(Durham, NC) – Nebraska opened the second half with a 17-0 run, outscoring Richmond 27-6 in the period to build a 23-point lead on its way to a 75-56 victory in the NCAA Women’s Basketball First Four at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
Nebraska improved to 19-12 overall with its second NCAA Tournament victory in the past three seasons, while Richmond ended its season 26-8. The Huskers will advance to take on No. 6 seed Baylor in Friday’s NCAA First Round.
All-Big Ten point guard Britt Prince led Nebraska with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 16 in the second half. The 5-11 sophomore out of Omaha added three rebounds and five assists.
Senior Callin Hake produced her best career NCAA Tournament game with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including four three-pointers. Hake added four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two charges drawn.
Amiah Hargrove, Jessica Petrie and Petra Bozan each added eight points for the Huskers, who registered their 10th all-time NCAA Tournament victory. Logan Nissley and Claire Johnson each pitched in six points on a pair of three-pointers.
In an entertaining first half, Nebraska built a brief 10-point lead after rallying from a 10-7 first-quarter deficit, before carrying a 34-32 lead to halftime.
The Huskers then stormed out of the locker room with a traditional three-point play from Prince before a putback from Bozan and Nissley’s second three-pointer of the game to push Nebraska back to a 10-point lead at 42-32 just 2:18 into the second half.
Richmond called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but Nebraska kept stinging the Spiders. The Huskers got a stop and a score from Prince after the timeout, before Bozan scored again inside. Petrie then scored at the rim before Prince buried a three-pointer to cap Nebraska’s 17-0 run to open the third quarter, giving the Big Red a 51-32 lead with 4:37 left in the period.
Richmond All-American Maggie Doogan finally stopped the run with her layup with 4:22 left, but Petrie answered with another score about 10 seconds later to keep the Husker offense rolling.
Hake then buried back-to-back threes around a layup by Richmond’s Ally Sweeney, to extend the Husker margin to 59-36.
Prince closed Nebraska’s colossal 27-6 third quarter with a jumper from the right wing to send the Huskers to the final period with a 61-38 lead.
Nebraska finished the game by hitting 56.9 percent (29-51) of its shots from the floor, including 50 percent (11-22) of its threes. The Huskers also sank 6-of-7 free throws.
NU held Richmond to just 4-of-23 shooting (.174) from three-point range, shutting out the Spiders’ second-leading scorer Rachel Ullstrom from beyond the arc. Doogan and Ullstrom entered the game as two of the nation’s most prolific three-point shooters with a combined 180 threes on the season.
Doogan led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but she scored half of her points in the fourth quarter after the outcome had already been decided.
The Spiders finished 21-of-53 (.396) from the field and 10-of-14 (.714) from the free throw line.
Nebraska opened the game with a quick 5-0 lead after a three-pointer from Hake just over one minute into the game, before the Spiders rallied with a 10-2 surge to take a 10-7 lead with 5:30 left in the opening quarter.
Petrie entered the game for the first time and through back-to-back lob passes for layups to Hargrove to give the Big Red the lead back at 11-10. Petrie then added two more assists on a pass to Prince and a three-pointer by Nissley to put NU up 16-12. Petrie’s three-pointer with 1:50 left sent the Huskers to the second period with a 19-14 lead.
The Huskers continued to build lead over the next 3:30, extending the margin to 28-18 after a pair of free throws from Hargrove with 6:33 left in the half.
Nebraska maintained a 34-26 lead with just under two minutes left in the half, before Richmond closed the second quarter with six straight points – all at the free throw line.
Hargrove and Hake each led Nebraska with eight first-half points, while Prince pitched in six points. Petrie closed the half with four points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Doogan led Richmond with 10 points, while Sweeney contributed seven points. Doogan managed just two points for the Spiders in the decisive third quarter, and Sweeney was held to just two more points the rest of the game.
