Huskers Rally Falls Short at No. 10 Iowa

Iowa City – Nebraska rallied from a 17-point deficit to open the fourth quarter but came up just short in an 80-76 loss to No. 10 Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Haiby led five Huskers in double figures with 16 points, while Alexis Markowski and Jaz Shelley each added double-doubles, but Nebraska slipped to 12-9 overall and 4-6 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes improved to 17-4 overall and 9-1 in the conference behind 33 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists from Caitlin Clark.

Nebraska trailed 67-50 entering the fourth, but the Huskers opened the period with a 12-0 run that included five points from Shelley, four points from Haiby and a three-pointer from Annika Stewart to cut the margin to just 67-62 with 7:04 left.

After an Iowa timeout, Nebraska appeared to have another stop, but a foul was called instead on the Huskers. The play sparked a 7-0 run by the Hawkeyes over the next three minutes to push the lead back to 12 at 74-62.

But the Huskers weren’t done fighting. A 7-0 run by Nebraska that featured a pair of Isabelle Bourne buckets around a huge three-pointer from Maddie Krull put the Huskers back within 75-70 with 1:53 left. Bourne finished with 14 points, while Krull added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Nebraska was able to cut further into the margin on a Haiby three-pointer with 18.6 left that made it 77-73, but the Huskers could get no closer.

Markowski notched her ninth double-double of the season with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while Shelley added her second double-double of the year with 10 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.

The Huskers finished the game 29-of-64 from the field (.453), including 30 percent (9-30) from three-point range. Nebraska also went 9-of-11 at the free throw line. The Huskers won the turnover battle 15-12, but lost the war on the boards, 43-32. However, the Huskers outscored the Hawkeyes 9-7 on second-chance points. The Huskers hit 17-of-36 shots in the second half, including 7-of-18 three-pointers.

Iowa answered by hitting 42.4 percent (27-64) of its shots from the floor, including 8-of-22 three-pointers (.364), but the Huskers held Iowa to just 2-for-11 shooting from long range in the second half. The Hawkeyes doubled up Nebraska at the free throw line by hitting 18-of-22 free throws.

Nebraska got off to a strong start, jumping to an 8-0 lead before surrendering the first points by Iowa on a Clark three-pointer with 5:20 left in the opening period. However, Nebraska continued to surge, extending its lead to 10 points on Bourne’s third basket of the quarter to make it 21-11 with 1:20 left.

Iowa scored the final four points of the first quarter, but Nebraska took a 21-15 lead to the second. The Hawkeyes got five points from Molly Davis to open the second quarter before Clark tied the game for the first time on a three-pointer with 7:56 left in the half. Iowa continued to surge, taking its first lead of the game on a Monika Czinano layup to make it 25-23. The lead then quickly grew to double digits for the Hawkeyes, as Gabbie Marshall capped a 15-0 Iowa run with her bucket with less than three minutes left in the quarter.

Czinano finished the game with 17 points and seven rebounds for Iowa, while Hannah Stuelke put three Hawkeyes in double figures with 12 points off the bench.

Bourne, Markowski and Haiby led the Huskers in the first half by each scoring six points, while Markowski added seven first-half rebounds.

Nebraska hit 42.9 percent (12-28) of its first-half shots, but the Huskers went just 3-for-13 in the second quarter. NU hit just 2-of-12 first-half threes, while going 4-for-4 at the free throw line. Iowa answered by hitting 44.4 percent (16-36) of its shots, including 6-of-11 threes (.545). The Hawkeyes were also 3-for-3 at the free throw line.

Iowa won the first-half battled of the boards 22-14, including an 8-2 edge on the offensive glass. Both teams committed seven first-half turnovers.

Nebraska returns to Big Ten home action on Thursday when the Huskers host Michigan State. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Spartans is set for 7:30 p.m. (CT) with tickets available now at Huskers.com. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network, along with live audio coverage from the Huskers Radio Network on Huskers.com and the Huskers App.