Story by NU Athletic Communications
Lincoln - Alberte Rimdal scored a season-high 20 points off the bench, but it was not enough to prevent Iowa from running to an 81-66 win over the Nebraska women's basketball team at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday night.
Lucy Olsen led Iowa with a season-high 32 points to go with six rebounds and seven assists, as the Hawkeyes earned a season split with the Huskers after the Big Red defeated Iowa 87-84 in overtime at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 16.
Nebraska slipped to 16-8 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten with its third consecutive loss, while Iowa improved to 17-7 and 7-6 in the conference with its fifth straight win.
Alexis Markowski contributed 15 points, while Logan Nissley put three Huskers in double figures with 11 points on 3-of-7 three-point shooting.
Taylor McCabe scored all 17 of her points in the second half for Iowa, including five three-pointers, while Sydney Affolter put three Hawkeyes in double figures with 13 points.
As a team, Nebraska hit 45 percent (18-40) of its shots from the field, including 41.2 percent (7-17) three-pointers, while knocking down 79.3 percent (23-29) of its free throws. The Hawkeyes dictated things at the defensive end by holding the Huskers in place, showing they were willing to play a physical style early. Iowa committed 25 fouls compared to just 18 for the Huskers on the night, while NU attempted 29 free throws compared to just 14 for Iowa.
However, it put Iowa in foul trouble early as Hannah Stuelke, Addison O'Grady and Affolter all picked up two first-quarter fouls.
Iowa, which jumped to an early 11-2 lead, allowed just four first-quarter field goals and four free throws to take a 16-13 lead at the end of the period. Olsen led Iowa with 12 points in the period.
Nebraska scored its first six points of the second quarter at the free throw line, before freshman Petra Bozan scored five straight points to tie the game at 24 with 5:52 left in the first half. However, Iowa answered Nebraska's 7-0 run with a 9-0 run to rebuild its biggest lead of the first half at 33-24.
The Huskers finished out the second quarter strong to cut the margin to 38-35 at halftime after Amiah Hargrove's three-pointer with 15 seconds left.
NU cut the margin to 41-39 on a Markowski bucket with 7:33 left in the third, but Iowa began pulling away again, rebuilding the nine-point margin at 52-43 on an Olsen three-pointer with 3:43 left.
Nebraska got a pair of free throws from Rimdal to cut the lead back to 52-46 with 1:49 left, before back-to-back three-pointers by McCabe and Affolter gave Iowa its first double-digit lead at 58-46. Olsen capped an 8-0 Iowa run to end the third with two more points with 20 seconds left to send the Hawkeyes to the fourth quarter with a 60-46 lead.
The Huskers, who erased an 11-point fourth-quarter lead in the final six minutes in Iowa City to send the game to overtime, could not find similar magic on Monday night, as the Hawkeyes closed out the 81-66 win.
Iowa finished 30-of-63 (.476) from the field, including a sizzling 12-for-24 from long range. The Hawkeyes out-rebounded the Huskers, 31-29, and won the turnover battle, 15-10.
The Huskers return to Big Ten road action by traveling to nationally ranked Maryland on Thursday night. Tip-off with the Terrapins is set for 5:30 p.m. (CT) with live television coverage by the Big Ten Network. The game can also be heard across the Huskers Radio Network and on Huskers.com.