Coming into Sunday’s road game against No. 16 Nebraska, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team was 0-7 against top-25 ranked opponents. The Cornhuskers ensured that the Badgers remained winless against ranked teams this season, taking home a 68-59 victory at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Wisconsin (4-10 Big Ten, 8-18 overall) lost for the fifth-straight time and fell into a tie for 10th place in the Big Ten with Illinois. Nebraska (9-5, 20-6) ended a three-game losing streak with the victory and the Cornhuskers improved to 2-5 all-time against the Badgers.
Nebraska sophomore forward Jordan Hooper finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. The 18 rebounds was a career high for Hooper. Three other starters also scored in double-digits for the Huskers.
A 19-4 run to end the first half gave Nebraska a 42-24 lead at the break. The lead then swelled to 26 on a Hooper jumper with just under 14 minutes left in the second half. The Badgers were undaunted by the sizable deficit, keeping the Huskers off the scoreboard over the next eight minutes and cutting the Nebraska lead in half with a 13-0 run. Wisconsin further worked the deficit down to eight points with just under a minute and a half remaining, but that was the closest the Badgers would get.
Four Wisconsin players finished with 10 or more points. Sophomore guard Morgan Paige led the way with 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting, junior guard Taylor Wurtz had 14 points and six rebounds and senior forward Anya Covington scored 12 points. Freshman guard Lacia Gorman set a new career-high in points with 10 off the bench, all of them coming in the first half. The Wisconsin bench was also active on the glass, out-rebounding Wisconsin's starters 16 to 12.
The Badgers were effective at limiting Nebraska’s fast break opportunities and the Huskers finished with no fast break points. Nebraska did have success near the basket, scoring 36 of their 68 points in the paint.
The Huskers secured a season sweep over Wisconsin with Sunday’s victory. Nebraska also defeated the Badgers 75-69 at the Kohl Center on Jan. 12 in the first Big Ten Conference game between the two teams.
Wisconsin will return to action on Thursday to take on Indiana in the Badgers’ final road game of the regular season. The Hoosiers are sitting in last place in the Big Ten and haven’t won a conference game this season. Indiana’s last victory was on Dec. 27 when they defeated Texas A&M-CC 80-58.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
