Iowa women’s basketball shuts down Nebraska in front of record Husker crowd

LINCOLN, Neb. — The largest crowd to ever see a Nebraska women’s basketball home game was treated to an offensive show by Iowa stars Caitlin Clark and Monica Czinano.

While Clark and Czinano certainly did their part offensively, Iowa’s defense also put on a clinic.

Iowa held Nebraska to 22-of-64 shooting overall and 7-of-33 shooting from 3-point-range as the No. 7 Hawkeyes rolled to an 80-60 win before a school-record crowd of 14,289 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Iowa went to its matchup zone defense early in the first quarter and stayed with it the remainder of the game. Nebraska never had an answer for it offensively.

“Our zone defense — it’s a matchup system that we have that we like,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder. “We think we contest all shots.”

The Hawkeyes (22-6, 14-2) used a strong defensive effort from their matchup zone as they steadily built their lead throughout the final 2 1/2 quarters. Nebraska (14-13, 6-10) closed within 31-29 late in the second quarter, but Iowa outscored it 9-2 before halftime to lead 40-33 at the break. The Hawkeyes then outscored the Huskers 40-27 in the second half.

Iowa’s end to the second quarter set the tone for the second half as Nebraska never closed within double figures the rest of the game.

“Our team is really mature at handling end-of-quarter situations,” Bluder said. “We do a really good job of that.”

While Nebraska held Iowa seven points below its season average, Iowa’s defense clamped down on Nebraska’s offense effectively throughout.

“They were pretty aggressive in their zone of playing active hands,” Nebraska coach Amy Williams said. “At times where we had opportunities to get open looks, they’d get a tip or deflection on a pass. They really spread their zone out and it caused us a bit of trouble.”

Clark and Czinano combined for 50 points on 20-of-34 shooting. Clark finished with 30 points, making 10 of 21 shots, and 6 of 7 at the free throw line, to go with eight assists and five rebounds. Czinano had 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting, along with seven rebounds.

“Teams really have to kind of pick their poison when they play us,” Czinano said. “They can either really focus on playing the post and maybe my points are limited, but my teammates are open for shots or vice versa. Throughout the whole game, they were picking and choosing which one they wanted to do and we were doing a good job of realizing that and reading that.”

Playing in front of large crowds like Iowa has all season, and did again on Saturday, only motivates Clark to give the fans a show.

“I know 14,000 is more than they usually get. I know that’s because of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the joy we play with and the excitement we have for one another,” Clark said. “Anytime you can grow the game is super important no matter if you're on the road and a lot of people are cheering against us.”