Courtesy of Husker Athletics
East Lansing, Mich. – No. 24 Nebraska led No. 15 Michigan State 69-66 with 1:35 left, but the Spartans made the plays down the stretch to escape with a 73-71 win over the Huskers at the Breslin Center on Thursday night.
Nebraska slipped to 14-4 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten with all four losses to top 20 teams, while the Spartans improved to 17-1 and 6-1 in the conference.
In a back and forth game in which no team held a double-digit lead at any point, the Huskers trailed 62-58 with six minutes left, before Amiah Hargrove led a significant Nebraska surge in a five-minute stretch.
Hargrove, who finished with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, scored seven straight Nebraska points to put the Big Red up 65-64 with 3:58 left.
Kennadi Williams then pushed the Husker lead to 67-64 with 3:21 left, before Grace Van Slooten scored on a layup for her last of a game-high 22 points in the game for the Spartans.
Hargrove answered with her final field goal of the night with 1:35 left to make it 69-66, before Jalyn Brown hit Michigan State’s only three-pointer of the second half to tie the game at 69.
Prince then sank a tough 16-foot jumper with the shot clock winding down to put Nebraska back in front 71-69 with about 50 seconds left. Prince finished with 16 points and four assists despite being limited by foul trouble in the third quarter.
Michigan State’s Rashunda Jones tied the score at 71 on a pair of free throws with 39.1 seconds left after being fouled by Williams on a lane-line drive. Jones finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Spartans.
Nebraska advanced the ball with a chance to take the lead but turned the ball over without a shot.
Jones attacked the rim again and missed, but Juliann Woodard flew across the lane for an offensive rebound and collided with Nebraska’s Jessica Petrie, who was whistled for a foul as Woodard flung the ball at rim. Woodard made both free throws with 5.1 seconds left.
Nebraska took its final timeout to advance the ball. Michigan State deflected NU’s initial play and forced a baseline throw-in with 1.4 seconds left. A lob to Eliza Maupin was knocked away without a Husker shot to give Michigan State the win.
Petrie and Petra Bozan added eight points apiece for the Huskers, while Kennedy Blair put three Spartans in double figures on the night by finishing with 14 points.
Nebraska closed the night 26-of-51 from the field (.510), while connecting on 7-of-20 three-pointers (.350). The Big Red also hit 12-of-13 free throws. NU outrebounded MSU, 27-26, but lost the turnover war, 22-15.
Michigan State hit 27-of-54 shots (.500), including 3-of-17 threes (.176), but hit 16-of-20 free throws on their home court to claim the victory.
After trailing 36-33 at the half, Nebraska trimmed the Spartan lead to 55-54 after three quarters by outscoring MSU, 21-19 in the third.
Michigan State jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the first seven minutes, before the Huskers heated up from long range in the final three minutes of the period. The Big Red got threes from Hargrove, Logan Nissley and Prince, before Bozan hit her first three since November to cut MSU’s margin to 24-19 at one quarter.
The Husker defense stiffened early in the second quarter and the Big Red got a pair of two-point baskets from Prince around a baby hook from Bozan to take its first lead at 25-24 with 7:55 left in the second.
An Emily Fisher putback pushed the lead to 27-25 with 5:45 left, before the Huskers took their biggest lead of the half on back-to-back buckets from Hargrove to make it 31-27 with 3:25 left.
Michigan State closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 36-33 lead to the locker room. Both teams went 13-for-26 from the floor in the half, but Nebraska hit 5-of-11 threes, while MSU sank just 2-of-10. However, the Spartans outscored the Huskers 8-2 at the free throw line. Nebraska won the first-half battle of the boards, 14-12, but lost the turnover war, 13-7.
The Huskers return to Big Ten road action next Wednesday when they travel to Wisconsin. Tip-off with the Badgers at the Kohl Center in Madison is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT). Live coverage will be provided by the Huskers Radio Network on Huskers.com and the Huskers App, while a live video stream will be available from B1G+.
