Iowa women’s basketball guard Caitlin Clark and forward Monika Czinano combined to score the Hawkeyes’ first 14 points in Iowa’s 80-60 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln on Saturday afternoon, and neither of them cooled down.

Clark poured in 30 points on 10-of-21 from the field, 4-of-10 from three-point range, and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. In her eighth game scoring 30 points or more this season, Clark added five assists and five rebounds. Four of those assists came on passes to Czinano.

Czinano, in her third-to-last regular season game as a Hawkeye, contributed 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. 

“My teammates did a really good job of recognizing when I was open and when I was going to be successful,” Czinano said postgame.

While the majority of Czinano’s points came via layups in the post, the Watertown, Minnesota, native made four face-up jumpers. 

“They both shot the ball really well,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said of Clark and Czinano on the Hawkeye Radio Network postgame. “Honestly, I feel like sometimes Caitlin thinks she can do anything she wants out there, which, there’s a little bit of truth to that, but when you have someone like Monika in the paint … so nice to see. 

Iowa outscored Nebraska, 36-26, in the paint. 

Third quarter start propels Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes and ‘Huskers were tied at 31 apiece with 4:40 left in the second quarter, but Iowa closed the first half on a 9-2 run to head to the locker room with a 40-33 lead. 

The Hawkeyes continued that momentum into the third quarter and outscored Nebraska, 19-11, over the first 7:28 of the second half to open up a 15-point advantage. 

The Hawkeyes shot 8-of-12 from the floor in the third quarter and missed just one shot inside the 3-point line. 

However, associate head coach Jan Jensen said the Hawkeyes’ third-quarter success stemmed from improved rebounding. 

“We liked how we closed out the second quarter,” Jensen said. “We kind of struggled with some box-outs, letting them have too many of those second-chance opportunities … We shored that up a little bit and came out in that third quarter and just didn’t let them back in it.”

Big picture

The win improves Iowa to 22-5 overall and 14-2 in league play. The Hawkeyes — who clinched a double-bye in the upcoming Big Ten tournament with Saturday’s win —  have won 11 of their last 12. Iowa’s only loss since New Year’s Day came in Bloomington, Indiana to the No. 2 Hoosiers on Feb. 9, 87-78. 

Iowa will face Indiana in its regular season finale on Feb. 26 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 

The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes are currently first and second in the Big Ten, respectively. Iowa is projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. 

Up next

Iowa will face No. 8 Maryland in College Park on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. The Hawkeyes defeated the Terrapins, 96-82, in Iowa City on Feb. 2.