Nebraska women's basketball crushes No. 25 Illinois 90-57 due to huge second half
Nebraska women’s basketball (14-13, 7-10) upset No. 25 Illinois (20-8, 10-7) 90-57 on the road after outscoring them 45-22 in the second half.
Jaz Shelley had 26 points, six assists and five rebounds. She was 6-for-11 from three. Issie Bourne had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Sam Haiby added 12 points and Maddie Krull and Alexis Markowski each had 11.
Makira Cook had a team-high 16 points for Illinois. Genesis Bryant and Adalia McKenzie each had 10 points.
Illinois defeated Nebraska 72-64 in their first matchup at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Cook scored 22 points against the Huskers that game. She had 16 points on Wednesday.
Cook kicked off the game with a three-pointer nine seconds in. Nebraska hit back-to-back shots from Markowski and Krull. After a Kendall Bostic bucket, Shelley drained her first three-pointer of the game. Haiby backed her up with a layup to go up 9-5.
Nebraska and Illinois traded buckets the entire first quarter.
Shelley had two big three-pointers, one to go 14-13 and the next to tie it up 19-19. Kendall Coley sank an open three right after Shelley’s three to make it 22-19 with under two minutes to go.
Krull had an incredible move to lay in two points with 8:30 left in the half, up 30-25.
Peebles drilled a three to tie it up 30-30 with 6:25 left. Husker Head Coach Amy Williams has to call a timeout after a shot to regroup.
Bourne took back the lead as she went up against Dewey to get a bucket. She scored two more layups underneath the hoop to go up 36-30 with 4:30 left. Stewart continued Bourne and Nebraska’s run with another layup.
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The Huskers went on an 8-0 scoring run over 2 minutes when the Fighting Illini didn’t score for three minutes.
Bostic ended Nebraska’s run with a contested layup with 3:30 left in the half.
After a Cook free throw, the Huskers kept the run going. Markowski scored her first points of the second quarter then Shelley drained a transition three-pointer to take their largest lead of 43-33.
Haiby ended the half with a buzzer-beating jumper to make it 45-35. Nebraska shot 66.7 percent from field goal range in the first half and 38.5 percent from three. Illinois had a 45.5 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from behind the arc.
Second half track meet
Genesis Bryant, who was quiet in the first half, made a three right out of the gates. She dribbled into the lane, pulled up and drained a jumper to close Nebraska’s lead to 47-40 with 8:24 left in the third.
Bryant was the only Illini to score for the first eight minutes of the third quarter.
Nebraska went on a 9-0 scoring run with four different Huskers scoring. Shelley started the run with a layup. In the middle of the run, Markowksi had a great pass to Shelley down low for the second layup. Illinois called a timeout after Shelley’s layup to go up 56-40.
Illinois didn’t score for three minutes after Bryant’s jumper. She ended Nebraska’s 9-0 scoring run with a three-pointer to make it 58-43.
Haiby was fouled soon after by Bostic and made both free throws. Coley continued the streak with a much-needed three to keep the energy up. Coley’s corner shot helped Nebraska go up 20 or 63-43 with three minutes left in the third.
McKenzie was the first Illini to score in the second half besides Bryant. She made two free throws with under two minutes to go.
Illinois didn’t score a field goal for the final four minutes of the third quarter. Nebraska led 68-45 heading into the final quarter.
Bourne started the fourth quarter with a layup. Illinois found its biggest spark in a long time as Cook hit a three at the top of the key. She laid in another bucket on the next possession to close the gap to 70-52. After a smooth Haiby layup, Cook sank another three.
Nebraska called a timeout with Cook on fire but were still up 72-55 with 6:49 left in the game.
Shelley found Krull for an open, long two-point shot. On the next possession, Shelley drained a three from a few sets back. Nebraska went up 78-66 with under five minutes left.
Shelley and Krull went on a 9-0 scoring run. Toponen scored Illinois’s first field goal in four minutes. Shelley joined back in with a huge three to make it 84-57 with three minutes to go.
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Bourne got her eighth bucket of the night to give Nebraska a 30-point lead. Nebraska didn’t let up as Haiby found Hake at the top of the key for her first three points of the game.
Notables:
***Nebraska outrebounded Illinois 44-24. In their first matchup, the Huskers won the rebound battle but with a much closer 41-37.
On Wednesday, Bourne led NU with 13 rebounds, including two offensive rebounds. She also had 16 points.
“I thought Issie really set the tone for us with our zone defense, finding ways to rebound out of it and being that big-time rebounder that we needed,” Williams said.
Markowski grabbed seven boards and three offensive rebounds and Haiby had seven rebounds as well.
Markowski and Bourne battled Kendall Bostic, the Big Ten’s leading rebounder for boards all game long. Bostic came away with three rebounds, a season-low.
“It was a team effort on (Bostic) tonight,” Bourne said. “I think we did a really good job of just working her back and not allowing her to have double-figure rebounds like she does every game.”
***The Huskers played zone defense against Illinois. It disrupted their offense and only allowed them to score 57 points and 22 second-half points.
Shelley had an important role in the zone defense at the top of the key.
“She’s a high IQ basketball player,” Williams said. “I’m really proud of her for utilizing that high IQ in that way, in that zone when we hadn’t really done a lot of that to this point, just a couple of days of practice. I thought she did a great job of using her IQ to make things difficult up there at the top.”
Shelley said Illinois is a tough team to play zone against because they have a lot of shooters but said Nebraska’s top row was very active. She credited Markowski and Bourne for helping with the rebounds as well.
Bourne, who helped hold Bostic to eight points, loved playing zone.
“It was fun to play in the zone,” Bourne said. “It let off some pressure for us. We haven’t played a lot of it so I think a lot of us were out there trying to fly around and play with an open mind because no one has much experience. I think it paid off because we were able to play a bit more free and do what we wanted on defense.”
***When Nebraska and Illinois played in Lincoln, the Illini went on a 20-0 run to create a huge gap and win. The Huskers remembered that for the rematch.
“We bought that up as the game was going on,” Shelley said. “It’s not over, it’s not over.” Because we weren’t going to let that happen again. That’s where we needed to learn from our mistakes and we were able to do that.”
The Huskers didn’t let up, not against Illinois and not at the end of this season. Nebraska had lost four straight games before their Wednesday night victory. The Huskers have one more regular-season game, which is against Northwestern on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1:00 p.m. at PBA.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Williams said. “They continued to grind through the ups and downs this season has brought. They’ve stayed committed and stayed focused and continued to work. Today, I thought they were really committed to our game plan.”
