Lincoln - Kiera Hardy scored a game-high 26 points and tied the school record with seven three-pointers on the game to tie the single-season record with 85 three-pointers on the year, but it wasn't enough to prevent Iowa from running to a 71-67 victory in the second round of the SportsView.TV Postseason WNIT in front of 2,851 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Monday evening.
With the loss, Nebraska ended its season with an 18-14 overall record after posting an 8-8 mark in Big 12 Conference regular-season action. Iowa improved to 22-9 with the victory and advanced to the SportsView.TV WNIT quarterfinals against Arkansas State on Thursday evening in Cedar Rapids.
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said the game was an exciting end to an enjoyable season, despite being a disappointing loss.
"What a great college basketball game," Yori said. "That is a great way to end the season. If you have to end the season on a loss, that is a good way to go because it was such a great game."
The Huskers trailed by as many as 13 points early in the first half, before Hardy shot Nebraska back into the game. Hardy hit four first-half three-pointers to help NU trim a 23-10 lead down to just two points on two occasions, before the Hawkeyes headed to the locker room with a 40-34 halftime lead.
Iowa pushed the lead back to seven points early in the second half, but Hardy again brought the Huskers back. The sophomore scored seven straight points, including a pair of three-pointers, to tie the score at 49-all.
After the Huskers knotted the score at the 13:02 mark, the Hawkeyes held Nebraska scoreless for nearly three minutes during an 8-0 run to open a 57-49 lead. Crystal Smith had six points in the surge before finishing with a team-high 21 points while hitting 8-of-14 attempts from the field. Smith was joined in double figures by Johanna Solverson, who had 18 points including three of the Hawkeyes' five three-pointers, while Stacy Schlapkohl added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench.
Normally a reserve, Schlapkohl played 23 minutes as Iowa's scoring leader, Jamie Cavey, was held to just four points and five rebounds. The Huskers got Cavey into foul trouble early in each half, and she was limited to just 17 minutes on the game, but picked up a pair of rebounds and drew a charge in the final two minutes to help the Hawkeyes to the victory.
Solverson's three-pointer with 7:25 to play put Iowa ahead 62-53, and a Morgan Kasperek jumper at the 4:17 mark put the Hawkeyes up by eight before the Huskers made one final push. Hardy hit her school-record tying seventh trey of the contest at the 3:31 mark to cut the deficit to 68-63 points, before Jelena Spiric hit a pair of free throws to pull the Huskers within three.
Smith then collected a steal and hit a layup for 70-65 lead with 1:51 to play. Hardy connected on a pair of free throws with 1:10 remaining and Nebraska turned the ball over with 55 seconds left, but the Huskers' pressure forced Iowa into a miscue just 29 seconds later to get the ball back. Following a timeout, Smith picked Hardy's pocket and Krista VandeVenter followed with the final points of the game by hitting the first of two free throw attempts with eight seconds remaining.
Along with Hardy, Spiric was the only other Husker in double figures as she finished one point off her career high with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Spiric added six rebounds and Elena Diaz had seven boards as the Huskers outrebounded Iowa, 37-30. The Hawkeyes hit 52.9 percent from the field on the night while limiting NU to just 35.5 percent shooting, although Nebraska hit 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range and 13-of-14 (92.9 percent) from the free throw line.