LINCOLN — It was 15 minutes after Nebraska's 62-48 win over Indiana, and freshman women's basketball forward Emily Cady — fresh off the best game of her collegiate career — pondered whether Iowa is now a Big Ten rival.
"Yeah, because they're so close," said Cady, who scored 18 points and had five steals vs. IU. But then she hesitated a little. "I don't know. I'm not in this very much. I just started. I'm just a freshman. I don't know about all the rivals."
But neither do the rest of the Huskers, who've never played the Hawkeyes. It's new territory for both teams.
Cady settles the matter with a grin and this line: "Whatever happens, happens."
Round one between No. 19 NU (13-1 overall, 2-0 in the Big Ten) and Iowa (10-6, 2-0) commences at 3 p.m. Sunday in Iowa City.
"In terms of women's basketball, I think it's going to be a friendly rivalry," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said.
Well, maybe. Iowa wants a white-out at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. "Help the Iowa Hawkeyes set a home attendance record!" reads the ticket promotion. It's Girl Scout Day, too.
"We have an opportunity on Sunday, facing a top 25 team," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "Our crowd is getting behind us, and we really appreciate that."
Nearly 4,000 Hawk fans saw a thriller Thursday night, a 69-62 overtime win over Illinois. Iowa missed its first 12 3-point attempts before Kamille Wahlin hit a trey with 10.9 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
"We had to go for it," Bluder said afterward. "I will continue to believe in our 3-point shooters, no matter what, because they are the right people to shoot the ball. It's just a matter of time. For us, it just happened in the last 12 seconds of this game."
Iowa relies as much on the long ball as Nebraska does. The teams are No. 1 and No. 2 in the league in 3-point shots with more than 20 per game. Wahlin is one of six Hawkeyes with double- digit attempts. Guard Jaime Printy, UI's leading scorer, has taken 99 3-pointers.
An honorable mention All-American as a sophomore, Printy also tried out for Team USA in the World University Games. Yori was on the selection committee.
"We'll figure out how we're going to match up," Yori said of slowing Printy, who averages 17.3 points per game. "We're not certain how we're going to match up. But Printy is a very good player."
Yori said she's known Bluder more than 25 years. Both played high school basketball in Iowa — Bluder for Linn-Mar, Yori for Ankeny.
"I've got a lot of respect for Iowa and the things they do there," Yori said.
• NOTES: NU forward Jordan Hooper is averaging 26 points and 11.5 rebounds in two Big Ten games. ... The Huskers lead the Big Ten with 16.5 offensive rebounds per game. ... Nine Big Ten teams remain ranked inside the realtimerpi.com Top 100. Nebraska is 37th. ... While the Hawkeyes have lost six games, the combined record of those opponents — which includes No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Texas A&M — is 63-15. ... NU will face one of the Big Ten's best post players in 6-foot-5 Iowa center Morgan Johnson, who averages 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
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