The No. 24 Nebraska women’s basketball team shook off its recent slump of five losses in the last seven games to defeat Illinois, 81-75, Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Britt Prince led the Cornhuskers (15-5, 4-5 Big Ten) with 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting plus a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Logan Nissley and Jessica Petrie both added 15 points while Petra Bozan scored 11. Cearah Parchment led the Fighting Illini (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten) with 25 points. Berry Wallace contributed 22. Destiny Jackson scored 13 and Maddie Webber pitched in 11. Parchment had a double-double in the loss, also grabbing 11 rebounds.
Illinois scored the first four points in the game and led 7-6 with 5:55 remaining in the first quarter. But Nebraska bounced back and sprinted to a 10-0 run, leading 16-7 with 2:27 to go in the opening stanza. The lead was 19-11 through one quarter. An 11-0 run late in the second quarter opened a 39-20 lead for the Huskers with 1:27 to go until halftime. A tip-in by Petrie in the final seconds of the second quarter sent Nebraska to halftime leading 41-23.
The lead stayed in the double digits for the entire third quarter and another Petrie basket on the final possession of the third quarter gave NU a 56-44 lead with 10 minutes to go. The lead stayed 10 or more for most of the fourth quarter before five straight Illini free throws cut the Huskers’ edge to 71-65 with 1:45 to play. But Nebraska was solid from the free-throw line and held off a late Illinois charge to clinch the victory.
The Huskers are next in action Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena against Northwestern. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. on KLIN.
