No. 5 Iowa women’s basketball awakens late for bounce-back win over Nebraska

The No. 5 Iowa women’s basketball team bested the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 92-73, in a second-half awakening inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.

After a heartbreaking 100-92 overtime loss to now-No. 12 Ohio State on Sunday that snapped the Hawkeyes’ 15-game win streak, a similar result seemed possible as the first half with the Cornhuskers rambled on, but the second half saw Iowa wake up, get hot, and pull away.

Caitlin Clark scored 38 points on 12-of-22 from the field, 8-of-15 from three, and 6-of-7 from the free throw line — 28 of those points coming in the second half as she enjoyed the three ball from the left wing. And 10 rebounds made for yet another double-double.

Following Clark were guards Kate Martin with 16 points, five boards, and four assists and Sydney Affolter with 12, four, and one of her own.

“Syd always just gives us such great energy off the bench,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder noted. “I’m just really happy with the way that Syd is playing.”

Although the Hawkeyes lost the boards battle to a great rebounding Huskers team by a margin of nine, firm defense all game long proved the differentiator with 12 steals and 20 Nebraska turnovers.

“We did not do a good job crashing the boards, and rebounding has been a good thing for us,” Bluder said. “In the last two games, we’ve let down on that, and we have to get that back.”

Stout Hawkeye defense to open the game slowed the Cornhuskers in transition and kept them scoreless in the first five minutes of play, and a costly miscommunication on defense made for an extremely wide open Clark — who nailed the three that forced a quick Nebraska timeout.

After a slow start that saw a pair of missed layups and a turnover, forward Hannah Stuelke finally got going as she worked the low post around her guards’ penetrations of the paint.

But the first quarter was unusually low-scoring — and five Iowa turnovers certainly played a factor — as the Hawkeyes led the Cornhuskers at just 14-11 to start the second.

“I just don’t think we were patient with our offense in the first half,” Bluder said. “We didn’t reverse the ball much and really didn’t get any in-out looks, which is the best three that you can absolutely get.”

Husker first-year forward Natalie Potts’ jumper and a pair of free throws from guard Darian White put Nebraska up one as the two teams thereafter exchanged buckets for the first few minutes of the second quarter.

As play got physical, the Hawkeyes struggled to convert from the field, so the Huskers made them pay with a consistent attack and a handful of outside connections — until the Iowa offense made a final push into halftime.

Affolter erupted with seven points in the quarter on a perfect performance from the field, and Carver was on its feet and loud for the final minute before the half.

And a Clark three on a high brush screen from Stuelke just before the buzzer made it 36-31 — and added a good deal of momentum — in favor of the Black and Gold to start the second half.

“I think those last couple of minutes of the second quarter were really important,” Clark said. “It felt like we took the momentum back going into halftime. We were down … and we ended up going up five to go to half, but that’s a huge swing right there.”

Good morning

The Hawkeyes shared the wealth putting the ball in the bucket to open the second half, but of course, a pair of Clark threes on the low left wing made the difference as, in the blink of an eye, Iowa jumped to a 13-point lead.

“I think the second half was much improved over the first half,” Bluder said. “First half, we were just a little bit out of sorts and didn’t run our offense very well. But in the second half, we did, so that’s good that we made that change at halftime.”

Strong and scrappy defense in the backcourt kept the Cornhuskers at bay as the Hawkeyes pushed the pace and moved the ball beautifully in the frontcourt, not to mention another off-balanced Clark trey ball from the left corner — and one more the next time down.

“You just play with a little more confidence and a little more pep in your step, and I think I got a lot easier shots for myself in the second half,” Clark said. “I knew our team needed a boost emotionally at that point, so that was pretty good.”

Even Iowa reserve guard Taylor McCabe — from Fremont, Nebraska — got in on the action, splashing a deep ball from the left wing. So the Hawkeyes led, 63-49, for the final 10 minutes of play.

“I knew it was going in, so I can’t say I was surprised,” McCabe said. “But yeah, I’m just grateful.”

A deep Clark stepback three connected from way up the left wing as the shot clock buzzer sounded, and Hawkeye fans were so loud as a response that it seemed all momentum favored Iowa for the rest of the contest.

With a comfortable double-digit lead, Bluder gradually rotated her bench in — and Affolter notched her 10th point, Stuelke drilled a three, and the Hawkeyes left the court back in the win column.