LINCOLN, Neb. – Fighting Illini women's basketball dropped a tough defensive battle to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Thursday evening, 62-47. Three Illini scored in double digits, led by redshirt sophomore Cierra Rice who matched her season-high with 13 points. Junior Alex Wittinger contributed 10 points and eight rebounds, while redshirt senior Kennedy Cattenhead added 10 points and knocked down 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Illinois moves to 9-15 on the season and 0-10 in league play.
"It was a little frustrating getting into our offense," head coach Nancy Fahey said. "We kept missing shots and then it just kept rolling. I thought the second half was probably one of our better defensive performances. We knew where the rotations were, and offensively, we just simplified. We tried to execute a couple of things to see if that would help and we obviously scored better."
Despite jumping out to an early 4-3 lead on Thursday evening, the Illini were held to just 10 first-half points by the Nebraska defense. Wittinger and Rice combined for eight of those points to lead the Orange and Blue, and sophomore Brandi Beasley also added five first-half rebounds. The Illini defense held Nebraska to 26.7-percent shooting before the halftime break, and UI grabbed 23 rebounds to Nebraska's 24.
Illinois was rejuvenated after the break, posting 22 third-quarter points. Rice added six of those points, knocking down two three-pointers in the quarter. Beasley also found her groove, adding five points of her own in the frame. The Illini shot 44.4-percent in the third quarter, including 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, but Nebraska was also strong, knocking down 62.5-percent of its shots to hold on to the lead.
Rice continued to score for Illinois in the final frame, adding another three-pointer to match her season-high of 13 points. Cattenhead added six points for Illinois in the final frame, also moving into double figure scoring numbers with 10 points. Illinois outscored Nebraska 15-14 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Huskers.
Nebraska held Illinois to just 27.1-percent shooting, but Illinois scored 12 points off of 17 Husker turnovers.
The Illini return to Champaign on Sunday, hosting Purdue at 1 p.m. The Illini will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and offer a Mother Daughter ticket package for just $6. Sunday's game will air live on the Big Ten Network. Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois women's basketball.
