Nebraska Women’s Basketball Flies by Illinois St 85-44

Another game, another 80 points, another person steps up. This time in the form of Petra Bozan, who had 14 points and 6 rebounds to help the Huskers notch win number 11. Nebraska was in control early and never lifted their foot off the gas pedal. Even when the three point shot wasn’t always falling, the Huskers found other ways to score and from pretty much everyone.

Starting lineups are the same as always with Hake, Prince, Weaver, Petrie, and Bozan.

First Quarter

Jessica Petrie gets the scoring started for Nebraska off a Callin Hake assist. Illinois St has started off 0-5 from the field so far and has been infested by turnovers early. Petra Bozan gets the layup to fall on one end and then a big block on the other. Britt Prince notches her first points of the day with a mid range jumper. Bozan gets the foul tacked on her, but Illinois St misses both layups, this will lead to a fast break layup via Amiah Hargrove. Timeout with 6:22 left in the quarter. Huskers lead 8-0.

The Redbirds get their first points of the game, but Amiah Hargrove takes them right back with a leaning layup. Hargove gets fouled a couple possessions later and will head to the line where she splits the pair. Nebraska has not hit any of their three point attempts today, they’re currently 0-4. Literally as I type this, Logan Nissley drills one from the left wing. Britt Prince gets a rebound off an Illinois St miss and takes it coast to coast (16-2 Neb). Amiah Hargrove gets a big block and is rewarded with two points on the other end as her jumper falls through the net. Logan Nissley takes the ball away and it leads to a Kennadi Williams three from the top of the key. Nebraska ends the quarter on a 13-0 run and a 21-2 lead.

Nebraska 21 Illinois St 2

Second Quarter

A missed Britt Prince jumper turns into a Callin Hake three for her first points of the game. Amiah Hargrove turns the ball over, but makes up for it will a layup right after with an inbound pass from Callin Hake. Nebraska’s defense just suffocated Illinois St into a shot clock violation. The pace of the game just sped up 10x for some reason as both teams seemingly want to run the floor. Logan Nissley gets called for the foul and it sends the Redbirds to the line where they make both free throws. Jessica Petrie gets the block and rebound, passes it ahead to Hake as she makes the tough shot and the foul. Timeout with 5:00 left in the half, Hake with shoot a free throw when we come back (28-8 Neb).

Eliza Maupin is left all alone at the top of the key and makes them pay with the long range three. Back to back layups by Maupin and Claire Johnson put Nebraska up 36-14. There was such a cool play that would have been so much cooler if Eliza Maupin could have made the shot. Callin Hake was falling out of bounds, passes it to Emily Fisher who was ALSO falling out of bounds, Fisher makes a behind the back pass to Maupin who comes up just short. Maupin will make up for the missed shot before with a made one now. Emily Fisher gets the inbound bucket to end the half, putting Nebraska up 19.

Nebraska 40 Illinois St 21

Halftime Stats

Amiah Hargrove: 9 points, 2 rebounds

Eliza Maupin: 7 points, 3 rebounds

Callin Hake: 6 points, 3 assists

Britt Prince: 4 rebounds

Logan Nissley: 3 assists

Nebraska is shooting 53.1 percent from the field, including 36.4 from beyond the arc. The Huskers are currently winning the rebounding battle 21-16, also have 11 assists to 6 turnovers.

Illinois St is shooting 25 percent from the field, with an underwhelming 16.7 percent from long range. The Red Birds only have 1 assist and 9 turnovers.

Third Quarter

Petra Bozan and Britt Prince get the second half scoring started with back to back buckets. This quarter has been kind of sloppy so far, shot selection in my opinion, hasn’t been great. Bozan does get the jumper to fall, but Petrie picks up a foul on the other end. Petra Bozan has started to pick it up this quarter as she gets the layup and then a block on the other end (48-29 Neb). Bozan is up to 10 points as she slips through two defenders on a screen and is left all alone. Hailey Weaver gets a steal and Nebraska does your classic 3 man weave that leads Britt Prince to the rim and a chance at three. Timeout with 4:27 left in the third.

Prince converts the three point play, Amiah Hargrove gets the crazy floater to fall on the next possession. Claire Johnson snipes the corner three, Maupin gets the block, Williams crosses a defender and takes it to the rim. Timeout called by Illinois St with 2:08 left and Nebraska up 60-29.

I’m going to apologize for not writing anything in the last two minutes, but literally nothing worth note really happened. Illinois St scored a few and Eliza Maupin was the only one to score in the last little bit for the Huskers. There were a bunch of misses by Nebraska and a couple of fouls sending the Redbirds to the line.

Nebraska 62 Illinois St 35

Fourth Quarter

Eliza Maupin immediately picks up where she left off in the third with a layup. Nebraska is getting good looks at the rim, but nothing really seems to be falling unless they’re right under the rim and even then, some of them don’t meet the net. Washington for Illinois St has 5 blocks against Nebraska, which is kind of insane. Petra Bozan returns the favor with a block of her own and that sends Prince to the rim on a back door cut. Jessica Petrie had a three go in after it rolled around the rim for what seemed like forever. Hailey Weaver intercepts a pass and she flys to the rim for her first points of the game. Media timeout with 6:16 left in the game, Nebraska is up 30 (71-41).

After a turnover by Illinois St, Petra Bozan uses her height to her advantage and notches another two points. Nebraska causes another shot clock violation and it will lead to a Prince layup, she has 13 now. Bozan takes it to the rim again after another steal by Callin Hake. ANOTHER steal, this time at the hands of Emily Fisher, she passes the ball to Hailey Weaver and she gets sent to the charity stripe (2 of 2). Nebraska just had three chances to make a basket and comes away empty, but Claire Johnson steals it immediately and gets the layup. Illinois St timeout with under two minutes left.

Emily Fisher makes her presence known with a steal and Jessica Petrie makes good on the jumper (83-43 Neb). Petrie gets called for a foul, not going to lie, I don’t like the call. We know I’m biased though. Kennadi Williams gets a steal with 30 seconds left and takes it to the rack, she’s up to 7 points. Nebraska pushes their record to 11-0 on the year.

Nebraska 85 Illinois St 44

Postgame Stats

Petra Bozan: 14 points, 6 rebounds

Britt Prince: 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

Amiah Hargrove: 11 points, 5 rebounds

Eliza Maupin: 11 points, 5 rebounds

Jessica Petrie: 7 points, 4 rebounds

Kennadi Williams: 7 points

Nebraska shot 52.9 percent from the field, but an under average 30 percent from three. The Huskers won the rebounding battle 42-30 and assisted on 22 shots, also only committing 10 turnovers.