Nebraska Women's Basketball falls to Illinois 74-73, clinches No. 5 seed in Big Ten Tournament
Nebraska Women’s Basketball (19-10, 11-7) falls to Illinois (14-14, 8-10) 74-73 after not scoring a field goal for the game’s final five minutes. The Huskers led 73-68 with 2:32 remaining. However, three straight fouls allowed Illinois to take the lead.
Jaz Shelley and Logan Nissley‘s last-second three-point shots bounced out. NU finished the regular season 19-10 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten.
With the win, the Huskers would have clinched the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a double bye. However, their loss to Illinois clinches the No. 5 seed for Nebraska. Michigan State is now the No. 4 seed. Illinois will be the No. 9 seed.
The Huskers will play the winner of No. 12 Minnesota and No. 13 Northwestern on Thursday, March 7 at roughly 2:00 p.m. CT. The TIAA Big Ten Tournament is at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Shelley led Nebraska with 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Alexis Markowski recorded 14 points and eight rebounds. Natalie Potts also added 14 points. Makira Cook led Illinois with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Huskers can’t capitalize on second-chance points
Markowski was the first player to score with 7:26 left in the first quarter. Illinois responded with a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 lead.
Markowski got NU back on track with back-to-back layups. However, she was the only Husker to score for the first 6.5 minutes.
Meanwhile, Illinois caught fire. Cook drilled a three-pointer to take a 12-6 lead with 4:23 remaining.
After the first media timeout, the Huskers’ offense found its legs.
Jaz Shelley and Natalie Potts scored their first baskets of the game on three straight possessions. Shelley started it with a three-pointer and then Potts had back-to-back layups. Nebraska cut Illinois’s lead to 16-13.
Annika Stewart joined the party with three at the top of the key to make it 18-16 Illinois.
Jessica Petrie started the second quarter strong for Nebraska. She had five quick points to make it 23-21 Illinois.
Offensive rebounds were a huge boost for NU in trying to take a lead. They had five offensive rebounds early in the second quarter.
Nebraska and Markowski tied it up 23-23 with a layup. Shelley grabbed the lead with a tough layup and then sank the and-one.
But the Fighting Illinois didn’t go away. They made three straight layups for a 6-0 scoring run. Genesis Bryant had two of those layups and then made her and-one shot on the second to take a 30-26 lead.
Illinois continued its run to 10 unanswered points.
Shelley put two Husker points on the board with free throws. But NU couldn’t slow down the Fighting Illini. Bollin responded with a layup, but Logan Nissley challenged her with a three to make it 35-31.
Nebraska’s offense continued to struggle. They went on another two-minute scoring drought while making one of their last eight shots. Markowski completed a layup for NU’s first field goal in three minutes. They cut Illinois’s lead to 39-35.
Illinois leads Nebraska 42-35 at halftime. The Huskers secured one more rebound and three more offensive rebounds. But Nebraska was 1-for-6 on its second-point chances.
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The Fighting Illinois had the edge in the paint with 24 points in the half, six more than the Huskers.
Second-half chaos
Potts started off the third quarter with a three-pointer. But Nebraska didn’t score again until a layup by Markowski with 6:46 left in the quarter.
Nissley, Shelley and Kendall Moriarty teamed up for three straight three-pointers within 1:10 to make it 49-49. Illinois called a timeout after Moriarty’s fastbreak bucket with 4:39 left in the third.
After the timeout, Illinois scored four straight points. Shelley made it 53-52 Illini, after a layup and making her and-one shot. She drilled a much-needed three to give NU a 55-53 lead, their first since seven minutes left in the second quarter.
The third-quarter battle continued as Bryant and Cook went on a 6-0 run themselves. Sophomore Callin Hake ended the run with a buzzer-beater jumper to make it 59-57 after three quarters.
Potts tied it up again at 59-59 after an offensive rebound.
Hake stole the ball from Illinois and then passed it down to Potts for a layup. The duo switched on the next play. This time Potts assisted Hake with a backdoor cut and bucket.
A jumper by Shay Bollin tried to chill Nebraska’s offensive momentum, but Darian White responded with a layup. Petrie backed her up with another bucket to make it 71-64 with five minutes left.
Illinois scored four straight points as NU didn’t score a field goal for five minutes. Markowski made two free throws in the middle of the run.
Two untimely fouls on Gretchen Dolan and Bryant and four points tied it up 73-73 with 1:19 remaining. Cook was fouled on the next possession and made one of her two free throws to take a 74-73 lead.
Hake was fouled with 25.7 seconds remaining and missed both. On a close call, the rebound effort resulted in the ball going off Bostic and out to make it Nebraska’s basketball with 24.4 remaining.
Both Nissley and Shelley’s three-pointers bounced out. Illinois won 74-73 and didn’t allow a Nebraska field goal in the game’s final five minutes.
Notable quote
“I’m just really disappointed, obviously disappointed for our team. I felt they fought and scratched and clawed and put ourselves back in a position to win the game. Then down the stretch, we didn’t finish the same way that we were.
“Also I probably should have taken a timeout. I thought maybe we could get a good look on the broken play. But looking back in hindsight, I could have taken a timeout right there got us a little more organized to try to get a better shot down the stretch but certainly a disappointing loss. I thought we fought we got ourselves back into a seven-point lead. You want to be able to protect that and come away with a win and and we didn’t do that.”
Nebraska Head Coach Amy Williams on the Huskers Radio Network after the Huskers 74-73 loss to Illinois
