Nebraska women's basketball escape Michigan State's fourth-quarter comeback to win 71-67
Nebraska women’s basketball (13-9, 5-6) escaped a Michigan State (11-11, 3-8) fourth-quarter comeback to win 71-67.
The Huskers didn’t score a field goal for the final 7:25 of the game but made 10 free throws in the last three minutes to secure the win.
Issie Bourne led the Huskers with 20 points and nine rebounds. Alexis Markowski had a double-double 11 points and 13 rebounds. Sam Haiby added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
For Michigan State, DeeDee Hagemann had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Matilda Ekh had 15 points and Moira Joiner added 13.
Nebraska outrebounded the Spartans 45-29 but had 26 turnovers to MSU’s 19. The Huskers had 17 turnovers in the second half, a season-high.
Both teams started off slowly as no one scored for the first two minutes of the game. Michigan State’s Moira Joiner made a layup after two minutes but that score held for another minute. Issie Bourne sank Nebraska’s first bucket with 7:13 left in the first quarter.
Bourne’s basket sparked the Huskers as they went on a 10-0 scoring run over the next two minutes. Sam Haiby drove to the hoop and made a contested layup. She was fouled but missed the layup. Jaz Shelley sank NU’s first three of the game on the next possession.
Callin Hake checked in and drained a three within seconds and Nebraska was up 10-2 with 5:41 left in the first.
MSU scored two quick buckets but Bourne responded with two of her own.
The scoring slowed down dramatically after that. Michigan State didn’t score for four minutes and Nebraska had a three-minute drought, not scoring for the rest of the half. The Spartans scored the last four points of the first quarter to make it 14-10.
Bourne set the tone for the second quarter as she made a quick layup eight seconds in off an assist from Shelley. The senior from Australia didn’t miss a shot in the first half, going 5-for-5.
After seven first-quarter rebounds, Alexis Markowski scored her first and only points of the first half soon after.
After a Taiyier Parks’ layup and two made free throws by Kamaria McDaniel, Michigan State didn’t score for five minutes. Nebraska took advantage and went on a 12-0 scoring run. Five different players scored during the run.
Michigan got back on the horse with back-to-back layups in 30 seconds but Maddie Krull responded instantly. She drained a three-pointer as the shot clock was about to hit zero. She then stole the ball from the Spartans on the other end, drove to the other basket and was fouled. Krull made both free throws and Nebraska went up 35-18 with under three minutes to go in the half.
Nebraska outscored Michigan 26-12 in the second quarter and led 40-22 at halftime. They also outrebounded the Spartans 20-13 in the first half.
Nebraska’s lead slips away in second half
The third quarter was not high-scoring for either team. Michigan State scored 18 points and Nebraska added 13.
Markowski started off the second half with a layup which was one of Nebraska’s four field goals.
Bourne broke Nebraska’s 4:30 minutes field goal drought on a fast break. Annika Stewart overthrew her target and the pass was intercepted by a Spartan. The player couldn’t control the ball and it rolled to Bourne who dribbled it to the hoop for an easy layup. Nebraska regained its 20-point lead going up, 46-26 with 4:27 left in the third.
Michigan State didn’t score for three minutes but a McDaniel jumper ended the drought. Hake responded with a three-pointer but McDaniel’s bucket sparked her team.
11 of the Spartans’ third-quarter points came in the final two minutes. Nebraska scored four points in that time and only one field goal on a Markowski layup.
Bourne, just like she did all game long, kept scoring at the right moment. She made Nebraska’s first two buckets of the fourth quarter including a three and a layup which she made the and-one after.
However, Michigan State wouldn’t go away. Matilda Ekh drained a three. Haiby followed it up with a sweet move at the basket for two points to make it 61-47. But Ekh nailed another shot from behind the arc to force Husker Head Coach Amy Williams to call a timeout.
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After Ekn’s second three, Michigan State went on a 12-0 scoring run over four minutes while Nebraska couldn’t get a shot to go in. The Spartans closed the Huskers’ lead to 61-59 with under four minutes to go.
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Parks, who had 11 points and six rebounds, fouled out with under three minutes to go.
Nebraska scored its first points in five minutes when Markowski was fouled going for a layup and made both free throws.
Ekn’s fourth-quarter surge continued as she made a jumper in response to make it 63-61.
Markowski was fouled on the next possession and sank one of her two free throws to go up 64-61 with 51 seconds remaining.
DeeDee Hagemann was fouled with 35 seconds left and made one of the free throws.
The free throw game continued as Bourne was put on the line. She came in clutch like she had all game long. The senior hit both to make it 66-62 and a two-score game with 34 seconds left.
It seemed like Nebraska was out of the clear, leading 68-62 with 22 seconds left. However, Hagemann made a layup but missed the and-one free throw. The Spartans got the rebound and Haiby fouled Hagemann on her three-point shot. She makes all three free throws to make it 68-67 Nebraska with 12.1 left.
Nebraska had the ball and Haiby was fouled immediately on the inbound. She hit one of her two shots.
Joiner was fouled on her shot on the other end and missed both free throws. Isaline Alexander committed a foul against Markowski to foul out. Markowski hit both free throws to get the score to 71-67 and put MSU out of reach with three seconds left.
Turnovers lead to 20 second-half Spartan points
Nebraska had 17 turnovers in the second half and 26 overall.
“I’m not 100 percent sure if I’ve been involved with 17 turnovers in one half of basketball but we know we turned it over too much in the second half and we didn’t do the things that gained us a really big lead,” Williams said.
Michigan State had 26 points off turnovers including 20 in the second half.
Markowski led the Huskers with seven turnovers with several travels. After the game, she even mentioned her contribution to the turnovers.
“We know they’re a team that turns you over and that is how they create their offense,” Markowski said. “Also, they are the leading team in the Big Ten on the offensive glass and we know those two things coming in. I think we did a pretty good job rebounding.”
Although she led Nebraska in turnovers, Markowski had a team-high 13 rebounds. The Huskers had 45 rebounds compared to MSU’s 29. The Spartans had seven more offensive boards than their opponent.
Williams said the reason Nebraska was committing so many turnovers was partly because of what Nebraska was doing and what their opponent was doing.
“They were speeding things up,” she said. “They saw the ball go in the basket a little bit and they started to pick up their defensive pressure and intensity so credit to them.
“But also I thought we started to play a little bit passive and conservative. We weren’t quite in attack mode, we weren’t quite going after the same shots that we were I thought earlier in the ball games so I thought a combination of both those things.”
