The Hawkeyes needed that win for a multitude of reasons.

Iowa had lost three of their last five games, but went in to Pinnacle Bank Arena and took down a red hot Nebraska squad 95-86, behind a number of notable performances.

“This one feels good, as bad as last Sunday felt for us, this was a really good win against a really good basketball team,” said Lisa Bluder. “This was Iowa basketball. We’ve been waiting for this to happen.”

“We flushed Northwestern and were ready and focused on this game. I kind of knew this was going to happen,” said Caitlin Clark. “I had this feeling before the game that we were just really locked in to this game. I just felt our mojo was there and it clearly showed on the court.”

The first quarter got off to a quick in Iowa’s favor with a 17-7 lead, but the Huskers would answer with a 12-3 run to cut the Hawkeyes lead to one. The frantic pace to open the game was only a preview of what was to come for the rest of the game.

The Hawkeyes offense was running like a well-oiled machine and at the half, Iowa led Nebraska 52-46, marking their second highest scoring half in the season. The Huskers kept themselves in it by grabbing 12 offensive rebounds. Caitlin Clark had 17 points in the first half, while McKenna Warnock was dialed in from behind the arc hitting all five of her 3pt attempts.

“You always love to get a three pointer down. Especially, our team hasn’t been shooting as well from three this year and we’ve really been focusing on that recently in practice,” said McKenna Warnock on her shooting performance.

In the third quarter, Iowa was able to build their lead up to as high as eight, but a 10-3 run by Nebraska late in the quarter gave the Huskers momentum heading into the final period of play, trailing just 74-70.

The Hawkeyes had the lead the entire day, but a 7-0 run by the Huskers, capped by an Ashley Scoggin three pointer gave Nebraska their first lead (79-78) with 6:40 to play. On the ensuing Iowa possession, Caitlin Clark would miss a jumper, but freshman AJ Ediger, who was in the game for Monika Czinano who had foul trouble, grabbed an offensive board and kicked it to Kate Martin who buried a 3pt shot to retake the lead.

A little bit later, McKenna Warnock would hit her seventh 3pt shot of the game to push the Iowa lead to 86-81. That make was followed by a Kylie Feuerbach reverse layup with 2:57 to play and Iowa was able to hang on from there for the huge 95-86 road victory.

Caitlin Clark and McKenna Warnock both logged double-doubles, with 31 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds from Clark, while Warnock added 23 points and 10 rebounds on 7/9 shooting from 3pt range.

“I’ve kind of accepted getting to the basket and getting to the free throw line. I honestly don’t think I’ve shot two pointers and free throws better in my life right now…I know the three pointer is eventually going to go down and I’m confident in that, but getting to the rim and getting free throws, I think that’s huge for me,” said Caitlin Clark as she scored 30 points for the third consecutive game.

Meanwhile, McKenna Warnock has been unstoppable from behind the arc, hitting 11/15 3pt shots in her last two games. Her seven makes today made a big difference for the Hawkeyes.

Monika Czinano added 20 points on 10/14 shooting and Kate Martin had 12 points, including the big 3pt make in the fourth quarter.

The 95-point outburst by the Hawkeyes is their highest scoring output of the season, while their 62% shooting percentage was by far their best of the season.

“We love to play fast. That’s what we do and put up a lot of shots, exciting basketball, but it’s a lot more fun when they are going in, rather than when they’re not. It felt good today,” said Lisa Bluder on an offense that has struggled to find their flow at times this season.

Bluder mentioned that the team did a great job of putting the loss behind them and focusing on the big matchup against Nebraska and ultimately it paid off for the team.

“The credit goes to the team because they put everything behind them. They just concentrated on today. They brought great energy to the court when it’s hard to after a loss and you’re on the road with this many people (attending). That’s an incredible amount of maturity on their part.”

The Hawkeyes are still looking to improve on their defensive rebounding and turnovers, as the Huskers turned 23 offensive rebounds and 15 Iowa turnovers into 43 points, which was half of their scoring output.

Despite that, Lisa Bluder’s squad was able to pick up what could be a season changing win and they will look to take the momentum from today’s win into another road match-up on Thursday vs Purdue. The Hawkeyes will face the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena at 6:00pm on BTN+.