Third time’s the charm for the Huskers.
The 8-seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Nebraska (12-11, 9-10 Big Ten) prevailed over 9-seed Minnesota (8-13, 7-11 Big Ten) 72-61 Wednesday morning. In the previous two meetings this season, the Gophers were victorious.
“The first time we played Minnesota we gave up 15 three pointers the second time we gave up 32 points in the paint,” Nebraska coach Amy Williams said. “So that was something that we talked about that we’re gonna have to put together a balanced game and balanced effort, we’re gonna have to defend them at the three point line and do a much better job defensively.”
A better job defensively is what the Huskers got in Indianapolis. Minnesota shot just 38 percent for the game, making only four 3s and scoring 16 points in the paint.
On the offensive end, Nebraska jumped to a 16-11 lead in the first quarter and extended that to 38-22 by halftime. Despite getting outscored in the second half, the lead was enough for the victory.
“We had I think an 18-3 runs somewhere there from the end of the first into the second quarter,” Williams said. “I thought we got big sparks from our bench, you know Whit Brown made a beautiful backdoor pass to Sam Haiby and kind of freed her up for easy bump off the glass layup and and Kendall Coley hit a couple threes in that stretch
“I just thought we got great production from our bench during that time.”
Nebraska shot 42 percent as a team, including 8-of-18 on 3s. It was a dominant post game as well, where the Huskers scored 34 of their points.
Leading the scoring was Haiby with a game-high 19 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Kate Cain contributed 16 points, six rebounds, and a pair of blocked shots, while Isabelle Bourne added 14 points and seven rebounds.
The win marked the first at the conference tournament for Nebraska since 2018.
The Huskers will look for their second in Thursday’s quarterfinal game against top-seed Maryland. Nebraska will be without Ruby Porter who left Wednesday’s game in the third quarter with an injury and was on crutches after the game.
Feature Image Courtesy Nebraska Athletics Communications Office