The Nebraska women’s basketball team ended its longest losing streak of the season in strong fashion — a 33-point road win against a ranked team.
The Huskers had their best shooting games of the season, and they fired out to an 11-point halftime lead and beat No. 25 Illinois 90-57 on Wednesday in Champaign, Illinois, to snap a four-game losing streak.
All five starters reached double-figures scoring. Nebraska point guard Jaz Shelley had another strong all-around game with 26 points — including six threes on 11 attempts. Shelley also had six assists and four rebounds.
Senior forward Isabelle Bourne was a force inside again, scoring on 5 of her first 6 shot attempts, and finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Sam Haiby had 12 points, and Alexis Markowski and Maddie Krull had 11 apiece.
Nebraska also got a little more from the bench, with Kendall Coley making two three-pointers, Annika Stewart adding four points and Maggie Mendelson getting four rebounds.
Nebraska avenged an eight-point loss to the Illini earlier this season. Illinois (20-8, 10-7 Big Ten) has already had a special season. It will have its first winning season in seven years and its first 20-win season in 14 years. The Illini were missing two players in the rotation due to injury. Makira Cook led Illinois with 16 points.
Nebraska (15-13, 7-10 Big Ten) ended a stretch of seven straight losses in games against ranked teams, improving to 3-10 in such games this season.
“I’m really proud of our team,†Nebraska coach Amy Williams said on the Huskers Radio Network. “They’ve continued to just grind through the ups and downs that this season has brought. They’ve just stayed committed and stayed focused and continued to work. I thought today they were really committed to our game plan and we started to put lots of pieces together.â€
Nebraska making 59% of its field goals (36-61) was a season-best. On two-point attempts, the Huskers were 26-for-37.
The Huskers played inside-out, outscoring the Illini 46-18 in the paint.
“We stayed aggressive and stuck with that game plan,†Williams said.
In the second half, the Huskers kept scoring, while also getting the stops that weren’t there in the first half, including a stretch where the Illini missed 10 of 11 shots. Nebraska used an 18-3 surge in the third quarter to take a 65-43 lead.
At halftime, Nebraska led 45-35. The second quarter included a stretch when Bounre scored six straight points on shots inside for a 36-30 lead.
Nebraska scored 45 points in the first half without attempting a free throw. The Huskers were 20 for 30 shooting, and 5-for-13 on threes.
The start of the game was all offense, with Nebraska leading 26-23 after the first quarter. Nebraska’s defense wasn’t great at the start but Nebraska was able to keep pace because Shelley made each of her first three attempts from beyond the arc.
“I thought Jaz set the tone, no doubt about it,†Williams said. “Just staying aggressive-minded offensively.â€
Nebraska ends the regular season with a game against last-place Northwestern on Sunday.