Nebraska Women’s Basketball falls to UCLA 85-74 in Big Ten Tournament
Nebraska Women’s Basketball’s Big Ten Tournament run ends after falling to No. 2 seed UCLA 85-74 in the quarterfinals. Although, the Huskers (21-11, 10-8) had a higher shooting preference (48.4%) than the Bruins (44.1%).
UCLA (28-2, 16-2) advances to take on the winner of No. 3 Ohio State and No. 11 Iowa in the Big Ten semifinals on March 8 at 4:30 p.m. CT. The Huskers defeated No. 15 Rutgers 84-60 and No. 7 Illinois 74-70 in the 2025 tournament.
The Bruins, the No. 4 team nationally, outrebounded Nebraska 39-27 and had 16 offensive rebounds, eight more than NU. UCLA recorded 17 second-chance points.
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Britt Prince paced the Huskers with 24 points and went 4-of-5 from three. Alexis Markowski added 11 points and four rebounds. Alberte Rimdal scored eight points in the first quarter and 10 total.
Lauren Betts, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, led UCLA with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and a school-record-tying seven blocks. Gabriela Jaquez recorded 23 points and nine rebounds.
UCLA crushed the Huskers 91-54 on Dec. 29 this season. NU put up a great fight against a top-five team nationally.
Nebraska Rallies After Slow Start, but UCLA Holds Halftime Lead
After two quick buckets, Nebraska didn’t score a field goal for over three minutes. Rimdal ends the drought with a layup. UCLA outscored them 8-2 during the drought. The Bruins took a 13-7 lead.
Rimdal was critical for the Huskers in the first quarter. She scored eight of Nebraska’s 17 points in the first quarter. Jaquez was UCLA’s first-quarter star. She put up 10 points and shot 4-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three.
UCLA scored eight straight to take a 27-15 lead with 1:26 left. The Bruins led 27-17 after the first quarter. They shot 62% in the opening quarter.
Nebraska opened the second quarter with three straight buckets for seven points. Prince had five points in the run, her first points in the game. UCLA called a timeout as the Huskers cut their lead to 27-24 with 8:51 left in the first half.
Nebraska Women’s Basketball outlasts Illinois 74-70 in Big Ten Tournament
After the timeout, the Bruins scored five straight points to go up 32-24. UCLA didn’t score another field goal in nearly seven minutes. Jaquez (four) and Betts (two) added points via free throws in the Bruins’ field-goal drought to keep the lead.
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The Huskers’ defense turned up the heat. They forced two offensive fouls over the drought. The Bruins shot 23.1% in the second quarter and didn’t hit a 3-pointer. Meanwhile, Nebraska shot 53%.
Amiah Hargrove scored back-to-back buckets, including a 3-pointer with 1:35 left. Prince drew an offensive foul and drained a three on the next possession to take a 39-38 lead.
Betts scored UCLA’s first field goal in over seven minutes. The Bruins led 41-39 at halftime.
UCLA Pulls Away Late as Betts Dominates Second Half
Nebraska’s offense stayed hot and started the third quarter, shooting 62.5% and going 5-of-8 from the field.
But the Huskers cooled off after the mid-quarter media timeout. They didn’t score for four minutes while UCLA went on an 8-0 run. Prince ended the drought with a layup and made the and-one shot to shrink the Bruins lead to 60-52.
Prince started the fourth quarter by making a contested layup and the and-one shot. Rimdal completed a reverse to cut UCLA’s lead to 64-60 with 8:33 left.
The Bruins went on a 13-3 scoring run over the three middle minutes of the final quarter.
After six first-half points, Betts dialed in and went off in the second half. She had 15 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in the second half. She held Markowski, a first-team All-Big Ten pick, to 11 points and shot 4-of-13.
Petrie and Prince scored the final 11 points for Nebraska. But the Huskers could not stop Betts and couldn’t score on her on offense.
