Amy Williams, Alexis Markowski reflect on beating Michigan State, reaching Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals

Nebraska forward Alexis Markowski and her teammates came to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Tournament with lofty goals of winning in mind. And as the No. 5 seed, the path was doable, but by no means easy.

Two wins later, the Cornhuskers are in to the semifinals and two more wins away from a conference crown. Speaking with the Big Ten Network desk crew after the game, Markowski shared how she and star guard Jaz Shelley came ready with a single focus for the tournament.

“Last year was really tough for us and this year we’ve gotten super close, we want to take this team places and we really rely on each and I love that girl,” Markowski said. “She is such an amazing player. We were going here to win. And that’s what we’ve been doing, so we’re going to try to keep it going.”

Markowski finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Cornhuskers in scoring. Shelley tacked on 17 as Natalie Potts scored 15 and Logan Nissley poured in 11 more.

And playing against a frantic, hounding defensive team in Michigan State, Markowski and the Cornhuskers were drilled on protecting the ball all throughout the lead up to the game.

Nebraska finished with 11 turnovers to Michigan State’s 13. And in a 12-point win where both teams shot just under 44% from the field, the 11 extra shots Nebraska got to take through rebounding and being mindful with the ball surely paid off.

“I thought that everybody just really bought into our game plan and it’s hard to come up with your game plan when you have one-day prep, but really, really proud of the way we dug deep and found ways to get stops and just strung things together, played as a team, had contributions from a lot of different people,” head coach Amy Williams said postgame.

Williams was asked what the recipe will be as Nebraska heads into another one-day prep to face Maryland in the semifinals.

With Markowski, Shelley and Potts playing as well as they are, Williams is looking to deviate.

“I think that we know if we want to continue to advance in this tournament we have to rebound,” Williams said. “We watched Maryland today really dominate the boards, it’s going to be a battle there, we know, but I think that’s the biggest thing: Just committing to the things that have gotten us to this point and we know rebounding is a big piece of that.”