The Iowa Hawkeyes took on the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the second time this season. Iowa dominated the previous matchup 92-73. The Hawkeyes have been rolling these last few weeks, winning six out of their last seven games.
Iowa leads the all-time series 23-15 and has won 11 out of the last 12 meetings. They look to sweep the series for the fifth consecutive season. Nebraska looks to get a huge upset win and go 11-4 at home.
Thousands of fans traveled to watch Cailtin Clark break the record despite the Hawkeyes being on the road. Caitlin Clark comes into the game 39 points away from breaking the NCAA’s all-time scoring record. She has scored 38 points five times this season, including in the first matchup against Nebraska.
Game Recap
Both teams got off to a shaky start as there were some missed shots at the rim and missed second-chance opportunities. Both teams shot under 40% FG in the first quarter and made just one three-pointer.
Despite the lackluster first quarter, Iowa was dominant in the paint and forced two of Nebraska’s best players into early foul trouble.
Alexis Markowski, who leads the Big Ten in double-doubles, picked up two quarter-final fouls. Nebraska also struggled with transition defense, allowing Iowa to get easy looks.
The Hawkeyes started the second quarter on a 7-2 run before the Cornhuskers started to pick up the pace and crash the glass for second-chance opportunities. They also started to hit their threes and cut into Iowa’s lead. Nebraska got 13 points from the bench to Iowa’s 2 points which is another reason they hung around.
Clark led all scorers with 17 points in the first half. Even though the fans were in attendance to witness her break the scoring record, they witnessed another milestone as she reached 1,000 career assists in the second quarter.
She is just the sixth player in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach that milestone. She is also the only player in D1 history to have 3,000 points and 1,000 assists. Because many people are so mesmerized by her scoring, they sometimes forget that she is a great passer as well. She leads the conference in both scoring and assists.
Nebraska continued to hang around as they scored on their first two possessions in the third quarter. Iowa then picked up the pace and went on a 6-0 run to increase their lead to nine. The Cornhuskers refused to go away though as they continued to grab the offensive boards and hit their shots. Markowski scored 10 points in the third quarter including back-to-back threes after scoring just five in the first half.
Caitlin Clark continued to be a beast, scoring 14 points and dishing out three more assists to increase the lead to 14 as the third quarter ended. She was eight points away from the record so many people believed she would break it in the fourth quarter.
But Nebraska outscored Iowa 27-10 in the fourth quarter to come back and take the lead for the first time all game. The final score was 82-79. This is Nebraska’s first win over Iowa since 2019.
The defensive adjustment made by Amy Williams forced Iowa to play away from Clark, and whenever she got the ball she was forced into tough shots which she missed.
Photo Courtesy: @HuskerWBB/X
1 Comment