The Iowa women’s basketball team will face Nebraska Friday night in the quarterfinals of the women’s Big Ten Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Following a second-place finish in the regular season conference standings, the Hawks received a second-round bye for the tournament.  

Nebraska entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and faced off against Illinois on Thursday night, soundly trouncing the Fighting Illini, 86-71, en route to a second-round victory.

The Hawks and Huskers are scheduled to meet at the Sears Center at 6 p.m., with the winner on Saturday to facing the winner of the Ohio State/Minnesota game.

The game will be the third meeting of the year between Iowa and Nebraska; the Hawkeyes won the first two.

After not registering a win against their neighbors for more than five years, head coach Lisa Bluder and the Hawks pulled off a white-knuckle overtime victory at Carver-Hawkeye on Jan. 26, then went on the road three weeks later and earned their first win in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 2005.

Both games were stylistic clashes as well, with Iowa’s No. 2 ranked offense going up against the dominant No. 1 defense of the Huskers, with offense prevailing each time.

Iowa senior Sam Logic was superlative in the first go-round with Nebraska, going off for 22 points as well as 8 assists. The Hawks didn’t shoot well but managed to gut out a 78-72 overtime win.

The second game had a similar feel, but this time around, Iowa’s role players lifted the Hawks to victory. Junior Kali Peschel had 13 points, and in the end, eight different Iowa players made the score sheet.  

Bluder and the Hawks will try for the three-peat today, with the winner moving on to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.