Lincoln -  Nebraska's Jaz Shelley scored a game-high 21 points, but the Huskers could not overcome an ice-cold first quarter in a 76-59 loss to No. 14 Michigan in front of 8,150 women's basketball fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday night. 

Michigan opened the game with a 9-0 run and pushed the margin to 15 points late in the first quarter. The Huskers put up their fewest first-quarter points since the advent of the quarter system, trailing 19-5 at the end of 10 minutes after going just 2-for-13 from the field.

The slow start was instrumental in ending Nebraska's five-game winning streak that included wins over No. 20 Maryland (Dec. 4) and No. 20 Kansas (Dec. 21). The Huskers slipped to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, while the No. 14 Wolverines improved to 12-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

Nebraska rallied in the second quarter after the Wolverines pushed their lead to 18 at 25-7 with 8:36 left in the half. Isabelle Bourne got NU started with a finish at the rim with 8:22 left before five straight points from Shelley capped a 7-0 Husker run. Michigan regrouped to push the margin back to 30-14, before the Huskers got four straight points from Sam Haiby and five straight from Annika Stewart to cap a 9-1 surge to cut the Wolverine lead to 31-23 with a minute left. Stewart finished with eight points and six rebounds.

Haiby made her first start of the season in place of an injured Allison Weidner. Prior to the game, Nebraska Coach Amy Williams announced that the sophomore starting guard from Humphrey, Neb., would be out for the season and undergo surgery for a leg injury suffered in the fourth quarter of NU's 85-79 3OT win over Kansas on Dec. 21. Haiby, who missed 10 of Nebraska's first 11 games this season while recovering from injury, finished with six points.

After a calming bucket by Michigan's Lalia Phelia, freshman Callin Hake buried a three-pointer on the left wing to cut the margin to 33-26, before Phelia's buzzer-beating jumper closed the half to give Michigan a 35-26 lead. Hake finished the game with a career-high 11 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting for the Big Red, but the rest of the Huskers went just 3-for-22 from long range on the night.

Nebraska went 7-for-12 from the floor in the second quarter, including 3-for-7 from three-point range after going without a first-quarter three. Shelley led the Big Red in the half with seven points, while Stewart added six big points off the bench. Haiby and Bourne each contributed four points.

After winning the second quarter, Nebraska narrowed the margin more in the third, cutting Michigan's lead to six points on two occasions late in the period. The first came on a layup by Shelley that included a Michigan foul to cut the Wolverine edge to 45-39. Shelley missed the and-one free throw with 2:32 left. Fifteen seconds later, after a Leigha Brown bucket for Michigan, Hake knocked down a pair of free throws to trim the margin back to 47-41 with 2:17 in the third, but the Wolverines scored the final four points of the period to head to the fourth with a 51-41 edge.

Nebraska struggled offensively early in the fourth, but a Shelley three-pointer still cut Michigan's lead to single digits at 53-44 with just under eight minutes left in the game. 

However, a 10-0 Michigan run over the next three minutes sealed the Huskers' fate, as the Wolverines took their biggest lead of the night at 63-44. 

Brown led Michigan with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Emily Kiser added 18 points, including a trio of three-pointers, to go with seven rebounds. Maddie Nolan pitched in 16 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting, while Phelia put four Wolverines in double figures with 12 points.

Michigan finished 8-of-18 (.444) from three-point range, while connecting on 51.9 percent (27-52) of its shots from the field. The Wolverines also went 14-of-20 at the free throw line and won the battle of the boards, 37-35.

Nebraska hit just 33.3 percent (20-60) of its field goal attempts, including just 6-of-26 threes (.231), while going 13-of-20 at the line. Both teams committed 14 turnovers, but the Huskers turned the ball over nine times in the first period, which led to Michigan's 14-point edge at the end of the period.

The Huskers will play their third consecutive game and sixth this season against a top-20 opponent when they travel to Bloomington to take on No. 4 Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 1. Tip-off between Nebraska and the unbeaten Hoosiers is set for noon (CT) with live coverage on the Huskers Radio Network stations and on Huskers.com. 

No. 8 UConn women rout No. 21 Creighton 72-47 with 7 players

By: The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — It really didn't matter that UConn had only seven players available for its game at Creighton, not with two of them nearly matching the Bluejays' scoring and rebounding production by themselves.

Aaliyah Edwards had 23 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, Dorka Juhasz had a season-high 22 points and a career-high 18 boards, and the No. 8 Huskies rode another fast start to a 72-47 victory over the 21st-ranked Bluejays on Wednesday night.

“I think we just had a great connection,” Edwards said. “We played off the height advantages. There were possessions where Dorka was hitting and there were possessions I was hitting. We kind of fed off that. Our guards just fed us the ball and it was clicking for us.”

The Huskies (10-2, 3-0 Big East) were down to seven players because of health and travel issues, but they had no problem against a Bluejays team that turned in its worst offensive performance of the season.

It was the second time in three weeks UConn suited up only seven players. The Huskies also had seven for their 85-78 loss at Maryland.

The game in front of a sellout crowd at Sokol Arena got out of control early as the 6-foot-5 Juhasz and 6-3 Edwards dominated inside on both ends of the floor. Edwards topped 20 points for the fourth straight game and became the first UConn player with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds since Maya Moore in 2010.

“Whoever is ready to play today is going to have to play,” Juhasz said of the Huskies' changing lineups, “and we take pride in that. We come out at the start and let everyone know we're going to dominate the game. I think we did a great job of that. It doesn’t matter how many people we have that day. We just have to start a game how we started today and don't take our foot off the gas.”

Emma Ronsiek scored 12 points and Lauren Jensen had 11 to lead Creighton (9-5, 2-2), which shot a season-low 23.8%. The Bluejays were 3 of 28 on 3-pointers for 10.7%, their worst showing from distance since hitting 2 of 19 (10.5%) against Villanova on Feb. 25, 2018.

