The Nebraska women’s basketball team put the finishing touches on its 13th win of the season — remember, the Huskers won 14 games all of last season — with a 14-0 run over the third and fourth quarters in an impressive 65-50 win against Wisconsin on Thursday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Nebraska led for the final 32 minutes of the game. The Huskers improved to 13-2 overall. And at 3-1 in the Big Ten, it’s looking like Nebraska won’t just be a team that racks up a lot of wins during the nonconference season against lesser competition. The Huskers are in a four-way tie for second place in the league standings.
It’s mostly all the same players as last season for the Huskers, just with a little more experience and a lot more confidence built up during the first two months of the season.
“I think this season we have something to prove after the season we had last year,” said sophomore guard Sam Haiby. “It was disappointing to all of us. So I think we’re coming out this year and trying to accomplish some things that we know we can get done.”
Leigha Brown scored a team-high 15 points for the Huskers. Freshman Isabelle Bourne had a season-high 11 points, along with eight rebounds and two blocks. Haiby had a great all-around game with 11 points, seven assists and three steals.
Nebraska led 30-21 at halftime, and did so by getting good play from its forwards off the bench — Kayla Mershon and Bourne — when starters Kate Cain and Ashtyn Veerbeek were each in foul trouble.
Nebraska’s 14-0 run over the final three minutes of the third quarter and well into the fourth quarter showed what Nebraska’s known for, with the Huskers able to score a lot of different ways from a lot of players.
After hurting the Badgers with three-pointers earlier in the game, Brown started driving to the basket to score. Haiby finished the third quarter with a steal and score, and then Hannah Whitish hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the fourth quarter. Bourne and Nicea Eliely also scored in the run.
“We’ve got so many weapons on our team,” Brown said. “Anybody can go off at any given time, so you’ve got those weapons and when they’re hitting shots consistently we’re a really hard team to guard.”
Bourne may end up giving the Huskers another weapon. The freshman from Australia had her best game of the season while playing a season-high 24 minutes.
She scored inside on couple of great lob plays from Whitish, and also made a three-pointer.
“She’s very physically ready,” said Nebraska coach Amy Williams of Bourne. “She can move and she’s strong and she does a lot of things physically right, and now she’s gaining some comfort just playing in our system and how we want her to play. And her teammates are gaining confidence in her.”
Bourne had some catching up to do after missing most of the summer because she played with the Australian youth national team, but she’s working into form now.
“The biggest thing for me at the moment is gaining confidence on the court, and getting to know each player and how I can contribute to the team,” Bourne said. “And that’s getting better each game.”
Nebraska also had an 11-0 run in the final part of the first quarter, after Wisconsin had the early lead. It started with an 8-0 run when all the points were scored by Brown on two threes and a jump shot. Haiby also made a three-pointer in that run. Nebraska was 4-for-5 on threes in the first quarter.
The Huskers finished 7-for-20 on three-pointers, and shot 48% overall from the field.
The Badgers’ inside play with two post players was the biggest concern coming in. Imani Lewis led the Badgers (9-6, 1-3) with 18 points, but Abby Laszewski only scored three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
And Nebraska won the rebounding battle 38-28.
“The biggest thing for us was we knew we had to rebound if we wanted to win the game, and that proved to be a very important statistic tonight,” Williams said.
Photos: Nebraska women down Wisconsin, move to 13-2 this season