Nebraska women's basketball fell to No. 7 Iowa 80-60 in front of record-breaking crowd
Nebraska women’s basketball (14-13, 6-10) fell 80-60 to No. 7 Iowa (22-5, 14-2) in front of a sold-out, record-breaking crowd. Iowa went on a 17-0 scoring run in the fourth to pull ahead 78-49.
The attendance of 14,289 broke Nebraska women’s basketball attendance record at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The previous record was 13,595 against Missouri on Feb. 27, 2010 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Jaz Shelley had 19 points and nine rebounds. Alexis Markowski had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Caitlyn Clark had 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds for Iowa. Monica Czinano had 20 points and seven rebounds. Iowa shot 54.2% from the floor and 50% from three. Nebraska shot 34.4% from field goal range and 21.1% from behind the arc.
Clark started the game off with a three-pointer less than 45 seconds in. Czinano made two layups to make it a 7-0 Hawkeye run two minutes into the game.
Shelley, who was coming off of a career-high 37 points vs. Minnesota, put Nebraska’s first points on the board. She dribble down the baseline and hooked in a layup.
Czinano hit a long jumper in response. Iowa’s offense slowed down after they got up 10-2. Czinano hit a layup two minutes later and Clark made a three two minutes after that.
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Nebraska’s offense wasn’t humming along either but they were scoring more. They went on 9-4 run while Czinano scored those two buckets.
Markowski scored Nebraska’s last five points of the first quarter and continued her momentum into the second. The Huskers were down 21-14 after the first but not for long.
The sophomore center scored seven points in two minutes including a huge three-pointer at the top of the key. Markowski made it 23-21 Iowa with 7:52 left in the half.
Martin drained a three for Iowa to go up 26-21 but Shelley answered with her own very deep three-pointer. She then made a layup to close the gap to 29-28.
Clark scored her first points of the quarter with a layup with five minutes left in the half. Bourne sank a three, her first of the game, to tie it up 31-31. Pinnacle Bank Arena erupted and the public announcer egged on the crowd with a “We can’t hear you.”
Iowa called a timeout but Nebraska forced a shot clock violation immediately after.
The Huskers’ offense stalled out after Bourne’s big three. They didn’t score for four minutes until Bourne made a jumper in the paint with 52 seconds left.
Clark made nine of Iowa’s last 11 points of the half. Until halfway through the second quarter, she had eight points.
The Hawkeyes led 40-33 at the half and were shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from three. Nebraska was shooting 38.2 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from behind the arc at half.
Second half
Bourne started off the second half with a smooth three-pointer to close the gap to 40-36.
However, Iowa liked their lead and went on a 7-0 scoring run over 1:12. Clark capped it off with a three from the top of the key to go up 47-36 with 7:46 to go in the third.
After a Husker timeout, Markowski was fouled going for a layup and made both free throws. Clark was then fouled at the other end and made both of hers.
On the next possession, Bourne finally scored Nebraska’s next field goal with a layup to make it 49-40. Iowa made back-to-back buckets in response. Bourne connected for another jumper in the paint to cut it to 53-40.
Iowa’s scoring picked up more after Clark and Shelley traded pairs of free throws.
Kendall Moriarty scored Nebraska’s first field goal in three minutes with a nice jumper close to the baseline.
The Huskers’ periodic buckets, even while Iowa didn’t score like crazy, wasn’t enough to cut into the lead. Iowa led 61-47 after the third.
Shelley opened the fourth with a jumper in the paint but then Nebraska didn’t score for five minutes.
Iowa only scored six points in the first four minutes. With the Huskers’ going through a scoring drought, the Hawkeyes went on a 17-0 scoring run over 5:30.
Shelley ended the run and Nebraska’s drought with a three-pointer to close the gap to 78-52. Maddie Krull backed her up with another three then Shelley drained a second one of her own. Nebraska went on a quick 9-0 run to make it 78-58 with 1:57 left.
Nebraska scored 11 of the last 13 points in the game over the final three minutes. However, they caught a spark too late as they were already down 20 points.
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Notables:
***Nebraska did not shoot well. They had some good looks but their shots were not falling. The Huskers shot 34.4 percent from the field and 21.2 percent from behind the arc. They were 7-for-33 from three to be exact.
“We knew we were going to have to score points,” Husker Head Coach Amy Williams said. “We didn’t shoot it very well against the zone and from behind the arc and that’s what its going to take to beat a team like Iowa.”
The Huskers have been very inconsistent in scoring this season. Shelley, Markowski and Bourne accounted for 46 points on Saturday but Sam Haiby had just two. They only had seven bench points.
When Nebraska’s threes aren’t falling, they struggle to score. Although Nebraska needed more paint points, Williams said it’s hard against Iowa to rely so heavily on scoring that way.
***The Huskers broke an attendance recording on Saturday. Williams said running out onto the court and hearing the crowd cheer to the fight song gave her goosebumps.
“When you think about the really special teams and players that have played in this program,” Williams said. “Just to see the growth and passion that this fan base has it’s just really special for our team. I just couldn’t be more grateful to Husker nation for coming out and supporting our team through the highs and lows that the season has presented.”
The crowd of over 14,000 also represents the growth of Nebraska’s program and women’s basketball in general. There were plenty of Iowa fans in the crowd as well and Clark noticed.
“When they were playing the National Anthem, I was just taking it all in. I just looked around and it didn’t look like there was an empty seat in the house,” Clark said. “I don’t know what Nebraska averages for their home attendance but I know 14,000 is more than they usually get and I know that is because of the Iowa Hawkeyes and the way we play basketball and the joy we play with and the excitement we have for one another and the uptempo type of basketball that we play.”
Drawing larger crowds for women’s basketball games at every school is important to Williams and Clark.
“Any time you can grow the game, I think it’s super important,” Clark said. “No matter if we’re on the road and a lot of people are cheering against us, I think it’s really good for women’s basketball. I’d sign up to play in front of a crowd that’s booing and cheering against us every single day of the week.”
Markowski had the crowd on her side and seemed to be a little emotional after the game when thinking of the record. She grew up watching games in the Bob Devaney Sports Center and PBA. She said the crowd on Saturday was “unbelievable”, especially for a hometown kid.
***Clark has never scored less than 30 points against Nebraska in her seven career games against the Huskers. She had 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds on Saturday. Earlier this season, Clark had 33 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
“As a basketball player and you go somewhere and you shoot good there or your team plays well there, as a basketball player you remember that in the back of your head,” Clark said. “I like coming here, I think they support women’s basketball well here and I love playing in front of a big crowd. I have family from the state of Nebraska that’s always here supporting us.
The Huskers held her to eight points until the middle of the second quarter. She had 17 at halftime.
Nebraska had some lapses in defense, as they said. Iowa made sure to capitalize on those mistakes.
Despite that, the National Player of the Year candidate, Clark, complimented Nebraska.
“Nebraska, they put up a good fight,” Clark said. “It was close there for most of the game and it was close at our place so they’re never a team you can count out even if it’s getting to the end of the game.”
The Huskers held Iowa to 10 points below their average but knew they needed to score better to win.
“There were definitely some lapses but there were also some really good times we were able to play really hard, tough team defense,” Shelley said. “We needed to get better at our response and how if we’re missing shots, then focus on the defensive end. And if you’re not shooting well, we have to be able to stop people on the other end.”
