Caitlin Clark recorded her 30th career 30-point game and her No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes steered a game that could have been a nail-biter into an 80-60 Big Ten Tournament-double-bye-clinching win with a strong second half against the Nebraska Cornhuskers Saturday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.
The Hawkeyes (22-5, 14-2 Big Ten) took their lead from seven to 14 with a 21-14 third-quarter advantage and opened the fourth quarter on a 17-2 run in front of a Nebraska-program-record 14,289 fans. Twenty-nine ended as their largest lead of the contest.
Clark finished with 30 points, five rebounds and eight assists, while co-star Monika Czinano added 20 points (10-of-13 from the field) and seven boards. Kate Martin rounded out the winners’ double-figure scorers with 10 points to go along with her six helpers.
Husker Isabelle Bourne opened the second half with a three that cut her team’s deficit to 40-36, but Iowa answered with a 7-0 run and led by at least nine the rest of the way. Martin made a layup, Czinano connected from mid-range on the right baseline and Clark buried a deep three to bring it to 47-36.
An Annika Stewart steal led to a high-arcing Jaz Shelley floater that cut it to 61-49 one minute and eight seconds into the fourth, but the Hawkeyes followed with the…
