Nebraska Women’s Basketball outlasts Iowa 87-84 in overtime
Iowa’s Sydney Affolter got her game-tying shot off just as the buzzer sounded zero. The ball bounced off the rim and down. No good. Nebraska Women’s Basketball (14-4, 5-2) celebrated as they had finally defeated the Hawkeyes (12-6, 2-5) in Iowa City for the first time since 2018. The Huskers won 87-84 in overtime thanks to their free-throw shooting.
The Huskers were fantastic from three in the first quarter against the Hawkeyes. But after going 6-of-9 in the first quarter, they finished 13-of-30.
Freshman Britt Prince led the charge by going 5-of-11 from three. She finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
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Alexis Markowski was in foul trouble for the majority of the game. The senior center recorded 19 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes. Both Jessica Petrie and Amiah Hargrove stepped up with Markowski on the bench. Petrie had 13 points and six rebounds while Hargrove added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior center Hannah Stuelke led Iowa with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Freshman Aaliyah Guyton added a career-high 14 points. Lucy Olsen recorded 14 points as well.
Back and forth first half
Markowski scored Nebraska’s first five points including her first 3-pointer of the season. After NU went up 8-5, Iowa caught fire. They scored nine straight over two and a half minutes. Alberte Rimdal stopped the run with a smooth mid-range jumper.
Prince sparked the Huskers with back-to-back 3-pointers. Guard Logan Nissley and Hargrove joined the fun as Nebraska hit four straight threes.
Over the final three minutes of the first quarter, Nebraska went on a 16-2 run to lead 26-19 heading into the second.
Prince hit all four of her first four shots from behind the arc. She finished the first half going 4-of-6. After going 6-of-9 from behind the arc in the first quarter, NU was 2-of-8 in the second.
Nebraska cooled off in the second quarter. They didn’t score for five minutes. Luckily, Iowa was also scoreless for three minutes. However, the Hawkeyes scored six unanswered points to cut Nebraska’s lead to 31-28. Hargrove knocked down her second three to end NU’s drought.
Iowa went on a 7-0 run highlighted by a fastbreak three from Guyton. Petrie stopped the run with a jumper in the paint.
The Hawkeyes outscored Nebraska 17-12. The Huskers were charged with seven fouls while Iowa had three in the first half. Iowa was 5-of-6 and NU went 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
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Second half battle
The game stayed very close at the start of the third quarter. Taylor McCabe, a Fremont, Neb. native, hit her first 3-pointer of the game to tie the game 42-42 with under eight minutes in the third quarter.
Nebraska struggled with Markowski on the bench with two fouls in the second quarter. The senior was charged with her third foul and returned to the bench with six minutes left in the third quarter. Soon after, freshman forward Petra Bozan picked up her third foul.
Guyton banked in her third 3-pointer for the Hawkeyes to take a 49-46 lead with under four minutes left. Rimdal responded with her own three for the tie.
The Huskers had back-to-back turnovers which Iowa capitalized on with back-to-back transition buckets. Nebraska called a timeout to regroup.
Addison O’Grady and Guyton sparked Iowa to take the lead. O’Grady had six paint points within two minutes of coming off the bench. O’Grady and Guyton had six points each.
Nebraska did not score over the final three-plus minutes of the third quarter. Iowa led 56-51 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Iowa stayed hot in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a very loud Carver-Hawkeye Arena. They started the final quarter on an 8-2 run to go up 64-53.
Nissley sparked NU with back-to-back 3-pointers to quiet the crowd. Markowski followed it up with a layup. Nebraska cut Iowa’s lead to 64-61 with under five minutes left. After an Iowa timeout, Nissley picked up a steal.
The Huskers scored 10 straight to make it 64-63 Iowa. Lucy Olsen swished a three from deep and made a layup to go up 69-65.
Nebraska and Iowa traded buckets over the final two minutes. The Huskers had a response for each Hawkeye score. With 55.9 seconds left, Nebraska called a timeout down 75-72 after Kylie Feuerbach made two free throws.
Prince drilled a stepback 3-pointer out of the timeout. She helped Nebraska tie the game 75-75 with 49.6 seconds remaining. The freshman made her first three since the first quarter when her team needed it the most.
Markowski was called for an offensive foul with less than 18 seconds remaining and Iowa up 76-75. Feuerbach made one of two free throws to make it 77-75 Hawkeyes.
Prince drove inside and was fouled with 2.8 left and NU down 77-75. The freshman made both free throws with the game on the line.
Guyton missed an open layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime at 77-77.
Overtime
Nissley started overtime strong by hitting both free throw shots after an early foul to go up 79-77. Hargrove made two free throw shots 30 seconds later for an 81-78 lead.
Markowski fouled out with 4:27 left in overtime. The loss of Nebraska’s senior center was heavy, but NU kept grinding.
The first nine points of overtime were from free throws. Nebraska went 10-of-14 from the charity strike while Iowa was 5-of-8 in overtime.
O’Grady scored the first field goal of overtime with 1:48 left in the game. She made both free throws with 59 seconds ago.
Petrie secured a big-time rebound after Kendall Moriarty missed both free throws with the time running down. Nissley, a free-throw shooting wizard, was fouled and made both shots for NU to go up 87-82 with 9.9 seconds remaining.
Feuerbach knocked down two more free throws with six seconds left. But Affoulter missed the three-point shot to tie the game.
Nebraska won in Iowa City for the first time since 2018.
Nebraska Women’s Basketball vs. Iowa Final Score 1/16/2025
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