Nebraska slips past No. 10 Michigan in Big Ten quarters
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Nebraska's Sam Haiby admitted off her game for the first three quarters.
'œI leaned on my teammates a lot. I was frustrated with officiating and shots not falling,'ť Haiby said. 'œBut knowing it's going to be a dogfight. Everybody needs to rebound and go out there and finish the game.'ť
Haiby and Allison Weidner each scored 16 points to lead Nebraska to a 76-73 victory over No. 10 Michigan on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten women's basketball tournament, Haiby scored nine of her points in the fourth quarter.
Sixth-seeded Nebraska (24-7) will play No. 12 Iowa in the Saturday's semifinals. The No. 2-seeded Hawkeyes advanced by beating No. 7 seed Northwestern 72-59 earlier Friday.
Laila Phelia scored 19 points, Naz Hillmon 18 points and Leigha Brown 16 points for the third-seeded Wolverines (22-6).
'œI'm proud of this team, our third win over a top 10 team," Nebraska coach Amy Williams said. 'œThis time we had to find a way to overcome adversity several times through the ball game. The team leaned into each other and found a way to win.'ť
In a back-and-forth fourth quarter, Haiby converted a three-point play to put Nebraska ahead 74-73 with 1:30 remaining.
After both teams missed layups, Nebraska's Alexis Markowski picked off a bad pass with 5.5 seconds left. Weidner was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Cornhuskers a 76-73. edge. Emily Kiser shot an air ball on a 3-point shot with 2 seconds remaining.
'œ"It was really intense'ť" Weidner said. 'œThere were a lot of lead changes and it was really physical We stuck each other, lean each other and got the W.'ť
Jaz Shelley and Annika Stewart each 12 points for Nebraska, which hit 18 of 22 free throws.
Michigan hit 18 of 20 free throws.
Nebraska shot 51% compared to 43% for Michigan. The big difference was the Cornhuskers made 8 of 17 3-pointers compared to 3 of 12 from 3-point territory for Michigan.
The Cornhuskers led 28-14 with 8:12 left in the second quarter before the Wolverines used a 22-4 spurt to take a 36-32 lead at halftime. Kiser capped it by sinking a 3-pointer with a second left in the half.
'œWe went in the locker room and knew that wasn't Nebraska basketball,'ť Haiby said. 'œWe had to bounce back. Coach came in and calmed us down. We knew what we had to do, stay composed and keep fighting to keep ourselves in the game."
That helped Nebraska regained the lead at 56-52 after three quarters.
'œWe're talking about how poorly we've been playing and we just played a really good team,'ť Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. 'œThey deserve some credit, too. They've been a great team all year and they've been under the radar. Sometimes our league doesn't get recognized as much as other teams out there. They have some experience and some big-time players. Haiby made some big-time plays down the stretch."
Barnes Arico said her seniors were crushed because a goal was to win the Big Ten tournament.
Nebraska defeated visiting Michigan 79-58 on Jan. 4 in the only other meeting this season.
BIG PICTURE
Nebraska: The Cornhuskers are making a bid for a higher seed with their impressive showing in the Big Ten tournament.
Michigan: The Wolverines have lost two straight heading into the NCAA Tournament and will likely see their seed drop.
UP NEXT
Nebraska: Cornhuskers face Iowa in Saturday's semifinals.
Michigan: Will await NCAA Tournament seed.
___
More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25