Hawkeyes top Cornhuskers for third time

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - It was only the quarterfinals and Iowa has its sights set on a bigger prize, but in order for any goals to become reality the Hawkeyes had to tame Nebraska. Again.

Mission accomplished.

Second-seeded Iowa opened Big Ten Tournament play with a 74-65 victory against the seventh-seeded Cornhuskers last night at Sears Centre Arena.

Nebraska had ended Iowa's conference tournament appearances in each of the past three seasons, including last year's championship game.

'It sticks with you as a competitor and we wanted to beat them,” Iowa senior Samantha Logic said. 'There was definitely a little bit extra desire because of what they had done to us in the past.”

Earlier this season, Iowa halted an 8-game losing streak against Nebraska. Now, after sweeping them in the regular season, it's a 3-game winning streak for the Hawkeyes against their border rivals.

'It's always fun to play Iowa,” Nebraska's Emily Cady said. 'Always a grudge match. We always battle hard against each other no matter what.”

Iowa (24-6) held a three point advantage at halftime. The Hawkeyes then extended their lead to 15, 53-38.

Nebraska (21-10) seemed poised to make a run when Bethany Doolittle went to the bench with her fourth foul and Iowa leading 55-48 with 9:59 remaining.

However, Logic helped Iowa keep its poise as the Hawkeyes managed to increase their lead to 12 points by the time Doolittle returned with 4:56 left.

'Sam Logic is such a good player,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'You don't coach that. It is a mentality that she has. It is between her ears. She knows the game so well.”

From there, Nebraska was never able to get closer than five points.

The Cornhuskers made 9 of their first 11 shots, but Iowa turned up the defensive intensity and Nebraska went 14 of 60 (23.3 percent) the rest of the way.

'It was going to level off sooner or later,” Bluder said. 'I thought we did a better job of defending them.”

Ally Disterhoft led the Hawkeyes with 16 points and nine rebounds. Doolittle joined Logic with 15 points and also had nine rebounds.

Kali Peschel added 13, including three 3-pointers, off the bench.

'I know my role is to get in there, play defense and get rebounds and hit that open shot,” Peschel said. 'I credit my teammates so much. They do a great job finding me in those situations.”

The Hawkeyes also enjoyed a 48-39 rebounding edge.

Iowa advances to play third-seed Ohio State in tonight's second semifinal game, which is expected to get underway about 8:30.