Iowa blows 11-point fourth-quarter lead, falls in overtime to Nebraska

IOWA CITY — Long after a bitterly disappointed fan base went home, Lucy Olsen departed the locker room and returned to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena floor.

Free throw after free throw, she shot.

She made nearly all of them. When she did miss, she hit the ground for pushups.

The Iowa Hawkeyes continue to have a free throw problem (among others), and Olsen was in the middle of it Thursday night.

Nebraska overcame an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit — with more than a little help — and outlasted Iowa in overtime, 87-84, in a Big Ten women’s basketball game before an announced crowd of 14,998.

“We’ve got to turn the page,” Iowa’s Sydney Affolter said. “Obviously, this is one we would have liked to have gotten.”

Instead, the Hawkeyes (12-6 overall, 2-5 Big Ten) lost their fourth consecutive game for the first time since the 2015-16 season, and dropped their third straight home game for the first time since 2013.

This one was both catastrophic and inexcusable.

Iowa led 64-53 early in the fourth quarter, and the good times seemed to be back at Carver.

Until they weren’t.

Iowa made only half of its 20 free throws the rest of the way, and finished 16 of 29. Nebraska (14-4, 5-2) was 18 of 22, and led throughout the extra session.

“It’s no secret that it came down to free throws,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “Just the hangover of not wanting to go to overtime ... we needed to punch first, and we weren’t able to do it.”

This was a sequel of Thursday Night Free Throw Follies. A week ago at Illinois, the Hawkeyes were 8 of 17 in a five-point loss.

Nebraska had an 87-82 lead when Logan Nissley made two foul shots with 9 seconds left in overtime.

Kylie Feuerbach hit a pair on the other end at 0:06 to get Iowa within 87-84, then Hannah Stuelke made a steal at midcourt and fed to Affolter, who missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the horn.

Six Hawkeyes reached double figures, including double-doubles by Stuelke (16 points, 16 rebounds) and Affolter (10 and 13).

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Aaliyah Guyton and Olsen registered 14 points apiece, Feuerbach 13, Addison O’Grady 10.

Olsen was 1 of 6 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Down 11, the Huskers got a pair of 3-pointers from Nissley in a 40-second span. When Jessica Petrie scored at the 4:08 mark of regulation, Nebraska was within 64-63 and it was a dogfight again.

The Hawkeyes failed to close the door from the line, and it cost them dearly.

“We had it,” Jensen said. “We had a flat group out there, and it turned really quickly.”

Iowa’s four defeats in its current skid have come by a total of 23 points.

“All of them have been winnable games, and that’s the frustrating part,” Affolter said.

Stuelke said, “It’s been a lot of little things, lapses here and there. We lose focus, miss an assignment ... ”

Miss a bunch of free throws ...

Britt Prince led Nebraska with 22 points. Alexis Markowski added 19 before fouling out early in overtime.

Jensen trotted out a different starting lineup for the third straight game, with Taylor McCabe (in for O’Grady) joining Olsen, Stuelke, Affolter and Feuerbach.

The Hawkeyes play at Oregon at 4 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ve got to create a break,” Jensen said. “We can’t just wait to catch one.”

Nebraska 87, Iowa 84 (OT)

At Iowa City

NEBRASKA (87): Jessica Petrie 5-8 2-2 13, Alexis Markowski 8-11 2-2 19, Logan Nissley 3-8 4-4 13, Callin Hake 0-5 0-0 0, Britt Prince 6-18 5-6 22, Alberte Rimdal 3-5 2-2 9, Kendall Coley 0-0 0-0 0, Petra Bozan 0-2 0-0 0, Amiah Hargrove 3-4 2-2 10, Kendall Moriarty 0-1 1-4 1. Totals 28-62 18-22 87.

IOWA (84): Hannah Stuelke 6-8 4-8 16, Taylor McCabe 2-7 0-0 5, Sydney Affolter 3-10 3-4 10, Kylie Feuerbach 3-7 5-6 13, Lucy Olsen 6-15 1-6 14, Taylor Stremlow 1-4 0-0 2, Aaliyah Guyton 5-10 1-2 14, Addison O’Grady 4-6 2-3 10, Teagan Mallegni 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-68 16-29 84.

Nebraska 26 12 13 26 10 — 87

Iowa 19 18 19 21 7 — 84

3-point goals: Nebraska 13-30 (Petrie 1-3, Markowski 1-2, Nissley 3-6, Hake 0-3, Prince 5-11, Rimdal 1-2, Hargrove 2-3), Iowa 8-27 (McCabe 1-6, Affolter 1-5, Feuerbach 2-5, Olsen 1-3, Stremlow 0-2, Guyton 3-5, Mallegni 0-1). Team fouls: Nebraska 25, Iowa 22. Fouled out: Markowski, Rimdal. Rebounds: Nebraska 38 (Hargrove 11), Iowa 42 (Stuelke 16). Assists: Nebraska 20 (Nissley, Prince 5), Iowa 24 (Olsen 7). Steals: Nebraska 7 (Prince 6), Iowa 8 (Stremlow 3). Turnovers: Nebraska 16, Iowa 13.

Attendance: 14,998.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com