Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Nebraska battled hard from start to finish but No. 14 Iowa hit more shots and made more plays in the second half to hand the Huskers a 74-65 loss in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday at Sears Centre Arena.
With the loss, the Huskers end the regular season with a 21-10 overall record that included a 10-8 Big Ten mark. Iowa, which defeated Nebraska for the first time in four tries in the Big Ten Tournament, improved to 24-6 overall after posting a 14-4 record to finish second in the conference regular-season standings.
NU’s four seniors finished with an 8-3 overall record in four trips to the Big Ten Tournament, including the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game win over Iowa.
Nebraska will find out its NCAA Tournament seed and destination during the Selection Show on Monday, March 16 at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
Nebraska, which has suffered five of its losses to top 10 RPI teams with two to Big Ten champion Maryland and three to runner-up Iowa, got 16 points, five assists and three steals from senior guard Tear’a Laudermill to lead four Huskers in double figures.
Senior Emily Cady added 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while senior guard Brandi Jeffery added a strong effort with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Big Red also received 14 points from freshman guard Natalie Romeo, who hit 4-of-11 threes a night after knocking down a school-record 7-of-11 threes in a win over Illinois. In two career conference tournament games, Romeo went 11-for-22 from long range, and her 11 threes tied for the third-highest career total in Husker conference tournament history, trailing only 20 by All-American Jordan Hooper and 13 by All-American Lindsey Moore.
Despite solid scoring efforts from those four Huskers, the rest of the Big Red combined for just six points, including two points, 10 rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal from senior Hailie Sample. Sophomore Allie Havers added four points in limited time off the bench.
As a team, Nebraska hit just 32.4 percent (23-71) of its shots from the floor just 24 hours after hitting a season-high 61.7 percent of its shots in an 86-71 win over Illinois. NU did hit 7-of-21 threes and 12-of-18 free throws, but got outrebounded, 48-39 by the Hawkeyes. Nebraska did dominate the turnover battle, 20-12.
Iowa hit 44.8 percent (26-58) of its shots for the game, including 6-of-18 threes, and 16-of-20 free throws. Sophomore Ally Disterhoft led four Hawkeyes in double figures with 16 points and nine rebounds, while senior center Bethany Doolittle pitched in 15 points, nine boards and four of Iowa’s 10 blocks. Senior point guard Samantha Logic also scored 15 points to go along with five boards and six assists.
But the biggest contribution for Iowa came from reserve Kali Peschel, who hit 3-of-5 threes to finish with 13 points off the bench for the second straight meeting with the Huskers. Peschel averages four points per game on the season.
In an explosive first six minutes, Nebraska hit nine of its first 11 shots from the floor to take a 20-17 lead. But the Hawkeyes answered to outscore the Huskers 17-6 over the next 11 minutes to take their biggest lead of the half at 34-26.
The Big Red responded to cut the margin to just one possession at 36-33 at the half, despite hitting just two of their last 18 field goal attempts of the half.
The Huskers, who entered the game ranked No. 4 nationally by committing just 12.7 personal fouls per game, were also strapped with foul trouble up and down their starting lineup with two fouls apiece on Cady, Laudermill, Jeffery and Romeo.
Despite the problems, Laudermill and Jeffery each scored nine points to lead the Huskers in the half, while Cady added eight points, four rebounds and four blocks. The Huskers also outscored Iowa at the line, 6-3.
Nebraska finished at just 38.7 percent (12-31) from the floor, including 3-of-9 from three-point range, while going 6-of-8 at the free throw line. The Huskers won the first-half turnover battle, 10-6, but lost the first-half battle of the boards, 22-15.
Iowa hit 48.4 percent (15-31) of its shots, including 3-of-11 threes, while going 3-of-4 at the free throw line. Doolittle led Iowa with 11 points and four rebounds despite playing just nine minutes because of foul trouble. Disterhoft added 10 points and five boards, while Logic pitched in seven points and five assists. Peschel pitched in six points on a pair of three-pointers off the bench.
Iowa came out attacking in the second half building its lead to 44-36 before Laudermill trimmed the margin briefly back to six with 16:39 left. The Hawkeyes’ grip on the game strengthend with an 11-0 run capped by five straight points from Peschel, including a three-pointer to make it 53-38 with 13:56 left.
But Nebraska refused to quit. Laudermill came up with three quick defensive stops in a row, including a pair of steals and converted them to four points to cut the Iowa margin to 53-42 with12:44 left.
A three-point play by Cady with 9:59 left cut the margin to seven at 55-48 while forcing the fourth foul on Doolittle. Iowa maintained the seven-point edge at 57-50, before Peschel sparked a 7-0 Hawkeye run to rebuild the Iowa margin to 64-50 with 4:16 left.
However, the Huskers refused to go away despite all four of their senior starters being assessed four fouls. Romeo scored eight straight points for Nebraska, including a pair of threes to shave the Iowa lead to 66-58 with 2:13 left. A three by Jeffery cut the margin back to seven at 68-61, before a pair of free throws by Cady with one minute left got the margin to six points.
A final shot by Cady got the Big Red to five at 70-65 for the first time since the start of the half, but the Hawkeyes made 10-of-12 free throws in the final 2:24 to seal the win.
Kentucky’s season-long run at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 keeps right on going.
