Nebraska Women’s Basketball outlasts Illinois 74-70 in Big Ten Tournament
No. 10 Nebraska Women’s Basketball (21-10, 10-8) advances to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament with a 74-70 win over No. 7 Illinois (21-9, 11-7). The Huskers outscored Illinois 25-14 in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska will face No. 2 UCLA at 5:30 p.m. CT on March 7 on the Big Ten Network.
Britt Prince led Nebraska with 17 points, five assists and shot 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Freshman center Petra Bozan scored 11 points, one shy of her career-high. Jessica Petrie had nine points in the final quarter with 11 total points. Seven Huskers scored seven or more points.
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First-Team All-Big Ten pick Alexis Markowski struggled, scoring nine points and securing four rebounds.
Nebraska shot 49.1% from the field and 50% from three. They shot 55% in the second half. NU went 8-of-16 from behind the arc and was 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. Illinois shot 45.6% but was 35.7% from three.
Kendall Bostic was the star of the first half. She recorded 19 points and six rebounds. The senior forward shot 9-of-13 from the field. Adalia McKenzie added 16 points, six rebounds and 10 assists. Genesis Bryant recorded 20 points and was 4-of-9 from three.
Nebraska Rallies After Slow Start but Trails Illinois at Halftime
Illinois started on fire. They went up 9-0 early to build a lead.
The Huskers didn’t score a field goal until Prince hit a jumper with 4:51 left in the first quarter. Prince followed it up with a 3-pointer. Nebraska went on a 7-0 run capped off by a layup from Bozan.
NU’s freshmen got Nebraska back in the game. Bozan scored six points in the first quarter, Prince had five and Amiah Hargrove added a layup. The freshmen were the only Huskers to score a field goal in the first quarter.
Nebraska Women’s Basketball cruises past Rutgers 84-60 in Big Ten Tournament
Illinois started the second quarter with a 19-15 lead. They held the lead, but the Huskers got within one.
Nebraska’s defense slowed down the Fighting Illini some in the second quarter. The Huskers forced four turnovers. But Bostic and McKenzie were relentless. Bostic scored 16 first-half points, and McKenzie added nine.
The Huskers went on a 7-2 run to close Illinois’ lead to 25-24. Callin Hake’s 3-pointer brought Nebraska within one. Prince hit another huge three as the buzzer read three seconds. Illinois led 32-30 at halftime.
Huskers ignite in fourth quarter to advance
3-pointers were raining down in the third quarter. Nebraska started the quarter going 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Fighting Illini went 2-of-2 from three.
Prince’s three with 7:16 left in the third gave the Huskers its first lead. Logan Nissley went 2-of-3 from deep in the third.
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The third quarter was consistently back and forth outside of back-to-back buckets from Nebraska. But McKenzie sparked the Illini with four minutes left in the quarter. She scored five points in an 8-0 run over 1:41. Illinois took a 50-44 lead with 2:26 left in the quarter three.
Illinois went on a 14-5 run to lead 56-49 after three quarters. Bryant had 10 points in the third quarter.
Markowski struggled to shoot from down low. Illinois was posting themselves between her and the basket, which made it hard for her to score.
The senior center opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. But Illinois’ Jasmine Brown-Hagger scored back-to-back buckets to boost her team to a 60-54 lead.
The Huskers got within one point after a 7-0 run featuring three points from Bozan. A layup and and-one shot cut Illinois’s lead to 60-59 with 4:49 remaining.
Prince and Petrie helped Nebraska go on another 7-0 run. Prince hit back-to-back jumpers, and Petrie swished a three to go up 68-65 and force an Illinois timeout with 1:40 left.
Illinois didn’t score a field goal after Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 4:35 left. She missed three good 3-pointer shots with under a minute left.
Nebraska outscored Illinois 23-14 and outrebounded them 12-6 in the fourth quarter. The Huskers shot 56.3% in the final quarter and help the Illini to go 3-of-15.
