Iowa opens Big Ten women’s basketball play victorious at Nebraska

No. 25 Iowa turned into bullies on the boards Thursday to tear down Nebraska, 74-68, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.

The Hawkeyes (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) won the rebounding battle 51-29.

'It was amazing,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'To think we out-rebounded Nebraska by 22. I thought we did a great job of offensive boards, especially. We had 14 offensive, they had 19 defensive ... almost even.”

'The past few weeks the coaches emphasized getting on the boards and rebounding,” Iowa junior Ally Disterhoft said. 'I was trying to create by crashing the boards, making an extra effort.”

The Iowa defense also squeezed Nebraska (9-3, 0-1) at the 3-point arc. The Huskers hit just 4 of 12.

'We contained their 3-point percentage,” Bluder said. 'We really found those 3-point shooters very well.”

Freshman Jessica Shepard had a game-high 28 points for Nebraska, with Natalie Romeo and Rachel Theroit each adding 15 points. The Husker bench only went three players deep and played for just 20 minutes.

Disterhoft led Iowa with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Chase Coley had 16 points in 19 minutes, and Alexa Kastanek added 13 points in her return to her home state.

'It was fun to play in front of my family,” Kastenek said.

All nine Hawkeyes who played, scored. Bluder cited the play of Claire Till, who had two points and three rebounds in five minutes of work.

Iowa won the second quarter 24-11. Disterhoft hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead the Hawkeyes into intermission, up 42-28.

Nebraska made a run to start the fourth quarter, cutting the lead down to three, 59-56, but Disterhoft hit a jumper, followed by a Christina Buttenham 3-pointer to put the Huskers' fire out.

'We withstood the momentum swing they had in the second half; we handled that well,” Bluder said. 'We kept our focus the entire time and didn't let anything rattle us.”

Their work on the glass helped the Hawkeyes overcome some sloppy play that included a season-worst 24 turnovers.

Iowa next hosts Rutgers (10-3, 1-0) at 7 p.m. Monday.