Nebraska women's basketball falls 74-62 in overtime to No. 4 Indiana
Nebraska women’s basketball used its three-point shot to take No. 4 Indiana to overtime in Bloomington but stalled out and couldn’t score in the last seven minutes. The Huskers lost 74-62 on the road to a top-five team.
The Huskers went 9-for-22 from behind the arc. They allowed only four three-pointers but two in overtime and one late in the fourth quarter.
Jaz Shelley and Izzie Bourne hit back-to-back threes for the Huskers to go up 10-5 in the first quarter. Nebraska scored on its next two possessions to put pressure on the Hoosiers but they didn’t back down. Shelley scored five points early and didn’t score again.
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Two shooting fouls by Maggie Mendelson, who scored on one of those possessions, kept Indiana in the game. Sydney Parrish, a former teammate of Shelley’s at Oregon, drove into the hoop for a huge “and one,” which she made to close the gap to 14-12.
Nebraska led 22-19 after the first quarter. Fouls and free throws helped Indiana keep it close. The Hoosiers made 6-of-7 of their free throws. Both Mendelson and Alexis Markowski had two fouls after the first quarter.
Three-pointers gave the Huskers the lead as they made 4-of-5 shots behind the arc. Callin Hake drained a three with a minute remaining for the Huskers to go up 22-17.
Sara Scalia scored a layup after a breakdown in transition to break a scoring drought of over three minutes. Indiana women’s basketball took its first lead over Nebraska with 4:40 left in the second quarter.
Nebraska fell apart in the second quarter as they went 3-of-12 from the field. The Huskers only scored eight points in the second quarter and shot 25 percent.
Kendall Moriarty took back the lead 28-27 with a three-pointer with 2:38 remaining in the half. That was Nebraska’s only three of the quarter.
But Scalia made two free throws and a layup to take back the lead 31-28. Annika Stewart closed the gap to 31-30 after grabbing the rebound from Moriarty’s missed three.
Second half grind
Maddie Krull started off Nebraska right in the second half by hitting a three-pointer in their first possession. That was Krull’s first points of the game as she tied it up 33-33.
In the first half, Indiana made it to the free throw line 16 times and the Huskers went to the stripe four times. Nebraska was determined to change that early in the second half.
Both Markowski and Bourne were fouled on shots early and made the point after to capitalize on three-point opportunities. Nebraska went up 41-36 with 7:36 remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Huskers’ shots stopped falling and Indiana went on a 9-0 scoring run over the next three and a half minutes.
Hake ended the drought by taking the ball to the hoop for a tough layup while being fouled. She missed the free throw but Nebraska was down 45-43 and she sparked her team. Hake also made the final shot of the quarter as she stepped back and drained a three for Nebraska to go into the fourth quarter up 48-47.
Indiana didn’t score for the final 2:30 of the third quarter.
Bourne ignited the Huskers with a three in the fourth quarter then came up with a huge block on the other end of the court.
Down the stretch, Parrish knocked down Indiana’s second three of the game on a wide-open shot to take the lead 56-55. Hake responded immediately by driving the ball to the hoop to take the lead right back with four minutes left.
After a two-minute Husker scoring drought, Haiby drained a three to tie it up 60-60. Shooting behind the arc kept Nebraska in the game all afternoon long. But gritty plays like Bourne stealing the ball on the next possession and laying it in to go up 62-60 are what made the difference.
Nebraska had the ball with 31 seconds left and tied at 62-62. Shelley, who hadn’t scored since the first quarter, missed the shot and Indiana had the ball with 1.3 seconds left. Parrish’s half-court shot missed the mark just barely as well.
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Overtime stall
Parrish scored the first points of overtime with a three-point dagger one minute into OT. Parrish ended with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Moore-McNeil made a smooth layup and then Garzon was fouled on Nebraska’s end of the court. Indiana went up 69-62 with two minutes remaining.
Markowski had the ball stripped from her as the Hoosiers were on a roll and Assembly Hall grew louder.
Husker Head Coach Amy Williams called a timeout to regroup but Hake missed the floater right after.
Holmes turned over the ball in under a minute but it was too late. Indiana was up by too much.
Garzon drilled her first three-point shot of the game with six seconds left.
Nebraska didn’t score in overtime.
Turnovers and free throws cost the game
Indiana scored 50 points off turnovers and free throws. That is over half of their points.
Nebraska committed 21 turnovers compared to Indiana’s 13. The Hoosiers capitalized on those turnovers and turned them into 26 points. Three of the Husker’s turnovers were in overtime.
As for free throws, Indiana was 24-for-30 from the free-throw line. Nebraska went to the line nine times and shot 56 percent compared to the Hoosiers’ 80 percent.
Williams said after the game on Huskers Radio Network that free throws cost them the game.
In the first half, Indiana went 10-of-11 from the strike while Nebraska made one of its two shots.
Free throws single-handedly kept Indiana in the game and they took advantage of it.
Markowski earned her second foul in the first quarter and was limited on time after that. However, she didn’t get her third foul until the fourth quarter. She is someone Nebraska needs out there and needs to do a better job of playing clean. So do the rest of the Huskers as there were many fouls in this game.
Finding the balance between playing clean but aggressively and taking care of the ball needs to be high on Nebraska’s list this week for practice.
