Jaz Shelley, Isabelle Bourne, Allison Weidner and Alexis Markowski all provided huge performances, as Nebraska snapped No. 20 Maryland’s 15-game series domination in a 90-67 pounding of the Terrapins at the Xfinity Center on Sunday.
Nebraska improved to 6-3 on the season while opening Big Ten Conference play with a huge road win. Maryland slipped to 7-3 and 0-1 in the league.
Shelley went off for the Huskers with 22 points in an 11-minute span that covered the final minute of the first half through the end of the third quarter, turning an 11-point Nebraska deficit into a four-point lead, 60-56, heading to the final period.
Bourne added 18 points, six rebounds and four assists, providing solid contributions from start to finish, including eight big points with a pair of three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Bourne’s career-high fourth three of the game put Nebraska on top 80-67 with 3:48 left.
Weidner was huge in the second half after going scoreless while battling foul trouble in the first half. The 5-10 sophomore from Humphrey, Neb., scored all 13 of her points in the second half while adding eight of her career-high 15 rebounds after halftime. It was the first career double-double for Weidner, who also added five assists on the day.
Markowski added 14 points and six boards, including seven points in the first four-plus minutes of the fourth quarter to help Nebraska take a double-digit lead at 72-61 with 5:43 left.
Maddie Krull also made major contributions with six points and five assists in her first Nebraska start. Krull’s final two points came at the free throw line to push Nebraska to the 90-point mark, the most ever scored by the Huskers against the Terrapins. NU’s previous high point total against the Terps came in a 77-75 loss in College Park in 2018.
Annika Stewart added a crucial second quarter three-pointer and a big three-point play in the fourth to put the Big Red up 75-63 with 5:19 left.
For the game, Nebraska hit 50 percent (30-60) of its shots from the field, including 18-of-28 (.643) in the second half. The Huskers also caught fire from three-point range, connecting on 48 percent (12-25) from beyond the arc, including 6-of-10 after halftime. The Huskers also knocked down 18-of-22 (.818) of its free throws, including 17-of-19 (.895) in the second half.
Nebraska’s hot shooting sent the Huskers to a 59-31 advantage in the second half, including 30-11 in the fourth, after trailing 36-31 at halftime
The NU defense held Maryland to 40 percent (24-60) from the floor, including just 25 percent (4-16) from three-point range. The Terps also went 15-for-18 at the line.
Shyanne Sellers led Maryland with a career-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds, while Brinae Alexander added 14 points off the bench. All-Big Ten guard Diamond Miller added 13 points, all in the second half, while Faith Masonius contributed nine points for the Terps.
The Huskers beat Maryland on the boards, 35-34, while matching the Terps with 17 turnovers.
In a competitive first half, the Huskers hung tough with the No. 20 Terps on the road, jumping to an 11-4 lead with eight straight points from Bourne and a three-pointer from Shelley to cap an 11-0 run in a two-minute span midway through the first quarter. Maryland answered with an 8-0 run to regain a 12-11 edge, before Markowski responded with a traditional three-point play. Markowski not only finished a strong shot attempt at the rim, but she forced the second foul on Miller, sending her to the bench for the rest of the half with 1:35 left in the first quarter.
Maryland scored four straight before Markowski hit a jumper with four seconds left to send the game to the second quarter tied at 16.
Bourne and Shelley got Nebraska back out to a 20-16 lead to open the second period. The Huskers maintained a 25-23 lead after a Stewart three with six minutes left, before Maryland erupted on a 13-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 36-25 with 1:17 left. However, Nebraska slowed the Terps with back-to-back threes by Shelley to close the half trailing 36-31.
Nebraska hit just 37.5 percent (12-32) of its first-half shots, but connected on 6-of-15 threes (.400). Maryland hit 45.2 percent (14-31) of its first-half attempts, while going 2-for-5 from long range. The difference in the half came at the free throw line, where the Terps outscored the Huskers 6-1.
Shelley led Nebraska with 11 points and four assists in the half, while Bourne contributed 10 points and four boards. Markowski added five points despite being strapped by foul trouble for the final eight minutes of the half. Krull contributed two points and three assists, while Weidner was scoreless but grabbed seven first-half rebounds.
Sellers led Maryland with 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half while drawing five fouls. Alexander sparked the Terps with 11 points off the bench including both of Maryland’s first-half three-pointers.
The Huskers still trailed by five at 50-45 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, before Weidner buried a three-pointer. Just over 20 seconds later, Shelley converted a traditional three-point play to give the Big Red its first lead of the second half at 51-50 with 2:42 left in the period. Shelley scored seven more points and Krull added two of NU’s nine points in the final 2:09 of the third to send the Huskers to the fourth quarter with a 60-56 lead.
Maryland tried to turn up its full-court pressure in the fourth, but the Terps had little success. In fact, after Markowski (5) and Weidner (2) combined for NU’s first seven points in the fourth, Bourne buried her third three-pointer to give the Huskers their first double-digit lead of the day at 70-59 with 7:55 left. NU went to the final media timeout at 4:41, leading 75-65.
From that point, Nebraska’s defense shut down the Terps, holding Maryland to just two Miller free throws in the final five minutes. The Huskers countered with 15 points.
Nebraska returns home after a four-game road swing to continue Big Ten action against Wisconsin on Wednesday.