IOWA CITY, Iowa– A frustrating night in Lincoln with foul trouble turned into a convincing 81-66 road win over the Huskers. Iowa has been on the right side of the bubble for the past week, but have put a nice bow on its resume as they head down the stretch of the season.
Lucy Olsen took the loss against Nebraska hard after she went 1-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. She got Iowa started early by scoring its first seven points. The Hawkeye defense was swarming the Huskers early, especially freshman Britt Prince. Iowa only allowed Nebraska to score one time on its first eight possessions and they took an early 11-2 lead.
Nebraska’s offense would hit a couple shots to respond, but Iowa’s pressure-filled defense had them all out of sorts. The Hawkeyes got into some foul trouble as Addi O’Grady and Hannah Stuelke picked up two each in the first quarter, which led to Ava Heiden getting her first minutes in three games.
Olsen was dialed in– scoring 15 of Iowa’s first 19 points, but Iowa’s foul trouble continued to dig themselves a hole. Syd Affolter would pick up her second in the second quarter. Olsen and Affolter would score Iowa’s first 22 points before Heiden made her presence known with a pair of big buckets in the midst of a Husker run. After Nebraska tied it up at 24, Iowa went on a 9-0 run to regain momentum.
Foul trouble plagued Iowa, but the highly-touted freshmen class helped pace the Hawkeyes. Heiden gave Iowa six points in 10 minutes of action while Stuelke and O’Grady didn’t see the floor in the second quarter. Five different Hawkeyes had two fouls in the first 20 minutes. The Hawkeyes held onto a 38-35 lead at the break. Nebraska shot 11 more free throws than Iowa in the first 20 minutes.
Taylor McCabe provided a nice spark to start the third quarter. A pair of assists for Stuelke led to two McCabe three-pointers as Iowa began to put together a nice stretch of basketball. Momentum swung in Iowa’s favor and they nearly opened it up. Kylie Feuerbach looked like she had a steal before Nebraska found a way to snatch the basketball, kick it out to Logan Nissley and have her drill a triple to keep them within six. Iowa held onto a 48-42 lead with 4:20 left in the third quarter.
McCabe’s spark wouldn’t stop there. Olsen made a ridiculously athletic pass to McCabe, who splashed her third three of the quarter against her home-state team. Affolter followed it up with a triple of her own to give Iowa its largest lead of the game (12).
Olsen’s dominance was a constant theme throughout Monday night’s matchup. Her efficiency has been stellar over the past couple of weeks and she has found her swag in the black & gold. Her ability to pull-up from midrange, make threes and get to the rim really helped carry Iowa when things were lacking.
Olsen finished with an Iowa-high 32 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds. McCabe, a Nebraska native ended with 17 points of her own. All 17 of them came in the second-half.
Three of Iowa’s five-game winning streak have come on the road. The Hawkeyes also defeated (then) No. 4 USC at home.
Up Next: The Hawkeyes are back in Carver-Hawkeye and will host Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have a 10-14 record and haven’t been able to be consistent this season. Iowa is on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but a loss to Rutgers could put that in jeopardy.
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