Nebraska Women's Basketball
The No. 19 Nebraska women’s basketball team completes a two-game Big Ten road swing on Sunday, when the Huskers travel to Champaign to battle Illinois.
Tip-off between the Huskers and the Fighting Illini is set for 2 p.m.
The Huskers are coming off a thrilling come-from-behind road win at Michigan State late Thursday night. Nebraska trailed 66-60 with three minutes left, before outscoring the Spartans 11-1 down the stretch. Senior forward Emily Cady led the Big Red with 16 points, including seven of NU’s final 11 points. Cady’s three-point play with 30 seconds left gave Nebraska the lead for good at 69-67. Hailie Sample added 13 points, including two free throws with 5.4 seconds left to seal Nebraska’s first Big Ten win of the season.
The Fighting Illini are coming off an impressive 73-61 victory over Iowa on Thursday. Illinois trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. They won going away despite losing senior guard Ivory Crawford for the game to a first-half knee injury. Crawford entered the Iowa contest as the Illini’s leading scorer at 17.0 points.
Chatrice White, a 6-3 center from Shelby, Neb., ranks second among the Fighting Illini with 15.6 points per game, while leading the squad with 7.1 rebounds.
As a team, Illinois is averaging 71.9 points per game, including 31.5 percent from three-point range. The Illini are surrendering 61 points per game. Despite a pair of 6-3 posts and an athletic wing in Crawford, the Illini carry a negative-3.4 rebound margin. However, they make up for it with Bollant’s “Buzz” defense, which has forced an average of 22.6 turnovers per game to give the Illini a plus-6.0 turnover margin.
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Illinois 6-3.
Probable Starters:
Nebraska Cornhuskers
3 - Hailie Sample - 6-1 - Sr. - F - 7.1 ppg
23 - Emily Cady - 6-2 - Sr. - F - 13.8
1 - Tear’a Laudermill - 5-9 - Sr. - G - 12.1
13 - Brandi Jeffery - 5-7 - Sr. - G - 8.1
33 - Rachel Theriot - 6-0 - Jr. - G - 17.5
Illinois Fighting Illini
3 - Taylor Tuck - 6-0 - Sr. - G/F - 3.8 ppg
32 - Chatrice White - 6-3 - Fr. - C - 15.6
34 - Jacqui Grant - 6-3 - So. - F - 9.8
15 - Kyley Simmons - 5-7 - Sr. - G - 9.9
20 - Brittany Carter - 6-0 - Sr. - G - 8.3
• Rachel Theriot’s 411 career assists rank sixth in Husker history. She needs 33 more to catch former Husker and current Nebraska assistant coach Amy Stephens at No. 5
• Rachel Theriot has played the full 40 minutes seven times in 14 games this season, including six times in the past eight games. Over the last 12 games, she has been on the floor for all but 19 minutes. She has played every minute of Big Ten Conference play.
• Emily Cady’s 1,247 career points rank No. 16 in Husker history. She needs 37 points to catch Janet Smith in 15th.
• Emily Cady ranks fifth in Nebraska history with 917 rebounds and needs 83 boards to become the fifth Husker in history with 1,000 rebounds.
• Brandi Jeffery is playing the best basketball of her career, averaging 8.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals in 14 games as a starter to open the season. She has scored in double figures five times this season and 14 times in her career.
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