Clark within 8 of record
LINCOLN, Neb. – For all the pregame chatter centered on whether Caitlin Clark would make Pinnacle Bank Arena the record-setting venue, the No. 2 Iowa women’s basketball team first had to shake free from its neighborly rivals to the west. An upset Sunday would sting more than others.
The Hawkeyes seemed to bury Nebraska with a robust third quarter, only to see the Cornhuskers come charging back with ample late juice. Iowa didn’t get the cruise-control scenario it wanted late that would allow more flexibility for Clark to break the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record at home Thursday night. Tension lurked in Lincoln for several reasons.
Iowa will get its Carver-Hawkeye Arena party, but it came at a significant cost.
Nebraska erased a 14-point fourthquarter lead to complete an 82-79 stunner, the second time this season Iowa (22-3, 11-2 Big Ten Conference) has stumbled when owning a doubledigit cushion. Clark finished with 31 points – but nothing in the fourth quarter – as the Hawkeyes mustered 10 points in the closing 10 minutes. Clark needs eight points Thursday versus Michigan to break Kelsey Plum’s career record of 3,527.
“We just got stagnant,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “That’s my fault.”
Whether or not Clark and the Hawkeyes had the scoring record on their minds entering the fourth will linger in ambiguity. Unsurprisingly, Bluder and Clark emphasized it wasn’t a distraction postgame. But Iowa hardly looked like its dominant self down the stretch.
Iowa connected just four times in the fourth on two Kate Martin treys that seemed to stabilize things and a pair of Hannah Stuelke buckets that bookended the Hawkeyes’ late scoring. Clark’s 0-for-6 showing in the fourth signaled her second-worst shooting performance in any quarter of her career, according to ESPN Stats and Info. Her deep trey that clanked off with 23 seconds left and Iowa down one punctuated a tough afternoon.