NU women’s basketball team loses second game in a row

What a difference a change in scenery makes for Minnesota.

In Lincoln on Jan 22., No. 15 Nebraska dominated the Gophers in a 64-49 win with the lead stretching out to 24 points at one point in that contest.

It was a different story in Minneapolis Monday night as the Huskers were upset by the Gophers 64-58 at Williams Arena for their second straight loss coming off a bye week for NU.

"The break was relaxing, but we haven't done a good job getting back to work after it," Jordan Hooper said.

The loss was the second time Minnesota (13-14 overall, 5-8 Big Ten) knocked off a ranked opponent in Big Ten play at home this season as it improved its record at Williams Arena to 10-4. The Gophers are just 1-7 on the road this season.

"We were really passive for probably the first 25 minutes of the game," NU coach Connie Yori said. "We didn't attack until we needed to and by then we had just been passive for too long."

It looked like Nebraska (19-5, 8-4) was going to run Minnesota out of the gym again when the Huskers jumped to an 11-3 lead in the game's first five minutes.

The Gophers bounced back though and outscored NU 24-13 the remainder of the half to lead 27-24 at halftime. Minnesota continued to attack at the onset of the second half going on a 13-0 run to go up by 16 before four minutes passed.

NU seemed to go into the same shooting funk that haunted them in a loss against Michigan as it struggled to score at the end of the first half and at the start of the second.

After a Jordan Hooper 3-pointer, Nebraska responded to the Gopher run with a 17-4 run of its own to cut the lead to three at 44-41 with 11:35 to go.

"It's the nature of what we have done all season," Yori said. "Most teams when they are down 16 just quit, but our guys have some toughness in them and battled back tonight."

It was back and forth for the remainder of the game with the biggest lead belonging to Minnesota at seven points. Any time the Gophers seemed to take control of the game, the Huskers responded with a run of their own.

Hooper kept Nebraska in it with strong outside shooting. The sophomore made four 3-pointers to set the tone in the second half. She finished with 20 points, six rebounds and four steals.

The game was tied at 58 with two minutes to go when Nebraska failed to score the remainder of the contest. The Gophers took the lead for good on a putback layup with a minute to go to upset the Huskers.

Minnesota outrebounded Nebraska 42-31, the highest rebounding margin against NU this season.

"Defensive rebounding late in the game is critical and we didn't get the job done," Yori said.

Besides Hooper, Nebraska struggled to shoot much like it did in its previous loss to Michigan on Sunday when it shot just 25 percent. It was a similar story on Monday as the Huskers shot just 31 percent as a team, not including Hooper.

The 3-point shot was a problem early for Nebraska once again as it shot just two of 10 from behind the arc in the first half. It bounced back in the second half though going six of 13, four of those coming from Hooper.

Jeffrey provided a nice spark for the Huskers though, as she created havoc in the Minnesota backcourt on the defensive end. Offensively she hit a couple of big threes to help the Husker comeback in the second half.

NU returns to Lincoln to take on Northwestern Thursday beginning a two-game home stand.

"We know what's at stake and this will be the biggest game of the year for us to this point," Yori said.

andrewward@dailynebraskan.com