WBB Loses a Heartbreaker to Nebraska
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UW met the Nebraska Cornhuskers at home Sunday afternoon and lost to them 66-65. The Huskies held a four point lead over Nebraska going into the last three minutes of the game, but slowly collapsed in the last few minutes. They had three turnovers in a row (two of which were from Sayvia Sellers), which allowed the Cornhuskers to tie the score. UW called a timeout and out of the timeout, UW couldn’t make anything happen, so Sellers cleared the floor and got past the defenders to get the bucket. The crowd went wild and UW was up 2 points with 16 seconds left. UW had fouls to give and Sellers picked up her 4th foul with 43 seconds left, which allowed UW to see Nebraska’s offensive scheme. Nebraska set up a play for their leading scorer Prince, and she drained a three pointer to put Nebraska up one point with 7 seconds left. UW advanced the ball and had three looks at the basket – first Sellers, then Brynn McGaughy, and then Stines – none of which got the ball to fall. The clock ran out and Nebraska won. Nebraska rushed the floor because it was their first quad 1 win in 6 opportunities.
It was also the last home game of the season for UW, so it was Senior Night (Afternoon?) for the Huskies. Four players (Hannah Stines, Elle Ladine, Shayla Gilmer, and Tegan Brown) have been with the team for all four years, and Yulia Grabovskaia joined this year in the transfer portal.
The game started out a grind as the Huskies couldn’t get anything around the tall Nebraska players. Nebraska also played a close, pesky over-playing defense that disrupted UW. The refs called multiple offensive fouls and off-ball fouls on UW that also threw off their game. UW went multiple minutes without scoring in the first quarter until Avery Howell got a step=through bucket and then true freshman Brynn McGaughy made back-to-back buckets. Nebraska was up 17-12 to end the first quarter. Nebraska also led the FG % 47-35.
As the second quarter started, the Huskies couldn’t get anything to fall. Nebraska continued to overplay everything and had good help side defense, which disrupted UW’s flow. Hannah Stines got a tricky rebound and dribbled out to the three point line, noted that no one was guarding her, and spotted up for a three which cut the lead to 8 points. UW had a hard time playing defense in the second quarter; Nebraska was consistently able to get by them to score and keep the lead.
Howell made a three pointer at the end of the half to cut the lead to 3: 35-32.
Coming back from halftime, UW made adjustments that put them in the lead for most of the second half.
Stats:
- Sayvia Sellers (just nominated for the Naismith Player of the Year Late Season Team): 14 points, 3 rebounds, 6 (for a point guard!!!!) turnovers, 2 (for a point guard!!!!) assists
- Hannah Stines (just hit 500 rebounds for her career, never can miss an opportunity to say she’s my favorite and I will miss her so much next year): 9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists
- Avery Howell: notched yet another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds
- Brynn McGaughy: 14 points, 9 rebounds
- Elle Ladine: 10 points, 7 rebounds
I still cannot believe they lost this game. What a heartbreaker.
Next Up:
Oregon @ Oregon Sunday March 1. UW managed to beat Oregon last week 51-43, in a very ugly fashion.
Big 10 Tournament is March 4-8.
