Nebraska women’s basketball ended the calendar year with an impressive win, taking down Maryland 87-81 at home.
The Huskers improved to 2-0 in conference play and 10-3 on the season. They got their first-ever win over the Terrapins on the road last December, but this time did it in front of a season-best crowd of 8,795 at Pinnacle Bank Arena on New Year’s Eve.
“To be able to do that in front of this fan base and this crowd here today was pretty special,” Coach Amy Williams said postgame. “I’m proud of our team.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Huskers Bounce Back in Physical Contest
Maryland presented a similar physical challenge to the Huskers as Kansas did in the team’s last game.
The Terrapins didn’t have a 6-foot-6 center like the Jayhawks’ Taiyanna Jackson roaming the floor, but they had size and length everywhere. Alexis Markowski got blocked three times in the opening period, despite having an inch or more in height on the players turning her away.
Overall, Nebraska had somewhat of a size disadvantage, especially with its guards. Maryland successfully used that to its advantage in stretches, forcing a number of turnovers with relentless defensive pressure.
Still, the Huskers didn’t shy away from the physicality of the contest.
“All of our guards were going to get posted up,” Williams said. “They had a little size advantage in their guard position and you’re going to have to fight a little bit and find a way.”
Sophomore 5-foot-8 guard Callin Hake showed that fight, once fronting in the post, deflecting the entry pass and saving it off a Maryland player to force a turnover. Hake made big scoring contributions, but the five rebounds she grabbed and other plays she made on the defensive end couldn’t be ignored.
The physicality resulted in a lot of whistles, too. Darian White and Jaz Shelley both picked up two fouls in the first half, while Maryland committed 26 in the game. Three Terrapin starters ended up fouling out.
“All week, we were talking about, ‘We need to be the tougher team,’” Shelley said postgame. “And I think that we had that mentality going in… We didn’t buy into the refs or the calls or anything. I think we kept our heads and we just relied on each other.”
Nebraska out-rebounded Maryland 48-30 in the contest and made 23 of its 26 free throws.
Contributions From Everyone
In the team’s press conference earlier this week, Williams also talked about needing contributions throughout the team.
That showed in the win. The stars delivered — Jaz Shelley finished with 13 points and 11 assists while Alexis Markowski put up 20 points and 10 rebounds — but there was much more than that.
First-year forward Natalie Potts continued her strong season with a double-double as well, recording 17 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and a block. She didn’t miss any of her seven free throws and kept possessions alive with seven offensive rebounds. The opposing coach took notice of her game.
“She was sensational. She was the X-factor for them,” Maryland’s Brenda Frese said postgame. “Every time they needed a big play, big offensive rebound… I was so impressed watching her on film. She’s going to have, and already has an amazing career here, but she’s just a high-energy, high-motor type of kid. Really, really impressive.”
Along with the defensive plays, Hake scored 16 points, connecting on four of her seven 3-point attempts. Logan Nissley’s two first-half 3s were important ones as well.
Maddie Krull has had some struggles this season but filled up the stat sheet Sunday with five points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. She did the little things well, including a strong boxout that eventually resulted in a foul on the Maryland player trying to get around it.
White had eight points and a steal, while Annika Stewart rounded out the scorers with a bucket and a block. Kendall Coley and Jessica Petrie were the only players not to score, both playing no second-half minutes, but the former had a couple assists and the latter two rebounds.
Huskers 2-0 in Big Ten Play
Nebraska has won its first two conference games, both coming against quality opponents currently in the top 40 of the NET rankings.
The first was a road victory against Michigan State, which only has one other loss and beat a solid Penn State team on the road on Saturday.
While Maryland entered with an overall record equal to Nebraska’s, two of its losses came to South Carolina and UConn, both now in the top 15 of the AP Top 25. The Terrapins haven’t missed an NCAA Tournament since 2010 and this year likely won’t be one where that changes.
This start to Big Ten play is important for a Husker team looking to get back to the tournament. Next, they’ll go on the road looking to take care of business against Wisconsin. After that, they return home to face No. 16 Indiana.
That game could see a pretty large crowd in attendance, with promotions to “Pack PBA.” Nebraska successfully did that last year against Iowa, setting a program record with 14,289 in attendance.
