RENO, Nev. (AP) — Maggie Lucas scored 18 points, including six in the final minutes, to help No. 17 Penn State beat Iowa State 66-59 in the opening round of the John Ascuaga’s Nugget Classic on Friday. The Nittany Lions (4-1) will play Nevada (2-2) on Saturday for the tournament championship. The Cyclones (3-1) were within two points with 4:30 left in the game after a Jessica Schroll jumper, but the Nittany Lions closed on a 9-4 run. Lucas matched her season high to lead three Penn State players in double figures. Zhaque Gray scored 14 points and Alex Bentley had 13. Brynn Williamson led Iowa State with 15 points.

Penn State was up 37-28 at halftime and led by as many as 12 in the game. The Nittany Lions overcame 58 percent free throw shooting (15-for-26) and 32 fouls called against them compared to 18 by Iowa State.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — Chris Allen scored 15 points, Royce White pulled down 16 rebounds, and Iowa State won its third-round game Friday at the South Padre Island Invitational, beating Providence 64-54. Tyrus McGee added 14 points for the Cyclones (4-1), who led by just four, 56-52, with 3:17 to play before a Bubu Palo jumper, a pair of McGee free throws and an Allen 3-pointer put the game away. Vincent Council led the Friars (4-1) with 21 points, and Gerard Coleman had 20 points and eight rebounds. The two were a combined 17 for 36 (47 percent) from the field, but their teammates were just 5 for 19 (26 percent).

Iowa State led by as many as seven in the first half, but Providence rallied after halftime to take a 34-33 lead on a Coleman 3-pointer. A White dunk and two Chris Babb 3s quickly put the Cyclones back up by seven.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rex Burkhead, who started the week with his right foot in a walking boot, ran for 160 yards and a touchdown on a school-record 38 carries and No. 22 Nebraska defeated Iowa 20-7 on Friday. Burkhead pounded away at Iowa’s defense 4 or 5 yards at a time and looked like his old self after being held to a season-low 36 yards in last week’s loss at Michigan. He had eight carries for 39 yards on a 10-play drive that ended with his 2-yard run and a 20-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Burkhead ran on nine of 15 plays of an 80-yard drive that produced the Huskers’ first touchdown. His 2-yard run around right end converted a fourth-and-1 inside the Iowa 30, and six plays later Kyler Reed scored his first touchdown of the season on a 6-yard pass from Taylor Martinez.

Nebraska’s coaching staff got Burkhead a record 38th carry on the second-to-last play of the game when the Huskers (9-3, 5-3) were in victory formation. Burkhead took a knee for a 3-yard loss. Burkhead came out of the 45-17 loss at Michigan banged up, and he was limited in practice all week. He started and finished strong, breaking a 14-yard run on the Huskers’ first play from scrimmage and then going for 8 and 6 yards. Ameer Abdullah spelled him, but never for more than two consecutive plays.

Nebraska is hoping to land a berth in the Capital One Bowl, if two Big Ten teams are invited to BCS games, or the Outback Bowl. Iowa (7-5, 4-4) could slip to the Meineke Car Care Bowl or TicketCity Bowl. The Hawkeyes avoided getting shut out for the first time in 11 years when Marcus Coker scored on a 2-yard run with 3:26 left. With Nebraska having joined the Big Ten this year, Friday’s game was long touted as the start of a natural rivalry. Iowa is Nebraska’s closest Big Ten opponent, and the farm states split by the Missouri River share a passion for football.

The universities further billed it as the inaugural “Heroes Game” and honored “citizen heroes” from each state at halftime. What happened on the field bore little resemblance to those big Thanksgiving week games Nebraska used to play against Oklahoma and Colorado. The Huskers and Hawkeyes were meeting for the first time since 2000, and Nebraska leads the series 27-12-3. Martinez was 12 of 22 for 163 yards, and Kenny Bell caught five balls for a season-high 93 yards. Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard shut down Marvin McNutt, holding Iowa’s record-setting receiver to two catches for 1 yard through three quarters. McNutt finished with four catches for 29 yards. Coker, averaging 118 yards a game, ran 18 times for 87 yards.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – Already eliminated from national championship contention, No. 12 Oklahoma heads into Saturday’s game against Iowa State focused instead on trying to win an eighth Big 12 title. And trying to avoid becoming the Cyclones’ next upset victim. Iowa State (6-4, 3-4) comes in riding the hot hand following the biggest win in the program’s history a week ago against then-No. 2 Oklahoma State. It was the second upset of a Top 25 opponent in the Cyclones’ current three-game winning streak and got them eligible for a bowl game after missing out last season.

The Sooners (8-2, 5-2) dropped out of the national title race after giving up a school-record 616 yards and losing at Baylor last week. They would be eliminated from Big 12 title contention with another loss.