By Susan Harman

MINNEAPOLIS—Nebraska was a very difficult five seed in the Big Ten championship game. The Huskers played well all week and gave Iowa fits through five periods on Sunday.

The Huskers had four players in double figures. Alexis Markowski had 23 and 13 rebounds. Natalie Potts had 21 points and nine rebounds. Jaz Shelley added 16 and Logan Nissley 13. Potts and Nissley are freshmen.

“Nebraska just played an outstanding game,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “It took everything we had to win this game.” 

“We had the entire stadium against us, and we were able to silence the crowd,” Shelley said. “We were able to have freshmen step up. We just fell a little short, but I think we played a great game.”

Iowa trailed at half by 11, only the third time Iowa has faced a deficit at half.

The 6-foot-3 Markowski and 6-2 Potts, earlier named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, were very difficult for Iowa to manage, scoring inside at will and grabbing offensive rebounds. Iowa tried different defenses, and Hannah Stuelke and Kate Martin were charged with defending the two. 

“Natalie’s impact has been huge,” Nebraska coach Amy Williams said. “I think she’s just a winner that knows how to win and wants to make big plays and finds ways to do it on both sides.”

The game had 16 lead changes befitting the nail-biter that it was.

“Kudos to Nebraska,” Iowa’s Kate Martin said. “They made it hard for us. And it was really a hard-fought game until the final buzzer.”

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Threepeat.  The Hawkeyes are the fourth Big Ten team to win three tournament titles in a row, joining Maryland, Purdue and Ohio State. It was Iowa’s sixth tournament championship overall. Martin has played in the Big Ten championship game all five of her active years and has been on the winning side four times.

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NCAA tournament. Bluder said she thought Iowa had earned a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament after a 29-4 record and a Big Ten tournament title. Selection Sunday is in a week. Iowa will certainly be playing host to first- and second-round games at a minimum. 

“I think we do deserve a No. 1 seed,” she said. “If we don’t get it, it’s OK. That’s life. We can’t control that. But I think it would just mean a lot to our program and how far we’ve come to have that recognition.

“But if we don’t get it we’re  going to play the same basketball we would if we were 1, 2, 3, 4. It doesn’t matter.”

Iowa will be off for at least 10 days as it waits for the brackets to be revealed and the tournament to begin at home. 

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Iowa offense.  Iowa spread the scoring out in its Big Ten Tournament championship victory. Caitlin Clark ended up with 34 after a four-point first half. Hannah Stuelke had a well-earned 25 after battling with Nebraska’s bigs inside. She also had nine rebounds. Kate Martin scored 13 including three critical 3-pointers late in the game and in OT. Sydney Affolter scored 11 and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, including six offensive boards.

Clark finished her Big Ten career as the leading tournament score with 317 points in 13 games. Her five 3-pointers in Sunday’s game tied the record for most threes in a championship game.

Nebraska set a championship-game record with 14 made 32-pointers.