Going on the road and taking on a pair of ranked opponents is a tall order any time. Doing it without your All-American point guard? For the No. 22 Huskers, it was too tall an order as they dropped both games this week.
Rachel Theriot has been exceptionally durable throughout her Husker career as she has never missed a game. As a matter of fact, she has rarely missed a minute averaging 37.5 of the 40 played in each contest.
Another Husker player reached a major milestone as Tear'a Laudermill reached 1000 points for her career in the game against Rutgers, becoming the 31st Husker woman to do so.
Nebraska slipped to 17-6 overall and 7-5 in the Big Ten.
The Huskers take on No. 14 Iowa at home on Thursday and Wisconsin on Sunday. Earlier in the season the Huskers lost by six in overtime at Iowa and beat Wisconsin by 17 in Madison.
February 5 - Rutgers 46 Nebraska 43
Nebraska rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to trim No. 21 Rutgers' lead to two, before settling for a 46-43 women's basketball road loss to the Scarlet Knights at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Playing without Rachel Theriot, who was out with an ankle injury, Nebraska struggled through its lowest first-half point total of the season and trailed 26-17 at the break.
It was Nebraska's fourth road loss of the season by one possession or in overtime, with three of the setbacks to top-25 foes.
Senior forward Emily Cady led the Huskers by producing her ninth double-double and 31st of her career with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Cady went 4-of-7 from the floor, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and 4-of-4 at the free throw line. She added an assist, a steal and two blocks to reach 100 blocks in her career.
Senior guard Tear'a Laudermill led Nebraska in scoring for the fifth straight game with 16 points, but hit just 5-of-28 shots from the floor. She hit 4-of-17 threes, but two threes by Laudermill late in the game kept the Huskers in it down the stretch, after Rutgers led 40-31 with 5:30 left. Laudermill added seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.
February 8 - Maryland 59 Nebraska 47
Nebraska hung tough with No. 5 Maryland, but an 11-0 Terrapin run in a 3:05 stretch late in the game gave the Terps a 59-47 women's basketball win over the Huskers at the Xfinity Center.
Maryland improved to 21-2 and 12-0 in the conference with its 15th consecutive win despite being held to its lowest point total of the season.
Natalie Romeo added eight points while making her third career start in place of All-American point guard Rachel Theriot, who missed her second straight game with an ankle injury.
Chandler Smith added career highs with seven points and seven rebounds, while Hailie Sample added seven points and five rebounds. Brandi Jeffery pitched in five points and four rebounds.
The Huskers trailed just 43-37 after scoring four straight points before the crucial run, and had the ball in transition at halfcourt, before a foul call behind the play stopped the fastbreak and changed momentum with under 7:30 left.
Maryland's Lexie Brown, who scored seven of Maryland's 11 points during the stretch, hit a three-pointer out of the timeout before adding another jumper to push the Terp lead back to double-digits. Nebraska was unable to recover. Brown led the Terps with 14 points and four assists.
The Huskers held the Big Ten's best top scoring and best shooting team to 40.4 percent (23-57) from the floor, including just 29.4 percent (10-34) in the second half. The Terps managed 4-of-13 three-point shooting and hit 9-of-10 free throws, outscoring the Huskers 9-1 at the line. Maryland, who entered the game with a plus-13 rebound margin in Big Ten play, outrebounded the Huskers, 41-36, but Nebraska grabbed 15 offensive boards compared to 14 for the Terps.
Big Ten
Eight Big Ten teams rank among the top 50 in the NCAA RPI. Maryland leads the way at No. 4, followed by Iowa (6), Nebraska (30), Ohio State (35), Rutgers (37), Minnesota (38), Northwestern (44) and Michigan (45).
Seven Big Ten players were named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List in Iowa's Samantha Logic, Maryland's Lexie Brown, Nebraska's Rachel Theriot, Northwestern's Ashley Deary, Ohio State's Ameryst Alston and Kelsey Mitchell and Rutgers' Syessence Davis.