Hawkeyes hold off a late Nebraska surge to win their sixth straight game
The game probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but at the end of the day, it was another W for the Iowa Women’s Basketball team. The Hawkeyes battled through tough scoring stretches in the first and fourth quarter to defeat Nebraska by a final score of 80-76. The win extends the Hawkeyes winning streak to six games and puts them in a tie for first place in the Big Ten with Indiana.
“It was a win. It wasn’t a pretty win, but we did what we had to do to win,” said Head Coach Lisa Bluder. “We didn’t really put the fear into (Nebraska) that I wanted to put into them today.”
Coming off of a big win against the second ranked team in the country, you worry about a little bit of a letdown in your next game. Iowa was hoping that a game against a border rival and a crowd of 13,000+ would keep that from happening, but they weren’t so lucky. The Hawkeyes started 0/7 from the floor and turned the ball over four times.
Nebraska got out to an 8-0 lead before Iowa got on the board with a Caitlin Clark three-pointer nearly four minutes into the game. Kate Martin followed that up with a three-pointer of her own to cut the lead down to 8-6, but a 9-2 run late in the quarter gave the Huskers their largest lead at 21-11.
“Nobody panicked at the beginning of the game when we were down ten points that we weren’t going to come back because we know we have the offensive firepower to do that,” said Caitlin Clark. “You’re going to have moments where you can’t score the ball. That’s just how it goes sometimes.”
The Hawkeyes turned things up a notch in the second quarter and quickly built a ten-point lead of their own with an 18-2 run. Caitlin Clark hit a couple of three-pointers, while fan favorite Hannah Stuelke got the crowd going with a basket, plus the foul. Iowa outscored Nebraska 26-9 in the second quarter and turned a first quarter deficit into a 41-30 halftime lead.
“I felt like we got a lot of tips and deflections in our zone. We were pretty spaced out to the shooter, so we’re defending the three-point line really well,” said Caitlin Clark. “I thought our zone defense was really good and when you get stops, that’s what leads to our transition.”
The Hawkeyes put together a pretty good third quarter, but Nebraska continued to hang around. A Sam Haiby basket, plus the foul cut the lead to 62-50 with under two minutes to go in the quarter. Still, a Monika Czinano basket at the horn gave Iowa a seemingly comfortable 67-50 lead going into the final quarter.
Lisa Bluder said she felt like the offense got good shots in the second quarter and third quarters. That was reflected on the stat sheet, as they combined to shoot 19/30 (63.3%) from the floor.
The beginning of the fourth quarter felt similar to the first quarter. The Hawkeyes missed some shots and Nebraska went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead down to 67-62. Caitlin Clark answered with a three-pointer and an Iowa 7-0 run made it 74-62 with under five minutes to play.
However, Iowa did not make a field goal over the last 5:38 and their last eight points came from the free throw line. The Huskers cut the lead to 75-70 and had a chance to make it a one possession game with under a minute to play, but Alexis Markowski’s three-pointer was off the mark. Caitlin Clark made five free throws in the final minute and the Hawkeyes came away with the 80-76 victory.
“It’s not like we played poorly, but we didn’t play to our capabilities today,” said Bluder. “I think we got a little out of what we do really well…We didn’t shoot as well from two as we usually do. We just took a lot of hard two’s today that weren’t falling for us.”
McKenna Warnock missed her second game in a row with a rib injury she sustained against Michigan State. That certainly doesn’t help the cause, but it is helping make the team better in tough situations.
“We’re doing this without on of our starters and to me that’s difficult, so we keep getting better through these difficult situations and that will help us at the end of the year.”
Caitlin Clark had another near triple-double night finishing with 33 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. It is her third game of the season where she has come up a single rebound or assist short of a triple-double. Monika Czinano finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while shooting 7/10 from the floor. Kate Martin added six points, five rebounds and six assists, while Hannah Stuelke had 12 points off the bench.
What the Hawkeyes did well…
1. Rebounded the ball. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Huskers 43-32 and held them to just six offensive rebounds, which was well below their 12.5 per game average. Iowa grabbed 83.3% of defensive rebound chances and pulled down 33.3% of offensive rebound opportunities. Monika Czinano had three offensive rebounds on the day.
2. Defended the three-point line. It was mentioned in the game preview that there was a direct correlation between Nebraska shooting the three well and winning basketball games. The Cornhuskers were shooting 38% from behind the arc in games that they had won and 23% in games they had lost. The Hawkeyes held Jaz Shelley and Alexis Markowski to 2/12 from behind the arc, while the team shot 9/30 (30.0%) for the game.
3. Free Throws. Early in the season the Hawkeyes struggled with free throws, but as the season progresses and games get tougher they are going to be key in close games. Today they were 18/22 from the line, including a 4/5 night from Hannah Stuelke.
Up Next…
With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 17-4 on the season and 9-1 in Big Ten play. They are tied for the top spot in the conference with #6 Indiana. Up next, the #11 Maryland Terrapins come to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday night. The Terps have been playing really well as of late, winning ten of their last 11 games, including wins over #5 UConn and #13 Michigan. Tip off is set for 7:30pm and the game will be televised on ESPN.
