Freshman Allison Weidner scored a career-high of 23 points to lead Nebraska to a 93-70 win over Minnesota on Sunday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Huskers avenged an earlier loss to Penn State (Feb. 17).
Nebraska improved to 20-7 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers dropped to 12-16 overall and 5-11 in the conference.
Alexis Markowski scored 11 points in the dominant second half, leading a 15-3 run in the third quarter that helped open a 19-point Huskers lead. Nebraska extended the lead to 71-47 over the Golden Gophers by the end of the third quarter. Nebraska held the Golden Gophers to 13 points and 26.7% from the field in that third quarter.
Sophomore Jaz Shelley had a career-high 12 assists to go with five points.
The Huskers pulled away when Freshman Kendall Moriarty had back-to-back buckets to begin the third quarter, adding five points for Nebraska.
Sara Scalia led Minnesota with 22 points, while Kadiatou Sissoko added 14 points to the Golden Gophers offense.
Nebraska converted 14 points off 11 forced Minnesota turnovers.
The Huskers found depth in their bench with nine players who recorded at least one point.
“We got contributions from all over the place,” Huskers Head Coach Amy Williams said. “I thought Issie Bourne really started us off, just really set the tone for our team, and was aggressive.”
Bourne and Haiby got the Huskers rolling on the scoreboard in the first half with a combined 19 of 41 points. Weidner added seven for the offense, and Micole Cayton six.
Scalia had 16 points before halftime for the Golden Gophers but was held to 6 points by the Husker’s dominant second-half defense.
As a team, Nebraska shot 33-61 (54%) from the field. Minnesota was held to 26-59 (44%) from the field and were out preformed on the boards (39-28).
Nebraska returns Wednesday for a Big Ten matchup at Wisconsin. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) at Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
