Nebraska women's basketball loses 95-92 heartbreaker to Minnesota despite Shelley's career game
Nebraska women’s basketball‘s NCAA tournament hopes came crashing down as they lose an exciting 95-92 game to Minnesota (10-16, 3-12) on the road. A last-second Golden Gopher three-pointer with the score tied was the Huskers’ final dagger.
Jaz Shelley had a career-high 37 points and was 7-for-13 from three. Issie Bourne had 21 points and seven rebounds. Alexis Markowski had 9 points and 14 rebounds.
Nebraska (14-12, 6-9) was 28-for-35 from the free throw line and Minnesota was 23-for-31 from the line. The Gophers shot 50 percent from field goal range and from three. The Huskers shot 39.7 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from three.
Mara Braun had 28 points and 8 rebounds. Alanna Micheaux had 16 points. Five Gophers scored in the double digits.
Markowski made the Huskers’ first shot of the game two minutes into the game. She hit a jumper to make it 2-2.
Shelley and Issie Bourne both had a hand in Nebraska’s next six points. Shelley found Bourne under the hoop for two easy buckets. She also dribbled along the baseline and hooked in a shot to make it 8-6 Huskers.
Micheaux scored eight of Minnesota’s first nine points of the game. The sophomore reached 500 career points in the first quarter.
Bourne had a similar effect on the Huskers as she had eight of Nebraska’s first-quarter points. Shelley had five points in the first quarter. She drained the Huskers’ first three-pointer with 1:19 left in the first quarter to make it 13-11.
Bourne made another layup to back up Shelley’s three. However, Minnesota and Braun got the last word by sinking a three-pointer with seven seconds to go.
Nebraska didn’t score its first field goal of the second quarter until 7:39 into the quarter. Bourne and Sam Haiby both made one of their two free throws to start the quarter.
Amaya Battle got hot in the second. She scored five points in 22 seconds. After a jumper, she got a rebound from a Husker missed shot, and took it down the court for a fastbreak layup. Battle made the and-one shot as well to go up 23-17.
Bourne stopped Minnesota’s 6-0 scoring run with a shot from behind the arc.
Braun drained her second three of the game on a fastbreak opportunity to lead 28-20 with 6:11. Nebraska called a timeout as Minnesota scored 15 points in the first four minutes of the first quarter.
Even after the timeout, Nebraska’s shots still weren’t falling. Minnesota wasn’t having an issue. Hammond showed off inside the paint with a jumper. Borowicz juked out Haiby for a layup to make it a 9-0 scoring run.
Markowski broke the Huskers’ scoring drought of four minutes with a jumper in the paint. Shelley dribbled into the paint and scored on the next possession. The Huskers closed Minnesota’s lead to 32-25 with 3:28 left in the half.
Borowicz hit a three to pause the run but Nebraska went back to it. Shelley made two free throws, Krull scored her first bucket of the game and then Bourne drew a foul to make two free throws as well. The Huskers pulled within 36-31.
Hammond scored Minnesota’s first field goal in 2:20 on a fastbreak to end the half up 38-31.
Second quarter chaos
Nebraska went 2-for-9 from behind the arc in the first quarter. They made two threes to start the third quarter. Shelley and then Markowski banked in three-pointers to close Minnesota’s lead to 38-37 with 8:47 left in the third. The Golden Gophers called a timeout immediately after Markowski’s bucket.
Right after the timeout, Haiby turned a fastbreak layup into an and-one opportunity to take the lead 40-38.
Hammond made Minnesota’s first bucket of the quarter two minutes into the half.
Krull proved that the Huskers’ three-point shot was rolling as she drained another. But Isabelle Gradwell made one right away from Minnesota to tie it up 43-43.
Bourne and Krull scored 10 of Nebraska’s next 11 points. Annika Stewart made a free throw in the middle of their run. Krull made a contested layup and then drained the free throw to follow it. Minnesota called a timeout in response as they were down 51-48 with 5:04 left in the third.
Minnesota used their timeout wisely as they went on a 9-4 scoring run. Braun scored seven points in the run including a fastbreak three.
