An ugly win is still a win.
Nebraska women’s basketball (15-4, 5-4 Big Ten) struggled shooting the ball Tuesday night, but escaped a scrappy Rutgers team (7-16, 0-11 Big Ten) by a score of 50-38.
The two teams began the game a combined 3-for-18, with Rutgers not getting on the board until the 5:06 mark of the first quarter. Things heated up slightly as the Huskers carried a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.
A quick 7-0 run for Big Red opened things up, but not much else went in as the lead stretched only to nine at halftime.
The third quarter saw Nebraska make just three shots, each about three minutes apart. Rutgers closed the gap to six points at the end of the third quarter then to just two early in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska then ran off the next 13 points to put the game away and close on a 14-4 run.
The Scarlet Knights hampered Nebraska’s inside game for much of the contest, collapsing into the paint to keep the ball out of the hands of the Husker bigs. Even still, five-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week Alexis Markowski finished with game-highs of 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Sam Haiby scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Jaz Shelley added eight points and five assists. Nebraska assisted on 13 of their 17 made shots in the game.
The Huskers had a season-worst shooting performance. Nebraska shot 27.9 percent from the floor and made just 6-of-31 from deep. NU had not shot below 32 percent from the floor or 21 percent from 3 in a game this season prior to Tuesday.
Nebraska, now on a three-game winning streak, stays home Thursday to host Penn State.