After suffering one of their worst losses of the Amy Williams era against Rutgers at Pinnacle Bank Arena over the weekend, the Huskers picked up a much-needed road victory against the Michigan Wolverines by a score of 65-59 Tuesday night.
NU is now 15-8 on the year and 7-5 in the Big Ten.
The Matchup between the Wolverines and Nebraska was a classic Big Ten dogfight. It was gritty, at times ugly, and between two sides who were desperate for a win.
For Nebraska, this was an incredibly difficult victory. They earned every point and defensive stop without starter Darian White in the lineup and a short bench that got shorter due to mid-game injuries.
The last time these two sides met, NU walked away with a 19-point victory and outrebounded the Maize and Blue by 18. That was not close to the case tonight. The Wolverines came out firing to begin the game. Their ferocity and determination propelled them to a 9-point lead in the 2nd quarter.
But the Big Red did not back down. As the game went on the match Michigan’s physicality and, inch by inch, got themselves back into the game.
Key buckets from Jaz Shelley, who at one point left the game due to injury, and Alexis Markowski down the stretch kept the team’s NCAA tournament bid alive.
Markowski led all scorers with 18 points and also added nine rebounds. Freshman Natalie Potts had a solid game with 12 points and three rebounds, Jaz Shelley had a classic 12-point, six rebounds, and four assist performance, and the Huskers got great contributions off the bench from Jessica Petrie and Logan Nissley, who had seven and six points respectively.
NU will play its biggest game of the season this Sunday. Caitlin Clark and the second-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes will come to a sold-out Pinnacle Bank Arena.