Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament: Iowa wins title in OT
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Sunday was the final day of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament and second-seeded Iowa rallied to beat fifth-seeded Nebraska 94-89 in overtime Sunday at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Here's a recap of how the title game went down...
#2 Iowa 94, #5 Nebraska 89 - Final
- We are underway from Target Center for the 2024 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament championship game! To say the crowd favors the Hawkeyes would be an understatement. Very little Nebraska red in a jam-packed Target Center.
- Gabbie Marshall with a 3-pointer from the left corner for the first points of this game. Huge applause from the crowd.
- The Cornhuskers lead 13-5 early on here at Target Center. Alexis Markowski has four points for Nebraska.
- The Hawkeyes had an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to six before Markowski stopped the bleeding for the Cornhuskers. Nebraska leads 23-17 after one quarter of play. Markowski with eight points to lead all scorers. Jaz Shelley also has five for the Huskers. Hannah Stuelke leads the Hawkeyes with five points. Quiet quarter for Caitlin Clark, who has two points on 1-for-8 shooting. She does have three assists.
- The Hawkeyes faithful are loud here at Target Center. The Cornhuskers led by as many as 12 in the first quarter but are up just 31-28 now.
- There's 4:31 left here in the second quarter. Huskers lead 34-28, but the Hawkeyes are slowly working their way back from the big first-quarter deficit. Markowski leads the Huskers with eight points, Shelley has seven and Natalie Potts has six. Sydney Affolter leads the Hawkeyes with nine points, and Stuelke has seven.
- Nebraska is playing good basketball and the Hawkeyes are struggling from the field. Potts just hit a couple free throws and the Huskers are up 41-30 with about 2:30 to play in the half.
- Marshall hit a 3 for Iowa just before half, but Shelley came right back and answered for the Huskers, who will take a 46-35 lead into the half. Potts has 12 points to lead Nebraska and Shelley has 10. Stuelke leading Iowa with 11, while Affolter has nine. Clark isn't having a good shooting day with four points on 2-for-13 shooting, including 0 for 9 from 3-point range. She does, however, have eight assists.
- We're back for the second half!
- Clark appears to have found her shot now. She opened the second-half scoring with a jumper and just drilled a 3. Iowa down 48-42.
- Stuelke's layup made it a five-point game here at Target Center. Huskers lead 52-47. Affolter will be shooting a couple free throws for the Hawkeyes following a timeout.
- Clark with a layup to give the Hawkeyes a 53-52 lead with 2:12 remaining here in the third quarter. The building exploded. The Hawkeyes haven't led since Marshall's 3 put them up 3-0 at the beginning of the game.
- Clark draws a foul with 2.9 seconds remaining in the quarter and makes both free throws to tie the game at 58-58. Her and Markowski traded 3-pointers before that. Potts leads the Huskers with 16, Shelley has 14 and Markowski has 11. Stuelke leads the Hawkeyes with 17 points, and Clark is up to 16, 12 of which came in the third quarter. She also has nine assists and six rebounds.
- And we're on to the fourth! Couldn't ask for a better Big Ten championship than this — a tie game heading into the fourth quarter.
- Kendall Coley just fouled out for Nebraska. Iowa leads 65-63 here in the fourth.
- Callin Hake hit a 3 for the Huskers, Clark turned it over on the other end and Logan Nissley drilled another from long range. Nebraska retakes the lead, up 69-65 with 5:00 left to play.
- Nebraska up 73-67 with 2:54 left to play. Clark just got whistled for an offensive foul. Oddly quiet in here now with the Huskers in the lead. The patches of Nebraska fans scattered throughout the arena are pleased though.
- Who else? Clark drills a much-needed 3 for the Hawkeyes to cut their deficit to 75-70 with 2:07 remaining.
- Clark has 22 points this half (10 in the third, 12 so far here in the fourth).
- Clark feeds Kate Martin in the left corner for a 3. Nebraska leads 77-75 with 1:02 remaining. What a game.
- Clark fights through contact for a tough layup to tie the game at 77-77 with 29.3 seconds remaining.
- The Huskers kill some time off the clock before calling a timeout. They'll have a chance at a game-winner with 9.8 seconds left on the clock.
- Nissley misses a jumper as time expires. We're going to overtime tied at 77-77!
- Nissley and Martin trade 3-pointers here in OT. Iowa leads 85-84.
- Nissley with another 3 to give the Huskers an 87-86 lead with a minute left. But Clark immediately answers with a 3 of her own to put the Hawkeyes back up 89-87. The Huskers will have the ball with 51.3 seconds remaining in OT.
- Clark with a huge steal. Huskers intentionally foul, sending her to the free-throw line. Clark sinks them both. Iowa leads 91-87 with 37.2 seconds left.
- Marshall with a huge block on Nissley's 3-point attempt. The crowd here at Target Center is electric.
- Huskers intentionally foul Stuelke off the inbounds pass. She misses both free throws. Hawkeyes lead 91-87 with 27.5 seconds left. Huskers have the ball.
- Markowski with a layup for the Huskers. They intentionally foul Martin, who will head to the free-throw line. Just 18.5 seconds left on the clock with Iowa up 91-89.
- Martin makes 1 of 2 from the line, but Stuelke grabs the offensive rebound. Huskers foul her with 17.0 seconds remaining. She'll head to the line.
- Stuelke makes both free throws.
- Huskers get nothing on offense. Marshall deflects a pass out of bounds and Clark steals the ensuing inbounds pass, dribbling the length of the court as the clock expires. Crowd is loud and electric as confetti falls down to the court.
- Final score: Iowa 94, Nebraska 89
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