Nebraska didn’t score a field goal for two minutes. Krull was the player to end the drought and got the and-one shot to make it 59-58 Minnesota with 2:32 to go in the third.
After trading free throws, Shelley nailed a three to cut it to 65-63 with 1:30 remaining. More free throws were added to the score as Minnesota led Nebraska 67-64 going into the final quarter.
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Shelley scored NU’s first bucket of the quarter on a layup and hit the free throw opportunity following it as she was fouled.
The tides turned when Micheaux committed a technical foul against Bourne while boxing her out after a free throw. Shelley made both free throws and the Huskers got the ball back. Markowski was fouled while she was shooting and made another two shots from the charity strike.
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Haiby was fouled soon after and made another two free throws. The Huskers made seven free throws in 40 seconds to go on a 9-0 scoring run. They went up 73-69 with 8:07 left.
Minnesota was ignited by a three-pointer by Borowicz and went on a 6-0 run. Meanwhile, Nebraska didn’t score a field goal for three minutes. Shelley hit a wide-open three to end the run with 5:35 left and go up 76-75.
The teams traded buckets for several minutes. Shelley nailed a three-pointer with 3:33 left to make it 83-81 Nebraska.
Braun went on a six-point scoring streak for Minnesota to give them an 89-85 lead.
The Golden Gophers went on a 6-0 run within a minute to force a Nebraska timeout with two minutes to go. The Huskers enforced full-court defense after the quick break and forced a travel.
Shelley, who was on fire on Wednesday, drained a three with 1:03 remaining to cut Minnesota’s lead to 91-88.
She continued to be the hero. The junior missed a three but Haiby gave it right back to her and she drained it with a Gopher in her face. She was fouled and made the and-one to tie it 92-92 with 40 seconds left.
Minnesota missed their next shot and Nebraska got the ball with 14.3 remaining. Haiby was fouled accidentally by Cayton. She missed both free throws to give the Gophers the ball with 10.8 left.
Gradwell nailed a corner three with 1.1 seconds remaining to take a 95-92 lead.
Shelley had one more chance to be the hero but her half-court shot fell short.
Notables:
***Minnesota scored 95 points against the Huskers. That was a season-high against Big Ten opponents and their most since they scored 101 against Lehigh on Nov. 13. Nebraska hadn’t allowed an opponent to score more than 85, which was Virginia Tech on Dec. 1.
Even against Iowa, the No. 7 team in the nation and one of the top offenses, the Huskers allowed 80 points.
Nebraska couldn’t get a defensive stop in the third or fourth quarters. The score was 38-31 at halftime meaning the Golden Gophers scored 57 points in 20 minutes.
“When it boils down to it, we just could not get a stop in the second half,” Husker Head Coach Amy Williams said. “We fouled way too much and put them to the free-throw line and didn’t capitalize when we really needed to.”
Although Nebraska’s NCAA tournament hopes seemed to be squandered, they are looking to and need to bounce back. Iowa on Saturday will be a huge challenge but they must clear up the defensive issues before facing Caitlyn Clark and Monica Czinano.
***Speaking of free throws, my goodness. The two teams went to the charity strike 66 times. Nebraska was 28-for-35 from the free throw line and Minnesota was 23-for-31 from the line.
Clearly, this was a very physical game and the refs weren’t backing down from calling fouls.
In the last four minutes, Nebraska gave up seven points from the free-throw line and Minnesota gave up one. While both sides were getting a lot of calls, the Golden Gophers were getting to the free-throw line in clutch time. Nebraska wasn’t.
***Jaz Shelley was on fire on Wednesday. She beat her career high by five points. Toward the end, she did what Nebraska needed from her. The Australia native drained two three-pointers with under a minute to go and made the and-one shot to tie it up.
Shelley hadn’t scored more than 20 points since her 21-point effort against Michigan on Dec. 28.
Nebraska will need her to continue to be hot and knock down critical shots, especially if the Huskers are going to have a shot against No. 7 Iowa on Saturday.
