged 17.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Bulldogs and helped Team USA win gold at the 2026 FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup.
The other transfers are Jocelyn Faison from Georgia, Amari Whiting from Oklahoma State and Bria Medina from Knox College.
The first-year class features McKenna Woliczko, a five-star prospect ranked No. 6 nationally by ESPN. A 2026 McDonald’s All-American, Woliczko is the second-highest-rated recruit in Iowa women’s basketball history.
Ella Strömdahl joins the Hawkeyes from Uppsala, Sweden, becoming the program’s first Swedish player.
Nine Big Ten teams earn preseason rankings
Iowa faces a conference field loaded with nationally ranked teams. Three Big Ten programs landed in the preseason top 10, with UCLA immediately behind Iowa at No. 11.
The conference’s ranked teams are:
| AP ranking | Team |
|---|---|
| No. 3 | USC |
| No. 5 | Michigan |
| No. 10 | Iowa |
| No. 11 | UCLA |
| No. 16 | Washington |
| No. 17 | Minnesota |
| No. 18 | Ohio State |
| No. 20 | Maryland |
| No. 23 | Illinois |
Jensen enters third season with 50 wins
Jensen carries a 50-18 career record into her third season as Iowa’s head coach.
She became the fastest head coach in program history to reach 50 victories, accomplishing the milestone in her first two seasons.
The Hawkeyes will get their first exhibition test against Maryville on October 29, followed by the November 2 regular-season opener against Towson, both at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.