Lincoln - The No. 13 Nebraska women's basketball team battled back from a 27-point second-half deficit to cut the lead to eight with two minutes left, before being handed a 63-52 loss to Michigan Thursday night at the Devaney Center.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 19-4 overall and 8-3 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improved to 18-7 overall and 7-5 in the conference.
Nebraska produced its worst offensive half of the season going just 4-of-30 from the field, including 1-of-15 from three-point range. The Huskers missed 17 consecutive shots, including 11 straight three-pointers during a 14-minute stretch in the first half.
Michigan made the most of the stretch, turning a 7-4 deficit with 16:40 left into a 32-12 halftime lead, outscoring the Huskers 28-5 the rest of the half.
Nebraska continued to struggle at the start of the second half, falling behind 41-14 with 15:19 left. But behind the play of Lindsey Moore, who finished with a game-high 23 points, the Huskers stormed back to cut the Michigan margin to eight at 58-50 on a Jordan Hooper jumper with 2:02 left.
Hooper finished with 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, but hit just 4-of-19 shots from the field, including just 1-of-8 three-pointers.
Moore, who hit 5-of-13 threes and 8-of-18 shots overall from the field, added four assists and four steals to lead the Huskers in both categories. Her four steals helped Nebraska force 24 turnovers by the Wolverines. NU also committed a season-low eight turnovers, producing a plus-16 turnover margin against a Michigan team that entered the game leading the Big Ten in turnover margin on the year.
However, mainly because of their shooting woes, the Huskers were outrebounded 48-30 by the Wolverines. Nebraska hit just 17-of-66 shots from the field (25.8 percent) for the game and 9-of-37 three-pointers (24.3 percent). NU was also just 9-of-15 from the free throw line. NU did produce 14 offensive rebounds, compared to 10 for Michigan.
Nebraska attempted 20 more shots than Michigan and two more free throws than the Wolverines, but Michigan made the most of its possessions by hitting 22-of-46 shots (47.8 percent), including 8-of-16 threes. Michigan was also 11-of-13 at the free throw line.
Carmen Reynolds led four Wolverines in double figures with 16 points, including 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Courtney Boylan added 14 points and six boards, while Nya Jordan added 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Rachel Sheffer added 13 points and eight boards for the Wolverines.
Michigan hit 12-of-21 shots from the field in the first half, including 4-of-8 three-pointers and all four of its free throw attempts. The Wolverines also outrebounded NU, 22-15 in the first, primarily because the Huskers missed 26 shots and four free throw attempts in the half, while the Wolverines missed just nine field goals.
Reynolds led Michigan with 10 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting including 2-of-3 threes, while Sheffer added nine points on 3-of-4 shooting including a three.
The Huskers return to Big Ten road action on Monday, Feb. 13, when they take on Minnesota. Tip-off between Nebraska and the Golden Gophers at Williams Arena in Minneapolis is set for 6:30 p.m., with a live national telecast featuring Kevin Kugler and Debbie Antonelli on the Big Ten Network.
A free live audio broadcast also will be available on Huskers.com as part of the 25-station Husker Sports Network.
Official Basketball Box Score Michigan vs Nebraska 02/09/12 7:05 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Michigan 18-7 (7-5) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 33 Reynolds,Carmen..... f 6-10 4-5 0-0 0 6 6 0 16 1 3 0 1 31 44 Sheffer,Rachel...... f 4-7 1-1 4-4 1 7 8 4 13 1 5 5 0 25 02 Boylan,Courtney..... g 6-11 1-3 1-2 0 6 6 2 14 0 4 0 1 37 21 Jordan,Nya.......... g 3-6 1-1 4-5 4 6 10 4 11 4 3 0 1 33 24 Ryan,Jenny.......... g 0-2 0-1 0-0 3 4 7 3 0 4 1 0 1 29 11 Arnold,Sam.......... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 17 12 Thompson,Kate....... 2-6 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 5 2 2 2 0 16 14 Elmblad,Nicole...... 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 3 3 2 2 0 2 0 1 12 TEAM................ 2 4 6 2 Totals.............. 22-46 8-16 11-13 10 38 48 16 63 14 24 7 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-21 57.1% 2nd Half: 10-25 40.0% Game: 47.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 50.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 84.6% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 19-4 (8-3) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 Cady, Emily......... f 2-9 1-4 2-4 2 5 7 4 7 3 0 2 3 38 35 Hooper, Jordan...... f 4-19 1-8 5-9 3 5 8 1 14 1 0 0 2 35 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 8-18 5-13 2-2 0 0 0 2 23 4 5 0 4 38 03 Sample, Hailie...... g 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 13 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 0-5 0-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 1 1 0 2 27 10 Williams, Meghin.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 11 Laudermill, Tear'a.. 0-7 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 14 13 Jeffery, Brandi..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 6 33 Woodberry, Rebecca.. 2-5 2-5 0-0 1 0 1 2 6 1 0 0 0 22 TEAM................ 5 1 6 Totals.............. 17-66 9-37 9-15 14 16 30 15 52 10 8 2 13 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 4-30 13.3% 2nd Half: 13-36 36.1% Game: 25.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-15 6.7% 2nd Half: 8-22 36.4% Game: 24.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 60.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Lisa Mattingly, Bob Trammel, Frank Steratore Technical fouls: Michigan-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 7642 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Michigan...................... 32 31 - 63 Nebraska...................... 12 40 - 52