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Rosalie’s Reaction: Huskers survive Illini attack 59 – 57

By Rosalie Suggs

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Nebraska women’s basketball team earned a come-from-behind win, 59-57, over Illinois Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena. A very desperate Illini team on a five game losing streak, came to Lincoln hoping to upset the Huskers and they very nearly did it.

This was the second meeting for the two squads this season. In the previous meeting Jan. 11, 2015 in Champaign, the Huskers struggled through an inconsistent offensive performance against a stealthy Illini defense. Nebraska eventually prevailed in the last 2 minutes leaving town with a 58 – 53 Big Red victory.

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Coming off a hard fought loss this past Monday night at Iowa, how would the Lady Huskers respond? In her Wednesday press conference, Coach Yori said that highs and lows are natural.  “You can never get too high or too low. Each game is its own challenge.” The importance of getting this win was clearly evident when Yori stated in her pre-game interview that “TODAY has got to be OUR day.”

At the opening tip, the Huskers came out FLAT. Their offensive effort was marred by turnovers and they struggled to establish an offensive rhythm. Natalie Romeo would make Nebraska’s first goal of the game hitting a 3-pointer. Nebraska trailed by 11 points twice in the first half.

Rachel Theriot (who became the 30th 1,000-point scorer in school history with her first basket) didn’t score until 7:11 left in the half. When Nebraska headed for the locker room at half time, they trailed 33-30. Statistically, the first half didn’t look that bad though. NU shot 50% (11-22), went (4-7) from 3-point range and 4-8 from the charity line. However, the sure-handed Huskers committed 11 turnovers.

At the other end of the court, Illinois was on a mission. They continue to miss senior starter Ivory Crawford(meniscus tear).  Shelby, Nebraska native Chatrice White led a trio of scorers that included Brittany Carter and Jacqui Grant. They seemingly moved up and down the court making shots and disrupting both the offense and defense of Nebraska.

Grant led Illinois scoring with 11 first-half points. Carter scored 10 points and White added eight points. Illinois half time stats were not as good as Nebraska’s. They hit 41.2% (14-34) including 3-of-10 threes and made both of their free throw buckets. Illinois is known for committing a high number of fouls in their games. Three first-half fouls on Grant plus 2 each on White, Carter and Amarah Coleman spelled trouble for Illinois.

Nebraska came out of half time hoping to slow down the Illini. NU cut the lead to 33-32 on a Theriot jumper but Illinois answered with 2 back-to-back shots. Every time the Huskers managed to cut the Illinois lead down, the Illini would answer back. With about 7 minutes left in the game, the Huskers finally put together some shots.

Mar 22, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Emily Cady (23) dribbles the ball around Fresno State Bulldogs forward Alex Sheedy (10) in the second half of a women

Tear’a Laudermill scored a layup, Emily Cady connected on a free throw and Laudermill scored on a three-point play after a steal at the defensive end. That tied the score at 51. The next 5 minutes would see the score see-saw back and forth. The Illini, already in foul trouble from the first half, continued to send the Huskers to the free throw line.

One by one, Grant, White and Carter fouled out of the game. The Huskers sealed a victory with a 3-point shot from Natalie Romeo with about a minute left in the game. The last possession of the game belonged to Illinois who took the ball the length of the floor only to watch an attempted layup fail. The final buzzer sounded and Nebraska claimed the victory 59 – 57.

Nebraska led  for only ONE minute the entire game but it was the most important minute – the last ONE! Six Huskers scored in this game but it was freshman Natalie Romeo who made two important 3-point shots – the first one to start the game and the last one to end the game!

In her post game radio interview with the Husker Sports Network, Coach Yori breathed a sigh of relief.  “We’ve played a lot of close games. We did what we needed to do on our last possession to win this one.” Coach Yori had to be happy to watch it unfold. That is precisely what Nebraska didn’t do in their loss to Iowa.

Nebraska stays at home to meet Michigan on Sunday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tip-off between the Huskers and Wolverines is set for 2 p.m. The game will be carried locally on NET.  Stay tuned for further updates and as always, GO BIG RED!!