Husker women fight past Penn State for Sunday victory

Lincoln - Callin Hake led three Huskers in double figures with 16 points, and Alexis Markowski added her sixth double-double of the season, as Nebraska fought its way to a 72-61 women's basketball win over Penn State on Sunday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Britt Prince pitched in 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals to help the Huskers improve to 11-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten while improving to 10-0 at home this season. Penn State slipped to 9-6 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten with its fourth consecutive loss.

Hake, who scored Nebraska's first six points of the fourth quarter, helped the Huskers survive a massive Penn State rally in the second half. The Big Red built a 17-point lead late in the third quarter, before the Lady Lions erupted on 13-0 run to cut the margin to 53-51 with 6:39 left in the game.

Hake's third three-pointer of the game gave Nebraska some momentary breathing room, before Gracie Merkle tied the game at 59 on a free throw with 4:15 left. Merkle, who sat out most of the second half with foul trouble, finished with seven points and seven rebounds.

With the game tied, Prince hit a jumper with 3:55 left to start an 11-0 run for the Huskers. Markowski, who finished with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for her 46th career double-double, added a bucket for the Big Red to push the lead to 63-59, before Allison Weidner made a strong move to the basket and finish to put the Huskers up six points with two minutes left.

Kendall Coley then knocked down Nebraska's last of eight three-pointers in the game with 1:15 left, before Weidner added a pair of free throws to cap the 11-0 run with 32 seconds left.

Penn State's Alli Campbell, who led the Lady Lions with a game-high 19 points, finally stopped the run with a basket before Coley sank her first two free throw attempts of the season to seal the win for the Huskers.

As a team, Nebraska won despite hitting just 35.3 percent (24-68) of its shots from the field, including 26.7 percent (8-30) of its three-pointers. The Huskers were a solid 16-of-19 at the free throw line and outworked Penn State on the glass, 47-36. NU also won the turnover battle, 19-16.

The Big Red held Penn State to 39.3 percent (24-61) shooting, including just 4-of-16 from three-point range. The Lady Lions were just 1-for-4 from beyond the arc in the second half. PSU finished just 9-for-15 at the free throw line.

In addition to Campbell's 19 points, Gabby Elliott added double figures for Penn State with 14 points.

In a choppy first half, Nebraska worked its way to a 30-25 halftime lead behind eight points from Prince, while Markowski added seven points and five rebounds. Hake and Alberte Rimdal both pitched in five first-half points.

The Huskers jumped to a 10-0 lead, holding the Lady Lions scoreless for 7:22 to open the game, but Penn State cut the Husker lead to 13-9 by scoring the final five points of the quarter.

The Lady Lions then added the first nine points of the second quarter for a 14-0 run to take an 18-13 lead with five minutes left in the half.

However, the Huskers regained control late in the half, outscoring Penn State 17-7 in the final 4:55 of the half.

Nebraska hit just 9-of-35 (.257) first-half shots, including 4-of-17 threes (.235), while Penn State hit 10-of-32 shots (.313), including 3-of-12 threes (.250). The Huskers also outscored the Lady Lions 8-2 at the free throw line. PSU won the first-half rebounding battle, 26-23, but Nebraska was plus-one in turnover margin (11-10).

Campbell led Penn State with 10 first-half points, while Merkle added six points for the Lady Lions.

Penn State cut the lead to 30-27 on the opening possession of the second half, but Jessica Petrie then forced the third foul on Merkle on NU's first possession of the game. She made one free throw to put Nebraska up 31-27, before Merkle was whistled for her fourth foul less than a minute later to change the game.

With Merkle out, Markowski quickly scored back-to-back buckets to put Nebraska back up by double digits at 37-27 with 7:42 left in the third and force a Penn State timeout.

Three-pointers by Prince and Hake pushed NU's lead to 45-30 with 4:50, before six straight points by Petra Bozan extended the margin to 51-34 with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Bozan finished with eight points and six rebounds.

NU will stay at home to take on No. 21 Michigan State on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and streamed on B1G+ and can be heard across the Huskers Radio Network.