Huskers Surge Past Scarlet Knights
Huskers.com
Piscataway, N.J. - Nebraska freshman
Britt Prince scored a career-high 24 points, including 10 points on huge plays down the stretch in the fourth quarter to help the Huskers to a 69-62 women's basketball win over Rutgers at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Senior center
Alexis Markowski produced her seventh double-double of the season and 47th of her career with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore forward
Jessica Petrie put together the best all-around game of her career with 12 points and a career-high nine boards to help Nebraska improve to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. Nebraska played inspired basketball to honor redshirt junior
Allison Weidner, who was likely lost for the season to a significant leg injury in practice on Saturday morning before the Huskers left for New Jersey.
Rutgers slipped to 8-9 overall and 0-6 in the conference despite a career-high 33 points from freshman Kiyomi McMiller in her return from a two-game suspension.
McMiller carried Rutgers through the first three quarters with 25 points and hit a pair of shots early in the fourth to give the Scarlet Knights a lead, but it was Prince that made the plays down the stretch to send the Big Red to their first win in Piscataway since 2018.
Nebraska took a 36-31 lead to halftime after a dominant opening 20 minutes on the boards. The Huskers outworked the Scarlet Knights on the glass, 31-15, including seven rebounds from Markowski despite missing more than seven minutes of the second quarter after picking up her second foul.
Prince led the Big Red with 11 points in the first half, while
Petra Bozan added eight first-half points and three rebounds behind Markowski inside.
Logan Nissley, who eventually sealed NU's win with the final two free throws of the game, and Petrie combined for eight points and nine rebounds in the half, while
Amiah Hargrove added three points and three rebounds.
Nebraska led 16-14 after one quarter and took its biggest lead at 33-22 on a Hargrove free throw with 2:46 left in the half, before Rutgers closed out the half strong to cut the Husker lead to five points.
The contributions across the lineup helped the Huskers offset the scoring of McMiller, who finished the half with 17 points, including 10 in the second quarter.
Nebraska hit 14-of-36 (.389) first-half shots, despite going just 2-for-13 from three-point range. NU also hit 6-of-9 free throws. The Huskers held Rutgers to 11-for-33 shooting (.333), including 4-of-10 threes, while the Scarlet Knights knocked down 5-of-6 free throws. Rutgers won the first-half turnover battle, 8-4.
The third quarter belonged to the Scarlet Knights, who got sparks from Destiny Adams and Awa Sidibe early in the period and strong scoring from McMiller down the stretch to send the game to the fourth quarter tied at 48. Sidibe finished with 10 points.
Adams finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds while adding seven steals - with most of them coming in the third quarter. However, her last steal of the quarter sent her in transition. She lost control as she crossed halfcourt and when she finally regained the ball she tried to go up strong. Adams was met by
Callin Hake, who took a charge to force the fourth foul on Adams.
McMiller scored five early points in the fourth to help the Scarlet Knights to a 57-55 lead with 5:45 left in the game, before Prince put the Huskers in control by scoring on three possessions and assisting Markowski on a fourth during a crucial 9-0 run to put the Big Red up 64-57 with 3:21 left.
In another key series, Prince fouled JoJo Lacey on Lacey's with 1:13 left and NU clinging to a 64-61 lead. After the whistle, Adams shoved Petrie to the floor. The intentional foul on Adams was her fifth and disqualified her from the game. Lacey missed both free throws, while Prince hit a pair for the Huskers to give NU a 66-61 lead and the ball with 1:13 left. Prince added 1-of-2 free throws with 34 seconds left to push NU's margin to 67-61.
Nebraska finished at 41 percent (25-61) from the field, but just 3-of-22 from three-point with Petrie knocking down a pair from long range. The Huskers also fought to hit 16-of-25 free throws (.640), while dominating the boards, 49-32. NU's edge on the glass was offset by Rutgers' 18-10 turnover margin.
The Huskers held RU to 35.5 percent (22-62) shooting in the game, including 6-of-20 three-pointers with McMiller hitting 5-of-14 and the rest of the Scarlet Knights going 1-for-6. Rutgers also went 12-for-18 at the free throw line.
Nebraska continues its two-game Big Ten road swing by traveling to nationally ranked Cockeye on Thursday. Tip-off between the Huskers and Cockeyes is set for 6 p.m. (CT) with live television coverage by the Big Ten Network. The game can also be heard across the Huskers Radio Network, including Huskers.com.
