The Nebraska Cornhuskers were in control for most of Monday night’s game against the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., but the visitors were down just four after a Grace Berger free throw with 9:32 to play.
That’s when the Huskers went on a 17-0 run that featured eight points from Swish Appeal fourth-year player to watch Sam Haiby and six points from Oregon transfer turned Nebraska star Jaz Shelley. Haiby made four layups during the stretch, including two that were contested, and Shelley buried a three that made it 65-48 Huskers with four minutes to go.
Nebraska, a team that also boasts a 21-point win over No. 9 Michigan, went on to win 72-55 on Valentine’s Day.
Freshman center/forward Alexis Markowski did a good job inside, leading the Huskers with 15 rebounds to go along with 10 points and two blocks. Meanwhile, Shelley finished with 14 points, six boards, three assists and three steals and Haiby had 14 points and four helpers. Allison Weidner and Isabelle Bourne rounded out Nebraska’s double-figure scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Berger notched 20 points in defeat, while teammates Nicole Cardaño-Hillary (six rebounds, three steals) and Aleksa Gulbe (seven boards) each posted 10.
Cardaño-Hillary was 1-of-10 from distance, Ali Patberg was 0-of-5, Gulbe was 0-of-4 and Chloe Moore-McNeil was 0-of-3. Berger, who is more of a mid-range shooter, was 1-of-1, recording just her fourth trey of the season. The Hoosiers were a combined 2-of-23 from downtown.
Nebraska (19-6, 8-6 Big Ten) won despite shooting 9-of-21 at the charity stripe. It won bench points 18-6 with Weidner contributing her 11 and Bella Cravens adding seven.
Indiana fell to 18-4 (10-2 Big Ten).