Lincoln - The Nebraska women's basketball team fell behind visiting Iowa by 16 points early in the second half before rallying to trim the lead to three points with six minutes left, but the Huskers were unable to complete the comeback in a 74-68 loss to the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten opener for both teams at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Thursday afternoon.
Freshman Jessica Shepard scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds in her Big Ten Conference debut against the Hawkeyes in front of a season-high 7,329 fans, but the Huskers were unable to overcome a 51-29 disadvantage on the boards. Nebraska fell to 9-3 overall, while the USA Today Coaches No. 25 Hawkeyes improved to 11-2.
Rachel Theriot added 15 points and nine assists, but struggled to hit just 7-of-25 shots from the floor for the game. Theriot hit just two of her first 14 shots, before hitting 5-of-11 down the stretch to help the Huskers rally.
Natalie Romeo, who scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half including a trio of three-pointers, also brought the Huskers within striking distance after falling behind 44-28 in the opening minute of the third quarter.
Romeo's three-pointer with 5:58 left cut Iowa's lead to 59-56. Romeo added four assists and four steals for the game.
The Huskers then forced one of Iowa's 24 turnovers on the ensuing possession, and Romeo was running to the basket for a chance to pull Nebraska within a point. However, Tania Davis affected Romeo's shot with an outstanding hustle play, and Iowa capitalized with a basket by Ally Disterhoft in transition off an assist from Davis to push the lead back to five points.
The lead grew back to eight points on Christina Buttenham's three-pointer off an assist from Davis with 4:17 left.
Nebraska refused to quit though, even after a Whitney Jennings free throw kept the lead at eight points (68-60) with 44 seconds left. In fact, three-pointers by Theriot and Romeo and a pair of Shepard free throws after a series of Hawkeye mistakes allowed NU to cut Iowa's lead to 71-68 with 15.7 seconds left.
But the Hawkeyes used late-game free throw shooting, their huge rebounding advantage and an 18-2 advantage in bench scoring to seal the victory, as Nebraska suffered its first home loss of the season.
Disterhoft led the Hawkeyes with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Chase Coley added 16 points and six boards. Coley scored Iowa's first seven points of the game, but the Huskers led 17-15 with three minutes left in the opening quarter, before a Davis three gave Iowa the lead for good late in the first period.
Davis finished with seven points and four assists, while Lincoln native Alexa Kastanek helped the Hawkeyes with 13 points, including 10 in the second half.
Iowa hit 45.6 percent (26-57) of its shots for the game, including 7-of-20 three-pointers, while knocking down 15-of-19 free throws. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Huskers, 51-29, including 14 offensive rebounds. The huge edge on the glass allowed Iowa to overcome a 24-9 disadvantage in the turnover department.
Nebraska hit just 26-of-71 (36.6 percent) of its shots from the floor, including just 4-of-12 threes. The Huskers went 12-of-17 at the line.
The Huskers open Big Ten Conference road action on Sunday by battling No. 14 Northwestern. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Wildcats is set for 1:30 p.m., with live television coverage on the Big Ten Network.
Official Basketball Box Score
Official Basketball Box Score Iowa vs Nebraska 12/31/15 1:06 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Iowa 11-2, 1-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 04 Coley, Chase........ f 6-9 0-0 4-5 1 5 6 2 16 0 3 0 1 19 25 Peschel, Kali....... f 1-3 0-1 2-2 1 7 8 1 4 1 3 1 0 23 01 Kastanek, Alexa..... g 5-8 2-5 1-2 0 3 3 3 13 0 2 0 2 33 02 Disterhoft, Ally.... g 7-14 2-5 1-2 4 7 11 2 17 1 4 0 0 35 15 Jennings, Whitney... g 1-8 1-4 3-4 1 4 5 4 6 4 2 1 2 32 03 Till, Claire........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 1 3 2 2 0 2 1 0 5 10 Gustafson, Megan.... 3-7 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 6 1 3 3 0 16 11 Davis, Tania........ 2-5 1-2 2-2 1 0 1 1 7 4 3 0 0 21 23 Buttenham, Christina 1-3 1-3 0-0 1 5 6 1 3 2 0 0 0 16 TEAM................ 2 3 5 2 Totals.............. 26-57 7-20 15-19 14 37 51 19 74 13 24 6 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-32 46.9% 2nd Half: 11-25 44.0% Game: 45.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 35.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-7 100 % 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 78.9% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 9-3, 0-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 Shepard, Jessica.... f 10-20 0-0 8-13 1 7 8 3 28 0 2 0 0 39 22 Havers, Allie....... c 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 2 6 1 1 0 0 27 04 Clark, Kyndal....... g 1-5 0-3 0-0 1 2 3 5 2 3 0 0 3 34 05 Romeo, Natalie...... g 4-9 3-5 4-4 0 1 1 2 15 4 2 0 4 40 33 Theriot, Rachel..... g 7-25 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 3 15 9 3 1 1 40 12 Wood, Emily......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 31 Kalenta, Anya....... 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 2 2 0 1 1 1 9 34 Cincore, Jasmine.... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 1 7 TEAM................ 4 1 5 Totals.............. 26-71 4-12 12-17 10 19 29 21 68 17 9 2 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-36 30.6% 2nd Half: 15-35 42.9% Game: 36.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 70.6% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Brian Hall, Michael McConnell, Missy Brooks Technical fouls: Iowa-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 7329 Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Iowa.......................... 18 24 15 17 - 74 Nebraska...................... 17 11 19 21 - 68