The #5 Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball team hosted Nebraska, today, in a Big Ten Conference match up in front of a full house at Carver Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes were playing their first game since losing a tough, overtime game to Ohio State 100-92. The Hawkeyes all but flushed the loss in their 92-73 win over the Cornhuskers. All American Caitlin Clark lead the way with a 38 point, 10 rebound double-double effort. The 38 points leaves her only 138 point shy of Kelsey Plum’s all-time scoring record (3,351) for NCAA women’s basketball.
Iowa jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Nebraska finally scored at the 4:54 mark when Callin Hake made a free throw to break the drought. After that, Nebraska rode a 14-5 run to take a 15-14 lead one minute into the 2nd quarter. Caitlin Clark scored only three points in the first frame. After the opening onslaught the Hawkeye offense looked almost disheveled at times. “Our offense was little out of sorts for a little bit in the first half…we did not do a good job of crashing the board. Second half we did, so that was good,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. Nebraska took advantage of Iowa’s struggles by correcting their own early shooting misses, raining in multiple three pointers and forcing Iowa to take a timeout at the 1:54 mark of the 2nd quarter, trailing 31-27. After the adjustments, Iowa made a another 9-0 run, including a Caitlin Clark trey to close the first half with a 36-31 lead. Kate Martin had a hot finish to the first half as well, totaling 8 points in 16 minutes.
Molly Davis brought the cheers early in the first half when she made a rebound while lying flat on her back. When asked if she had ever seen something like that before coach Bluder’s response was short, “No.” A Kate Martin miss landed right where Davis had fallen. Davis grabbed the board and passed it to a teammate, which eventually led to Gabby Marshall, who laid it in for two. The Hawkeyes opened the quarter with a 12-4 run before head Husker Amy Williams called for timeout to regroup. Any slow streak for Clark in the first half disappeared in the second. Clark lit up the scoreboard with 15 points in the third quarter. Hannah Stuelke stuck the final dagger into the Huskers when the post player stepped back behind the arc and nailed a three pointer to put Iowa up by 14 with three and half minutes left. Clark finished four assists shy of a triple-double. Asked why she seems to play so well against Nebraska she said, “Some teams you just like playing against a little more. Like, I love going an play at Nebraska.”
Iowa hits the road next week for a two game road trip. They face Northwestern on Wednesday, January 31st at 7:00pm. Then Saturday they head to 12-7 Maryland for a date with the Terrapins. The win pushed the Hawkeye’s record to 19-2 overall and 8-1 in the Big Ten. The win also keeps Iowa at pace with Indiana and Ohio State for the conference lead. All three teams have one loss.
