Iowa City, Iowa – Jaz Shelley led Nebraska with 19 points and Alexis Markowski added her 13th double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome 38 points from Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in a 92-73 loss to the Hawkeyes on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss in front of 14,998 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Nebraska slipped to 5-4 in the Big Ten and 13-7 overall while Iowa improved to 8-1 in the conference and 19-2 overall.
Iowa opened the game on a 9-0 run, but Nebraska did not panic, getting back-to-back buckets from Markowski and back-to-back threes from Shelley to cut the Iowa lead to 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
In a back-and-forth second quarter, Nebraska took its first lead of the day at 15-14 on a pair of Darian White free throws just one minute into the period. The lead changed hands 10 times in the quarter with the Huskers taking their biggest lead at 31-27 off a Callin Hake three-pointer with 1:54 left in the half that forced an Iowa timeout.
The Hawkeyes then closed the half the same way they started it – with a 9-0 run capped by a Clark three-pointer to send Iowa to halftime with a 36-31 lead.
The Huskers hung within two possessions at the half despite hitting just 33.3 percent (11-33) of their field goals, including just 4-of-17 threes (.235). NU also lost the first-half turnover battle 10-7, but outscored Iowa 6-5 in points off turnovers. The Huskers dominated the glass, 23-16, with Markowski pulling down eight boards to go along with her eight first-half points. Hake added seven points, while Shelley pitched in six points and four assists in the first 20 minutes.
Iowa hit 44.8 percent (13-29) of its shots, but just 3-of-13 three-pointers (.231). Clark led Iowa with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the half, while Kate Martin added eight and Sydney Affolter got all seven of her points off the bench in the final four minutes of the half for the Hawkeyes.
In the second half, Clark caught fire early in the quarter to quickly push Iowa’s lead to double digits. Nebraska stemmed the tide and went to the fourth trailing 63-49. The Big Red cut the lead to 11 points in the fourth with opportunities to creep even closer, but missed chances to move within single digits. Clark, who went 6-for-8 from long range in the second half, and the Hawkeyes pulled away down the stretch for the 19-point win.
Markowski got her 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and a 5-of-6 game at the line, while Shelley hit 5-of-11 three-pointers while adding a team-high five assists.
Hake added a third double-digit scoring day for the Huskers with 11 points on 2-of-3 three-point shooting, while also contributing four rebounds. White and Logan Nissley each contributed seven points, while Nissley pitched in four assists and three rebounds.
Martin finished with 16 points while Affolter also closed in double figures with 12 points for Iowa.
As a team, Nebraska finished at 39 percent (23-59) from the field, including 10-for-29 (.345) from three-point range, including 6-for-12 in the second half. The Huskers hit 17-of-25 free throws. The Big Red ruled the boards, 40-31, including a 13-4 edge on the offensive glass, but Nebraska lost the turnover battle, 20-11.
Iowa was more efficient with 52.5 percent (31-59) shooting, including 12-of-29 (.414) threes, including 8-of-15 from Clark. The Hawkeyes were also 18-of-22 at the line.
Nebraska returns to Lincoln to open an important two-game home stand on Wednesday, Jan. 31 against Purdue. Tip-off against the Boilermakers at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 7 p.m., with tickets on sale now at Huskers.com. The game will be televised live in Nebraska by NPM World with a live video stream on B1G+. The game also can be heard across the Huskers Radio Network.
