Champaign, Ill. - The Nebraska women's basketball team rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to take a seven-point fourth-quarter lead, but the Huskers were unable to knock down the winning shot in a 74-73 loss at Illinois on Sunday afternoon.
Jaz Shelley led Nebraska's big rally in the first 15 minutes of the second half, finishing with 23 points, five rebounds and eight assists, but her final three-point attempt from the deep left wing was off the mark as the Huskers finished the regular season 19-10 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten. Illinois moved to 14-14 overall and 8-10 in the conference.
Nebraska also got 14 points and eight rebounds from Alexis Markowski, who scored NU's only two points in the final five minutes by hitting a pair of free throws with 2:33 left.
Natalie Potts contributed 14 points, five rebounds and a career-high four assists to help put the Huskers in position to win.
Potts hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third quarter to set the tone for Nebraska's rally, then scored NU's first points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 59 with 9:05 left. Shelley then scored four straight points before Potts scored again to give Nebraska a 65-59 edge with 6:35 left.
The Big Red also received a strong contribution with seven points from freshman Jessica Petrie, who finished with seven points including Nebraska's final field goal of the game on a layup with five minutes left to give the Huskers their biggest lead of the day at 71-64.
But Nebraska missed its final nine field goal attempts of the game and a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left. On the other end, Illinois got a basket from Camille Hobby, who finished with nine points, and back-to-back buckets from Gretchen Dolan, who scored five of her seven points in the game's closing minutes, while getting two free throws from Genesis Bryant and the game-winning free throw from Makira Cook.
Cook led Illinois with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Bryant added 17 points, four boards and four assists. Kendall Bostic contributed a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards but was held scoreless by the Huskers in the second half.
Nebraska finished at 38.9 percent (28-72) from the field, including 30 percent (9-30) from three-point range. The Huskers also hit 8-of-11 free throws. The Big Red won the battle of the boards, 39-36, including a 15-9 edge on the offensive glass. NU also claimed the turnover fight, 8-7, in a well-played game by both teams.
The Illini finished at 46.8 percent (29-62) from the floor, including 7-of-16 threes (.438). Illinois also hit 9-of-10 free throws.
After a back-and-forth first half, Nebraska trailed 42-35 despite 10 points and six rebounds from Markowski and 10 points and four assists from Shelley. The Huskers hit just 37 percent (13-35) of their first-half shots, including just 27 percent (4-15) of their threes, but outworked Illinois 19-18 on the boards, 8-5 on the offensive glass.
Illinois answered by hitting 53 percent (18-34) of its shots, including 44.4 percent (4-9) of its threes. Bostic led the Illini with 12 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Cook added 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long range. Illinois also won the first-half turnover battle, 4-3.
The Fighting Illini led 23-16 after one quarter before Nebraska opened the second period on a 10-0 run to take a 26-23 lead after a Shelley three-point play with 7:21 left in the half. But Illinois answered with a 10-0 run of its own with five points apiece from Bryant and Shay Bollin. The Illini went on to rebuild their seven-point lead at the half.
Nebraska will head to the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 5 seed and earn a first-round bye before playing on Thursday, March 7 at 2 p.m. in a game televised by the Big Ten Network.