This Week in Husker Women’s Basketball: WSU Recap and Miami Preview

The Husker women’s basketball team sits at 1-2 after a double overtime loss against Washington State in Pullman. The Huskers were down by as many as 13 point in the fourth quarter before they rallied to force overtime. Next up for the ladies is

Friday November 16
Washington State 87 Nebraska 84 (2OT)

The MVP of the game for Nebraska was freshman Sam Haiby who scored all of her career-high 20 points after halftime. Nebraska trailed 60-47 with two seconds left in the third quarter, despite nine points in the quarter from Haiby, and the Huskers trailed 60-49 heading into the fourth quarter.

Nebraska jumped out to a 12-6 lead midway through the second quarter, before Washington State rallied to outscore the Huskers 13-6 in the final three minutes, including five straight points to close the quarter with a 19-18 edge.

The Huskers tied the score at 25 and trailed just 31-29 after an Ashtyn Veerbeek basket with 3:27 left in the half. Veerbeek led the Big Red with nine first-half points off the bench, but her bucket was the last for Nebraska in the second quarter, as the Cougars closed the half on an 8-0 run in the final 1:30 to take a 39-29 lead to the locker room.

The Huskers rallied furiously in the fourth quarter. Haiby got five more points, including a three-pointer with 4:50 left and a pair of free throws with 3:49 left to cap a 10-0 Husker run that tied the score at 68.

The Big Red got two more points from Taylor Kissinger on a pair of free throws with 56 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime, as Nebraska’s defense held WSU without a field goal for the final 5:41 of regulation. Kissinger finished with seven points on the night.

Haiby gave Nebraska its first lead since the closing seconds of the first quarter when she scored on a driving layup on NU’s first possession of overtime to give the Huskers a 72-71 advantage. After a three-point play by Borislava Hristova, who scored a game-high 31 points to lead the Cougars, Maddie Simon hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 74 with 3:23 left in the first overtime. Simon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Haiby then got four straight points to give Nebraska its biggest lead after halftime, 78-74 with 1:38 left. But the Huskers were shut out the rest of the overtime period, and the Cougars got two free throws from Hristova with 1:28 left and a layup from Maria Kostourkova on a broken down sideline out-of-bounds play with 2.1 seconds remaining to send the game to a second OT.

Nebraska came out aggressively again in the second overtime, as Simon and Whitish hit back-to-back threes to give the Big Red an 84-82 lead with 3:23 left. Neither team scored for more than two minutes, before Hristova hit a pair of free throws with 1:05 left to tie the game at 84. Hristova added her last basket with 26.1 seconds left to give the Cougars the lead for good, and after an Ula Motuga free throw with eight seconds left, WSU led 87-84.

The Huskers called timeout and got a wide open three from Hannah Whitish from the left wing that hit iron, went high off the backboard then fell on the front of the rim before dropping to the floor as time as expired. Whitish finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Kate Cain added a double-double with 10 points, including six in the fourth quarter, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots before fouling out late in the second overtime.

Nebraska hit 42.5 percent (31-73) of its shots from the field for the game, including 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from three-point range. The Huskers also hit 15-of-19 free throws (.789) and outrebounded Washington State, 44-40. Both teams committed 15 turnovers.

Miami Preview

Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-2) at 24/22 Miami Hurricanes (4-1)
Friday, November 23, 2018, 2 p.m. (CT)
Watsco Center (Coral Gables, Fla.)
Live Video: ACC Network+ (Watch ESPN)
Live Radio: Husker Sports Network (1:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln-B107.3 FM; Omaha-CD 105.9 FM; Huskers.com & Huskers App

Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten)
24 - Maddie Simon - 6-2 - Sr. - F - 9.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg
31 - Kate Cain - 6-5 - So. - C - 10.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg
3 - Hannah Whitish - 5-9 - Jr. - G - 7.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg
5 - Nicea Eliely - 6-1 - Jr. - G - 8.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg
33 - Taylor Kissinger - 6-1 - So. - G - 12.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg

