Huskers Blow By Badgers, 91-60
Huskers.com
Lincoln -
Kendall Moriarty came off the bench for a career-high 17 points while
Jessica Petrie added a career high of her own with 15 points to lead five Huskers in double figures as Nebraska rolled to a 91-60 women's basketball win over Wisconsin on Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Huskers, who extended their Big Ten-best home winning streak to 15 games, stretched their overall winning streak to five with their most lopsided conference win of the season. Nebraska improved to 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten with its road losses coming in back-to-back games at No. 1 UCLA and No. 4 USC during the holiday break. Wisconsin slipped to 10-9 and 1-7 in the Big Ten.
Petrie, a 6-2 power forward from Gold Coast, Australia, sank a career-best 3-for-4 threes, while Moriarty tied her career high with 3-for-4 three-point shooting of her own, as the Huskers tied a Pinnacle Bank Arena record with 16 threes on 32 attempts.
Petrie added seven rebounds and a career-best three assists, while Moriarty pitched in four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in her best all-around effort of the season.
Big Ten Freshman of the Week added 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists while adding a pair of threes, while
Alexis Markowski contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists of her own. Markowski, a 6-3 center from Lincoln, pushed her career rebounding total to 1,112 on the night, surpassing All-American Jordan Hooper (1,110, 2011-14) to become the No. 3 rebounder in Nebraska history.
Freshman
Petra Bozan rounded out the five Huskers in double figures with 10 points, as Nebraska put its sixth different group of five Huskers in double-digit scoring this season.
Callin Hake added nine points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting to go with five assists and three steals in another outstanding effort for the Big Red, while senior guard
Alberte Rimdal pitched in a career-high eight assists.
The Huskers shot 54.2 percent (32-59) from the field, including 16-of-32 threes (.500), while connecting on 11-of-12 free throws (.917). Nebraska dished out 27 assists on 32 made baskets in an unselfish performance that included a 35-5 edge in bench points for the Big Red.
Nebraska held Wisconsin to 37.9 percent (25-66) shooting from the floor, including 3-of-17 threes (.176). The Huskers outworked the Badgers on the glass, 38-33, and matched UW with 15 turnovers.
Serah Williams led all scorers with 20 points to go along with a game-high eight rebounds, and Carter McCray added 14 points and six rebounds inside for the Badgers. Point guard Ronnie Porter was the only other player in double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Nebraska led 18-14 after one quarter, before pushing the lead to 42-26 behind huge second quarters from Prince and Petrie. Prince scored NU's first seven points of the quarter and assisted on a Markowski basket to turn a game tied at 18 to a 27-19 Husker lead with 6:16 left in the half to force a Wisconsin timeout.
Prince hit two free throws to start a 10-0 Nebraska run over three minutes with Porter off the floor because of foul trouble.
Petra Bozan buried a three-pointer to extend a 15-0 overall run for the Big Red to take a 36-19 lead with 3:49 left in the half.
Petrie, who scored seven in the quarter, and Prince, who finished with 10 in the period, then drained back-to-back threes to give the Big Red its biggest lead of the half at 42-23.
Tess Myers answered with Wisconsin's first three-pointer of the half at the buzzer, as the Badgers went 1-for-12 from long range, while Nebraska hit 7-of-15 triples with five different Huskers hitting at least one three.
Nebraska hit 15-of-29 shots (.517) in the half and 5-of-6 free throws, while outworking UW on the glass, 22-15. The Huskers held Wisconsin to 12-of-34 shooting (.353) and 1-of-2 free throws. The Badgers did win the first-half turnover battle, 6-5.
The Huskers continue their two-game home stand by playing host to No. 12 Ohio State on Sunday. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Buckeyes is set for 2 p.m., with tickets for Nebraska's annual Pack PBA available now at Huskers.com. A live video stream will be available for subscribers of B1G+, while live audio from the Huskers Radio Network can be heard on Huskers.com.
