Turnovers, first-half woes doom Nebraska women's basketball in 69-54 loss to Maryland

Nebraska women’s basketball (12-8, 4-5) can’t overcome 22 turnovers and first-half woes against No. 11 Maryland (16-4, 7-2). The Huskers lost 69-54 at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Maryland scored 22 points off of the Huskers’ turnovers. Shyanne Sellers had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Diamond Miller had 18 points.

Jaz Shelley had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Huskers. Haiby recorded nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Anni Stewart had a near double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

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Maryland made two quick buckets but then didn’t score for 3:30 minutes. The score held at 4-2 as the Huskers had a scoring drought for roughly the same length.

Lavender Briggs ended Maryland’s drought and Issie Bourne responded immediately for the Huskers to make it 6-4 with five minutes left in the first quarter.

After Bourne’s jumper, Nebraska didn’t make a field goal for the rest of the quarter. Alexis Markowski sank two free throws but those are the only other points they scored.

Maryland shook off their shooting woes and went on a 10-0 scoring run over the final three minutes of the first. The Terrapins led 18-6 after the first 10 minutes.

Nebraska women’s basketball edges out Purdue 71-64

Shelley scored Nebraska’s first field goal in seven minutes with a three-pointer at the beginning of the second quarter. The Huskers went right back to bring strangers to scoring.

They didn’t score another field goal until two minutes left in the half. Anni Stewart drove down the lane for a layup and was fouled. She missed the free throw. Nebraska was 5-for-11 on free throws in the first half and 11-for-20 overall.

Their opponent went to work and pulled away even more. Maryland went on a 19-8 scoring run in the second quarter.

However, the Terrapins didn’t shoot great. They shot 32 percent from the field in the first half but Nebraska shot 17 percent.

Maryland had 17 points off of Nebraska’s 14 first-half turnovers. The Terrapins had two turnovers and didn’t give up a point because of it. Maryland also had 20 points in the paint while Nebraska had six.

Coming alive too late in second half

Nebraska’s offense came alive in the third quarter. Bourne started them out with a layup and Shelley backed it up with another a minute later to close Maryland’s lead to 40-18.

Krull hit her first three-pointer of the game with 6:25 left in the third. Haiby worked down the lane and willed in a contested layup soon after.

Although Nebraska was finally getting some points, Maryland’s offense kept going. They scored 10 points in the first four minutes with three points off free throws.

The score held at 51-27 for two minutes as neither team’s shots were falling.

Stewart ended Nebraska’s drought with a nice layup, assisted by Shelley, with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter.

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Maryland didn’t make a field goal for over five minutes but six free throws helped them keep inching forward.

Markowski was changed with her fourth personal foul with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Stewart and Maggie Mendelson played a lot more with Markowski on the bench for the rest of the third and most of the fourth.

Shelley had seven third-quarter points including two made shots from behind the arc.

Nebraska still refused to pack it in even though they were down 55-34 going into the fourth quarter.

The Terrapins scored five points within the first 30 seconds of the last quarter. Nebraska went on a 6-0 scoring run after that which started with a Callin Hake three. It ended with Haiby capitalizing on a fastbreak and earning an and-one. She missed the free throw but Mendelson forced a jump ball with the possession going to Nebraska.

PBA started a “Go Big Red” chant after seeing the fight in their Huskers.

Maryland didn’t score a field goal for four minutes until Sellers got an offensive rebound and put in the jumper to make it 64-40 with 5:47 to go.

Nebraska didn’t score for 3:30 minutes after Haiby’s layup until Haiby made two free throws. NU’s next field goal was when Moriarty scored her first points of the game with under four minutes left. Maryland was still up 65-45.

The Huskers ended the game on a 14-4 scoring run.

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Notable:

***Alexis Markowski didn’t play for the final 15 minutes of the game. She tweaked the same ankle she hurt against Purdue. On Wednesday at Purdue, Markowski slipped on the floor and hurt her ankle. She tweaked it, as Head Coach Amy Williams said, against Maryland.

Nebraska decided to keep her out for the rest of the game. She also had four fouls at the time.

***Sam Haiby came out toward the end of the game because she jammed her finger. She should be fine.

***Williams said Nebraska has a few players that came off the bench and sparked them toward the end. Kendall Coley was the only player she named specifically. Coley had four points, six rebounds and two assists in 10 minutes.

“It was too little, too late. We already know when you’re playing anyone in the Big Ten conference, much less the No. 11 team in the country, we can’t come out shell shocked and turn a ball over the way we did. I just thought we were really pressing in the first half and couldn’t find ways to settle in and play Nebraska basketball. When we finally did that in the second half, obviously 40 second-half points just a little bit better of an offensive effort but it was too little, too late.”

Husker Head Coach Amy Williams