Nebraska WBB 63 Ohio State 55 Recap

Issie Bourne is out for Nebraska with her ankle injury. On the flip side, #15 Ohio State gets their best player back (Dorka Juhasz). OSU is averaging nearly 90 pts a game. The Husker defense has been good, but without Bourne, Nebraska’s task is much tougher.

Ruby Porter will take Bourne’s place in the starting lineup. Nebraska will have seven players available vs the undefeated and ranked Buckeyes.

First Quarter

OSU won the tip and they scored on their second and third possessions to take a 4-0 lead. The Husker offense had a hard time getting going as they missed their first two shots and didn’t come up with offensive rebounds. Two free throws by Sam Haiby got the Huskers on the board. A steal by Bella Cravens gave the Huskers a chance to tie - and Ashley Scoggin did to make the score 4-4. Cravens also drew an early foul on Juhasz. Keeping her on the bench would help the Huskers’ chances.

Kate Cain gave the Huskers their first lead at the 6 minute mark at 6-4. A Cain free throw gave the Huskers a 7-4 lead but Nebraska committed a shot clock violation on their next possession. The Huskers maintained between a one and three point lead for several minutes, including a great steal by Annika Stewart and pass to Whit Brown. A Husker three-pointer extended the lead to 14-8 at the 1:40 mark. The rest of the quarter belonged to the Buckeyes as they cut the lead to two.

Whitney Brown leads the Huskers with five points and Samy Haiby has four. Bella Cravens already has pulled down five rebounds.

Nebraska 14 Ohio State 12

Second Quarter

OSU tied the game up at 14 at the nine minute mark, but Kate Cain answered immediately to give Nebraska the lead back at 16-14. The Huskers are doing a great job of controlling the pace of the game. The Buckeyes are falling asleep and showing very little energy.

Cain and Cravens baskets Husker lead to 20-14 at 7:13, forcing a Buckeye timeout. Scoggin found Cain again for another Husker basket, but the Buckeyes answered this one (22-16). OSU followed that with their first three-pointer of the game at the 4:30 mark (22-19). Whit Brown answered (25-19 Nebraska). Bella Cravens took a scary fall when she jumped up thinking her player was going to shoot but instead drove and undercut her.

Kate Cain registered a solid block (her second of the game). She followed that with more fine offensive play to give the Huskers a 27-19 lead. During that time, the Buckeyes went 0-7 from the field. Ruby Porter extended the lead to 30-19 Nebraska. Anni Stewart got in on the block party but then badly missed a three-pointer to give OSU the final possession of the half. They converted on that.

Nebraska 30 Ohio State 21

Kate Cain leads Nebraska with 11 points (five rebounds and two blocks) and Whitney Brown has eight. Sam Haiby didn’t score in that quarter, but she has five assists to go with five rebounds.

The Buckeyes are shooting 9 of 37 from the field. That is mind bogglingly good defense by the Huskers. The previous low mark for points scored in a half by OSU this season was 32. They average more than 22 points per quarter and the Huskers held them to that in a half.

Third Quarter

The Buckeyes scored first after they stole the ball (30-23). The Huskers are still having trouble getting offensive rebounds. After a little bit of back and forth, the Buckeyes closed within three (30-27) but Nebraska answered with a Cravens basket (32-27 Nebraska) at 6:04 which is where the score stayed at the media timeout.

Back to back baskets by Cain and Scoggin gave Nebraska a 36-28 lead. Cain blocked a shot and then the OSU player was frustrated and pushed he to draw the offensive foul. Cain has everything working on offense as she hit another basket to put the Huskers up by 10 (38-28). After some back and forth, Whit Brown hit another three to give Nebraska their biggest lead of the game at 11 (45-34). OSU got the last possession of the quarter and converted.

Nebraska 45 OSU 36

Kate Cain has 17 points and 10 rebounds for a double double.

Fourth Quarter

OSU forced a 10 second call when the Huskers tried to bring the ball up. Kate Cain registered her SIXTH block. AND THEN HER SEVENTH. She’s working on a triple-double!

Then Bella Cravens decided she can block some too. A Scoggin three gave Nebraska a 50-38 lead and forced a timeout at 7:23. Bella Cravens now has double digit rebounds with 10. Sam Haiby has nine assists.

Kate Cain hit another to increase the Husker lead (52-38). KATE CAIN’S EIGHTH BLOCK!! OH WAIT - NINE!!!

The Buckeyes are not a great three point team, but right now they want nothing to do with going near Kate Cain or the paint. They did hit a three pointer at the five minute mark. At the media timeout the score was Nebraska 52 OSU 41.

Whit Brown for three!!! (Nebraska 55 - OSU 43). The Buckeyes answered with a three of their own (55-46) and are pressing hard to try and force turnovers (it is working somewhat).

The Buckeyes cut into the Husker lead (55-48) at the clock went under three minutes. A big offensive rebound by Cain led to a wide open layup by Kate. OSU answered with a three to make the score 57-51.

The Huskers turned it over (Scoggin) at 1:38. Scoggin and Cravens both also have four fouls. A step back three by OSU cut the lead to four (57-54). SAM HAIBY gets the basket and the foul with 45 seconds left. She hit the free throw to give Nebraska a 60-54 lead.

A defensive rebound by Cain caused OSU to foul her with 28 seconds left. She made one free throw (61-54). A Buckeye turnover (Cravens on the defense) gave Nebraska the ball with 21 seconds. Haiby was fouled with 19 seconds left. She made both free throws to get a double double (Nebraska 63 OSU 54).

Cain was called for her FIRST foul when she went for her 10th block. One free throw was good to cut the Husker lead to eight (63-55) with six seconds.

HUSKERS WIN!! HUSKERS WIN!!

Nebraska 63 Ohio State 55

The previous low score for Ohio State this season was 78 points and Nebraska’s defense held them to 55 WITHOUT ISSIE BOURNE! This was a great team effort and will likely cause some heads to start to turn nationally. The Huskers have now defeated three ranked teams (Northwestern, Michigan State and Ohio State), one team receiving votes (Rutgers) and lost by two to a ranked team (Michigan) in their last five games.

Statistics

The Huskers scoring in double figures were Kate Cain (22), Whitney Brown (14) and Sam Haiby (11). Kate nearly pulled off the triple-double by adding 12 rebounds and nine blocks. Haiby pulled down eight rebounds of her own and added TEN assists for a double-double of her own.

Bella Cravens led the team with 14 rebounds and was huge on defense. The Huskers locked down the paint and forced the Buckeyes out of their game from the start.

Next Game

The Huskers will host Minnesota on Tuesday, January 19. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

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Coach Williams Post-Game Remarks

Whitney Brown Post-Game Remarks

Kate Caine Post-Game Remarks

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