Off the Bench
4 - Sam Haiby - 5-9 - Fr. - G - 12.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg
13 - Ashtyn Veerbeek - 6-2 - Fr. - F - 7.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg
32 - Leigha Brown - 6-1 - Fr. - F - 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg
11 - Kristian Hudson - 5-5 - Sr. - G - 4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg
44 - Kayla Mershon - 6-3 - Fr. - F - 3.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
14 - Grace Mitchell - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 2.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

24/22 Miami Hurricanes (4-1, 0-0 ACC)
21 - Emese Hof - 6-3 - Sr. - F/C - 11.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg
32 - Beatrice Mompremier - 6-4 - Jr. - F - 15.2 ppg, 12.2 rpg
1 - Laura Cornelius - 5-8 - Jr. - G - 6.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg
5 - Mykea Gray - 5-4 - So. - G - 10.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg
20 - Kelsey Marshall - 5-9 - So. - G - 7.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg

Off the Bench
12 - Sarah Mortensen - 6-1 - Jr. - G/F - 7.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg
13 - Taylor Mason - 5-9 - So. - G - 6.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg
3 - Endia Banks - 5-9 - So. - G - 5.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg
15 - Jamir Huston - 6-0 - Fr. - F - 1.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg
23 - Rebecca Ripley - 6-0 - RFr. - G/F - 1.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg

Head Coach: Katie Meier (Duke, 1989)

Scouting The Miami Hurricanes

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Miami 3-0, with the last meeting coming at the Devaney Center in Lincoln on Nov. 17, 2010. The Huskers, behind big performances from Dominique Kelley and Lindsey Moore, ran to a 99-85 win.

Coach Katie Meier has built Miami into a consistent ACC contender in her 14 seasons leading the Hurricanes. Miami has made nine straight postseason trips, including seven NCAA appearances during that span. She was the 2013 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year and the 2011 AP National Coach of the Year.

At 6-4, Beatrice Mompremier gives Miami a potentially dominant front line alongside senior Emese Hof, a 6-3 forward from Utrecht, Netherlands. Hof is averaging 11.6 points and 8.0 boards per game after averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds a year ago. She is averaging a team-best 2.6 blocks per game on the season.

Through five games, Miami has outscored the opposition by an average of 73.0-59.0, while posting a dominant edge on the glass of 45.4-33.8 (+11.6). The Hurricanes carry a minus-1.8 turnover margin.

The Canes are shooting 44.8 percent from the field but just 58 percent at the free throw line.

Miami has hit 37.4 percent (40-107) of its threes but the Hurricanes were shooting a sizzling 43.7 percent through the first four games this season before going 2-for-20 against Iowa State in their previous game.

Laura Cornelius, a 5-8 fourth-year junior guard from Groningen, Netherlands, adds experience to the backcourt while averaging 6.4 points and a team-leading 4.0 assists per game.

Mykea Gray brings young talent to the Miami backcourt. The 5-4 point guard was an ACC All-Freshman selection last year and earned a spot on the Miami Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team. She is averaging 10.0 points and 2.2 assists this season after averaging 11.7 points and 2.3 assists as a freshman.

Another sophomore, Kelsey Marshall rounds out Miami’s starting five. The 5-9 guard is averaging 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds this season after putting up similar numbers off the bench last year. A Miami native, Marshall joined Gray as an ACC All-Freshman pick a year ago. Marshall, Gray and Cornelius have all hit at least 40 three-pointers in each of their seasons at Miami and have combined to shoot at better than a 34 percent clip from long range to open the 2018-19 season.

This will be a tough test for a Nebraska team that is still trying to find its footing. The Huskers have some offensive firepower, but need to develop more consistency on that side of the court. With five newcomers, who are all contributing significant minutes, there are some kinks still to be ironed out for Nebraska.

Go Big Red!