Five Husker players scored in double figures today; Britt Prince, Amiah Hargrove, Ashlyn Koupal, Allison Weidner, and Emily Fisher. Britt Prince hit a career milestone notching her 1,000th point in just her junior season. Nebraska starts the season off 2-0 after a high scoring, lopsided win.
Nebraska starters: Britt Prince, Kennadi Williams, Allison Weidner, Natalie Potts, and Amiah Hargrove.
First Quarter
Game two of the year starts off with Britt Prince hitting a mid range jumper for her 1,000th career
point. Allison Weidner makes her presence known by getting a steal and taking it to the rim for her first points of the game. Weidner takes a one footed floater from the elbow and gets it to drop, Huskers are up 6-2. Amiah Hargrove is left wide open at the top of the key and drills the three; assisted by Natalie Potts. Speaking of Potts, she hits a three of her own to get herself into the scoring column, not a bad way to start your birthday. Amiah Hargrove gets the entry pass from Potts, gets fouled and will head to the line for two (2 of 2). Nebraska has the 14-7 lead on Western Illinois with six minutes left. Not a lot has happened here in the last two minutes, just a bunch of missed shots, but of course Amiah Hargrove shuts me up again and hits a three; she has eight points. Kennadi Williams gets her second assist on a Ashlyn Koupal cutting two. Edessa Noyan has been crashing the offensive boards today and finally gets her first points of the game; very next possession Koupal hits another jumper. A timeout is called with 1:51 left in the quarter and Nebraska is up 23-9.
Out of the timeout, Britt Prince drains the three from the top of key. Nebraska had some very good ball movement leading to an Emily Fisher layup. The defense from the Huskers has also been good so far today, forcing WIU into eight turnovers today. Maddi Stewart gets the steal with 2.0 seconds left, but doesn’t release the ball in time for the basket to count.
Nebraska 28 Western Illinois 9
Second Quarter
Britt Prince gets a nice screen that allows her to get down hill to the rim, she has seven points so far. Prince’s mid range game is so smooth, she hits another and puts Nebraska up 32-9. Bad news, Edessa Noyan goes down and is now headed to the locker room. Prince will be shooting free throws after a review for a flagrant foul, which I don’t think there is one. Weirdly enough, Prince had already shot a free throw before they decided to go review it. Kennadi Williams gets a tip on a steal that lands in the hands of Prince who pushes it ahead to Hargrove for two. Western Illinois will call a timeout with 7:20 left in the half (36-9 Neb).
Amiah Hargrove has three triples on the day and immediately after, Allison Weidner gets a steal and takes it to the rim. Prince and Fisher ran a great pick and roll where it left Fisher wide open for two (43-11 Neb). Arek Angui gets her first points of her Nebraska career. Another travel from WIU makes their turnover total 17 on the day so far. Ava Miles gets the steal and sends it off to Koupal who will shoot two free throws, she makes both of them. Nebraska will take a 32 point lead into the half.
Nebraska 49 Western Illinois 17
Halftime Stats
Amiah Hargrove: 13 points, 4 rebounds
Britt Prince: 11 points, 2 assists
Allison Weidner: 6 points, 3 steals, 2 assists
Ashlyn Koupal: 6 points
Nebraska is shooting 53% from the field, including 38.5% from beyond the arc. The Huskers are leading the rebounding battle 18-10 and have assisted on nine of the shots. Western Illinois has 18 turnovers to Nebraska’s six.
Third Quarter
Amiah Hargrove has been having a game today, she’s up to 15 points and her counter parting Prince just got up to 13. Allison Weidner gets her third assist on another Hargrove layup, Nebraska sis up 55-21. Also for those of you who may be wondering, Edessa Noyan is back on the bench; however, she is in a boot. I don’t know how Britt Prince just got this shot to fall in between multiple defenders, but she does and she gets fouled. Prince makes the free throw and she has 16 points. Emily Fisher has six points and is 3/3 from the field (60-21 Neb). After a block by Maddi Stewart, we’ll take a timeout with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
Kennadi Williams with another hustle play that leads to an Ashlyn Koupal layup. Nebraska’s defense has been nothing short of amazing today and on the other end, Koupal hits her first three of the day (65-21 Neb). Williams gets her first basket of the afternoon, next possession Potts gets the put back layup off an Ava Miles miss. Potts gets back to back layups and she’s got seven points. Allison Weidner has her fourth steal of the game and she takes it all the way to the rim for two. Emily Fisher gets the block and then a high IQ play to throw it off a WIU player. Natalie Potts hits the two at the buzzer putting Nebraska up 75-23.
Nebraska 75 Western Illinois 23
Fourth Quarter
Emily Fisher starts of the fourth quarter by getting fouled and will head to the charity stripe, she will split the pair, but Ashlyn Koupal will clean up the glass and get another two points. Natalie Potts gets her hand in to the defender’s pocket, but Nebraska can’t come up with points on the other end. A timeout will be taken at 8:08 left in the quarter, Nebraska is up 78-24.
Britt Prince gets the bucket and the foul, she’ll get the free throw to fall and is up to 19 points. Maddi Stewart will get her first points of the game on an elbow jumper. Ashlyn Koupal has a nice lob pass into Angui for another Husker basket (85-27 Neb). We hit a media timeout with 4:52 left in the game.
Ashlyn Koupal gets the steal and sends the ball up to Ava Miles who euro-steps her way to the basket and the foul. Another steal leads to another basket and foul opportunity, this time at the hands of Allison Weidner; she does miss the free throw. Emily Fisher is up to 1o points as she drills a three and then gets the block on the other end, but it gets called a foul (I don’t agree). Maddi Stewart gets fouled and will head to the line, she makes both, putting Nebraska up 95-32. Koupal will hit another three to put her point total at 16.
Nebraska 98 Western Illinois 35
Postgame Stats
Britt Prince: 19 points, 3 assists
Amiah Hargrove: 17 points, 8 rebounds
Ashlyn Koupal: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
Emily Fisher: 10 points, 6 rebounds
Allison Weinder: 10 points, 4 assists, 4 steals
Natalie Potts: 9 points, 4 rebounds
Nebraska shot 54% from the field, including 42% from beyond the arc. The Huskers won the rebounding battle 38-24 and assisted on 20 of theirs shots. Defensively, Nebraska forced Western Illinois into 33 turnovers and kept theirs to just 12.
