No. 25 Nebraska women’s basketball opened Big Ten play in a big way, winning 84-65 over previously unbeaten Minnesota on Sunday.
The Huskers’ offense hit on all cylinders, nearly doubling the Gophers’ season average for points given up of 46.4.
“I’m just thrilled with the contributions that we were able to get from up and down our roster today to secure a really important conference home game,” Coach Amy Williams said. “Really want to make sure we take care of business here in Pinnacle Bank Arena. I thought we had just an amazing crowd to play in front of today … It was really a good start, and we like to be 1-0.”
The Huskers (8-1) started fast, with Alexis Markowski getting a paint touch for a basket on the first possession to spark a 10-2 opening run in the first three minutes, a lead that ballooned to 15-4 early.
Markowski finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, just one rebound shy of her 45th career double-double.
Bench Contributions
Minnesota had allowed a season-high of 56 points before Sunday, and averaged just 46.4 points allowed through 10 games. Nebraska scored 48 points in the second half alone on Sunday.
The Huskers shared the ball beautifully all afternoon and had 22 assists on 31 made baskets with the reserves outscoring their Gopher counterparts 42-23.
Alberte Rimdal had six assists and zero turnovers, while Allison Weidner added six assists and just one turnover off the bench.
Nebraska got a career high from freshman Amiah Hargrove with eight rebounds, and she tied a career high with 10 points. Rimdal’s six assists were also a career high for her.
Every player for Nebraska scored and pulled down at least one rebound.
“We’ve got to find a way for every player to contribute to the game, even if it’s not scoring,” Williams said.
The three Nebraska freshmen stepped up in a big way with two key stanzas, out-scoring Minnesota themselves 17-1 during those stretches, including an 8-0 run from Hargrove in the first quarter.
The Gophers returned four starters from last season, and those four starters only outscored the three Nebraska freshmen 31-26, led by Hargrove’s 10, Petra Bozan’s nine and Britt Prince’s seven points.
“I think they all have just taken it to heart. We’ve got to find ways to have every single player contribute something to the table, especially in Natalie’s absence. I think those three particularly have taken that to heart.”
Defensive Effort
Nebraska hit a bit of a lull in the second quarter, with its first basket coming just four minutes and 58 seconds into the second quarter. It didn’t matter because Minnesota finished the second quarter just 1-of-17 from the field and 0-of-15 from 3, ending the half with a shot clock violation.
The Huskers were tremendous defensively throughout the game, holding the Gophers to just 7-of-39 from the field in the first half and 1-of-14 from 3-point range. The Gophers finished the game shooting just 5-of-21 from deep and 35.2% from the field.
Turnovers
Nebraska still had 15 turnovers, but some of those were extremely tight-window passes that just didn’t connect. A lot of those tight-window passes were caught, and as the team gets more comfortable with each other, the turnovers should continue to take a dip. Eight of the 11 Huskers who saw the floor recorded at least one assist.
“I think the way we play, we are going to have a few turnovers at times, but we would like to clean that up,” Williams said. “We are more than capable of being in single digits there.”
Nebraska’s 15 turnovers led to 15 Gopher points on the other end, but the Huskers made up for that with their 12 3-points and 23 second-chance points.
The Huskers’ next game will be Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena when the Huskers face Tarleton State at 7 p.m. CT.
