INDIANAPOLIS — Monika Czinano scored 21 points, Caitlin Clark had a double-double and No. 12 Iowa pulled away from Northwestern for a 72-59 win in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament on Friday night.
The Wildcats, on the NCAA Tournament bubble, trailed by 3 when Veronica Burton made a layup with four minutes left in the third quarter but they missed their next 15 shots. When Laya Hartman ended the drought with a 3-pointer with four minutes left in the game, Northwestern trailed 66-54.
Lauryn Satterwhite followed with a 3 for the Wildcats but Iowa's Kate Martin hit a jumper and Clark knocked down her fifth 3-pointer to end the threat.
The second-seeded Hawkeyes (21-7) will face sixth-seeded Nebraska, which knocked off third-seeded Michigan, ranked 10, 76-73, in Friday's late semifinal.
Clark, the Big Ten player of the year with 15 double-double, finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, but had seven of Iowa's 13 turnovers. Martin added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 5 of 5 from the line while grabbing five rebounds and dishing six assists. Czinano, who was 9-of-12 shooting, had eight rebounds.
Burton finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for seventh-seeded Northwestern (17-12) and Satterwhite added 12 points. Courtney Shaw grabbed 12 rebounds.
Behind Burton's 16 points, the Wildcats led most of the first half but Clark hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, once briefly giving the Hawkeyes a one-point lead, and Czinano made two free throws in the last minute for a 32-31 halftime lead.
Northwestern made eight 3-pointers but shot 28%. Rebounding was close, Iowa led 44-40 but the Wildcats had 10 more offensive rebounds and took 16 more shots.
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