Iowa women's basketball bigs forging important bond

USA Today

2 days ago

Jan Jensen touched on how important Ava Heiden has been early in Layla Hays' development at Iowa. pic.twitter.com/rTEWIRb7MH
As the Iowa women's basketball program continues through its summer practices in Iowa City, head coach Jan Jensen praised the positive impact that she has seen from the energetic battles between centers Ava Heiden and Layla Hays.
Heiden, who enters the 2025-26 campaign as the presumptive starting center, has taken freshman Leyla Hays under her wing throughout the summer by providing high-intensity challenges to the Wasilla, Alaska native that will help her succeed in the fall, especially come Big Ten play.
When Jensen was asked about her opinion of the developing relationship between the two centers, she began by admitting that Heiden's size has been particularly beneficial for Hays, given that the freshman did not deal with any form of adversity from that perspective in her high school days in Alaska.
"I think that's really been great. It's been nice for Layla to have a bigger body, because she's never dealt with that, especially in Alaska," Jensen said.
Jensen continued by praising the competitive battles between the two as a way they can forge new skills and learn from each other, especially with an upperclassman who can accept physicality without taking it personally.
"They can battle and can get intense and can get a little cranky, but there's still respect that I really love from the team that I've seen really forge pretty early. I think especially for post players, when you're learning as a young one, to really know when to throw an elbow because you need to, and it's the smart thing. It's nice to have a personality like an upperclassman that's not taken personally."
With two skilled centers on the roster with multiple years of eligibility remaining, the Hawkeyes will look to utilize their combined dominance in the paint to their advantage this fall against a conference that features some of the nation's top post players.
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