Nebraska defeats No. 2 Iowa 82-79 to steal the thunder from Caitlin Clark.

LINCOLN, Nebraska — On a nationally televised celebration of women’s basketball, supporters from both Nebraska and Iowa descended upon Pinnacle Bank Arena in the hopes of witnessing Caitlin Clark break the NCAA record for women’s lifetime scoring.

What they observed instead The Cornhuskers’ incredible comeback from a 14-point fourth-quarter hole to defeat No. 2 Iowa 82-79 on Sunday was evident.

Nebraska (16-8, 8-5 Big Ten) triumphed over Iowa for the first time in ten attempts and over a Top 25 opponent for the first time this season. The day was highlighted by a court storming led by students.

With thirty seconds remaining, Jaz Shelley scored a 3-pointer to give Nebraska its first lead. She then sank all four of her free throws to seal the victory over the Hawkeyes (22-3, 11-2).

Amy Williams, the coach of the Cornhuskers, said, “On a day like today, I’m just so proud to be the head coach at Nebraska and proud of this team and the way they showed great response throughout the fourth quarter and found a way to win.”

Over the last 12 1/2 minutes, Clark, who finished with 31 points, was held scoreless. Six shots were missing from her, one of which was a three right before the buzzer.

Simply put, didn’t perform well in the end. It reeks,” remarked Clark.

With eight more points to surpass Kelsey Plum’s record of 3,527 points for Washington from 2013 to 2017, Clark will have 3,520 lifetime points. She’s probably going to smash the record this Thursday when Michigan comes to town.

With 9:22 remaining, Hannah Stuelke’s layup gave Iowa its largest lead, 71-57. The Hawkeyes lost the game after being outscored 25–8.

As the shot clock was about to expire, Shelley, who finished with 23 points, five 3-pointers, made a 3 from the right corner to give the Huskers the lead.

With 18.1 seconds remaining, Clark’s 3-point attempt was blocked by the front of the rim, and Shelley then sank two free throws. Stuelke’s basket put the score at 80-79, but Shelley added two more free throws, and in the closing moments, Clark and Kate Martin missed three-pointers.

“Everyone is going to try their hardest for us. At this stage of the season, if you’re unaware of it, Clark remarked.

Fans from both Iowa and Nebraska made up the crowd. Chants of “Let’s Go Hawks!” began before to tipoff.

Alexis Markowski of Nebraska remarked, “It’s kind of scary to come outside and see more yellow at first when you’re at home.” “Husker supporters were very visible. It presented a challenge to us. We were aware that we were not the favorites in this match. We succeeded after giving it everything we had.

Nebraska trailed by just 39-35 at the intermission after playing a competitive first half. In order to prevent Iowa from pulling away, Shelley made three 3-pointers, including two in a row at the end of the second quarter.

Although Clark scored 17 points in the first half, she also made significant contributions to defensive and assist play. In the third quarter, she increased her scoring significantly, scoring 14 points.

On defense, Nebraska rotated Shelley and two other players onto Clark. Additionally, the Huskers double-teamed her up high before switching to the box-and-one gimmick defense to stop her late.

“We train for it all season long, but we hadn’t really trained for it the last few practices,” Clark remarked. We needed to have been prepared for it.