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Huskers Tangle with Top-10 Terps Thursday
The Nebraska women’s basketball team continues its rugged opening to Big Ten Conference play when the Huskers travel to Maryland to take on the No. 8 Terrapins on Thursday. Tip-off between the Huskers and defending Big Ten champion Maryland is set for 6 p.m.
Nebraska, which will be facing its fourth top-25 team in four road games this season, is coming off an 85-62 loss at No. 14 Northwestern last Sunday.
Coach Brenda Frese leads Maryland into Thursday’s game with a 12-2 record. Both of Maryland’s losses have come to current top-five teams Uconn and Ohio State.
The Terrapins return three starters from last year’s squad. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough leads Maryland with 18.1 points, 1.5 blocks and 2.4 steals per game. Brionna Jones has added 14.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per game on the block. Malina Howard a club teammate of Rachel Theriot returns to the starting five for the Terps, adding 4.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Brene Moseley ranks third on the team in scoring with 14.0 points dishing out 6.7 assists per contest. Kristen Confroy adds 7.8 points per game.
Overall, Maryland has 11 players who were top 60 national recruits out of high school, including four McDonald’s All-Americans.
Maryland has averaged 87.1 points per game, while surrendering just 54.9 points per contest. The Terps are shooting 50.4 percent from the floor, including 38.7 percent from three-point range. They have also hit a solid 74.1 percent of their free throws. Maryland has dominated the glass, outrebounding opponents 48.6-29.4 (+19.2), while nearly equaling the opposition in the turnover department (+0.1).
Nebraska is 0-4 all-time against Maryland, including a pair of losses against the Terrapins last season.
Probable Starters:
Nebraska Cornhuskers
43 Rachel Blackburn 6-3 Fr. F 6.1 ppg
32 Jessica Shepard 6-4 Fr. F 19.5
4 Kyndal Clark 5-7 RSr. G 5.5
5 Natalie Romeo 5-7 So. G 15.5
33 Rachel Theriot 6-0 Sr. G 12.7
Maryland Terrapins
5 Malina Howard 6-4 Sr. C 4.9 ppg
42 Brionna Jones 6-3 Jr. C 14.6
12 Kristen Confroy 5-9 So. G 7.8
15 Chloe Pavlech 5-9 Sr. G 1.9
32 Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 5-11 Jr. G 18.1
• Rachel Theriot ranks eighth nationally with 7.0 assists per game.
• Rachel Theriot owns 535 assists in her career, moving her within 28 assists of Nicole Kubik at No. 4 on the Nebraska career chart.
• Natalie Romeo ranks 11th nationally with 3.1 threes per game.
• Jessica Shepard is averaging 20.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in Big Ten play.
• Rachel Blackburn has returned to the starting line-up following a bout with illness and a strained knee.
• Allie Havers is turning up her production with 7.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and a team-leading 1.2 blocks through 13 games.
• Maddie Simon along with Darrian Washington would both love to see time on the court Thursday.
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