Juhasz, going against a Creighton team with no player over 6-1, had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the first half for her third double-double of the season. Edwards' three-point play and Carolina Ducharme's jumper put the Huskies up 19-4 less than seven minutes into the game, and it was 35-16 after the Bluejays went scoreless over the final 5:52 of the half.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma was back on the bench after missing the previous two games with a flu-like illness. But starting forward Aubrey Griffin was not at the game after testing positive for COVID-19 and reserve forward Amari DeBerry couldn’t make it to Omaha because of travel problems from her hometown near Buffalo, New York.

The Huskies already knew they would be without scoring leader Azzi Fudd, who has missed five games with a right knee injury.

“We talked going into the game that we had a big advantage in the post and certainly Aaliyah and Dorka played into that,” Auriemma said. “What they did was pretty remarkable.”

BIG PICTURE

UConn: Auriemma was worried at halftime that his team might run out of gas offensively in the second half. That certainly didn't happen, and they went on to win for the first time in three true road games this season.

Creighton: The Bluejays don't look anything like the team that reached the NCAA Elite Eight last season. They've lost three straight, all to ranked opponents, and four of five.

FAST STARTERS

The Huskies' 21-10 lead after the first quarter increased their scoring advantage to 267-155 over the opening 10 minutes of games. UConn has led after the first quarter in six straight games and in 10 of 12 for the season.

UP NEXT

UConn hosts Marquette on Saturday, looking to run its record to 16-0 in the series with the Golden Eagles.

Creighton visits DePaul on Saturday for a nationally televised game on Fox.

Abmas scores 32 as Oral Roberts downs Omaha 92-89

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Max Abmas' 32 points led Oral Roberts past Omaha 92-89 on Thursday.

Abmas had seven assists and three steals for the Golden Eagles (11-3). Patrick Mwamba added 13 points while going 5 of 8 from the field, and he also had eight rebounds and three steals. Issac McBride was 4 of 7 shooting (2 for 3 from distance) to finish with 12 points. The Golden Eagles picked up their eighth straight victory.

The Mavericks (5-9) were led in scoring by Frankie Fidler, who finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Luke Jungers added 16 points for Omaha. Tony Osburn also had 14 points.

NEXT UP

Both teams play again on Saturday. Oral Roberts visits Denver and Omaha hosts UMKC.

Simpson carries Colorado down the stretch beating Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — K.J. Simpson scored a career-high 31 points including the final 11 for Colorado and the Buffaloes beat Stanford 73-70 on Thursday night for their fifth consecutive win.

It was Simpson's second 30-plus point game of the season. The last Buffs player to do that was Derrick White now of the Boston Celtics.

Simpson's layup with 18 seconds remaining gave Colorado a 71-70 lead and he sealed it with two free throws with three seconds left. Stanford's Micahel Jones missed a late 3-point heave for the chance to tie it.

Simpson made a pair of foul shots with 2:06 left to give Colorado (9-5, 1-2 Pac-12) a 69-68 advantage for its first lead since a little past the midway point of the first half.

Luke O’Brien's three-point play gave Colorado a 17-8 lead with 12:54 before halftime before Jones responded with his own 11-0 run for the Cardinal and a 19-17 lead. Jones made a pair of 3-pointers in three consecutive possessions, a layup off his offensive rebound and another 3.

Stanford (6-7, 1-2 Pac-12) shot 14 for 28 before the break with five 3s and led 37-33 at halftime.

O'Brien, off the bench, scored 12 points and Lawson Lovering scored a career-high 10 on 5-for-6 shooting. Colorado now has won five straight over Stanford.

Spencer Jones scored 25 points for Stanford and Brandon Angel 10.

Colorado plays at Cal on New Year's Eve while Stanford host Utah the same day.

Denver needs 3 overtimes to get past Kansas City, 85-83

DENVER (AP) — Tommy Bruner drilled a 3-pointer with just over a minute left in the third overtime period to lift Denver to an 85-83 win over Kansas City in a Summit League battle on Thursday night.

Bruner hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to give the Pioneers a 66-63 lead with four seconds left in regulation, but Shemarri Allen's 3-pointer at the buzzer sent the game into overtime. Allen tied the game at 71-71 with 40 seconds left in the first overtime but missed a jumper with a second left in the second overtime with the score tied at 76-76.

Bruner, who finished with 29 points, took over the third extra period, scoring all nine Denver points in the third overtime and Lukas Kisunas blocked a putback by Babacar Diallo in the final minute, then grabbed the rebound to preserve the win.

Bruner was 7 of 19 shooting, including 2 for 5 from distance, and went 13 for 13 from the line for the Pioneers (10-5, 1-1). Touko Tainamo scored 22 points while shooting 9 of 12 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line. Justin Mullins shot 3 for 12 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) and 5 of 8 from the free throw line to finish with 12 points, while adding nine rebounds.

Shemarri Allen led the way for the Kangaroos (5-10, 1-1) with 34 points, six rebounds and three steals. Rayquawndis Mitchell added 14 points and six assists for UMKC. Tyler Andrews also had 12 points.

NEXT UP

Both teams next play Saturday. Denver hosts Oral Roberts while UMKC visits Omaha.

Jones powers Weber State to 81-72 win over Northern Colorado

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Dillon Jones scored 26 points as Weber State beat Northern Colorado 81-72 in a Big Sky Conference opener on Thursday night.

Jones added 13 rebounds and six assists for the Wildcats (6-8). Steven Verplancken Jr. scored 15 points with five rebounds, while Alex Tew scored 10.

The Bears (5-8) were led by Dalton Knecht with 22 points. Daylen Kountz added 18 points, while Matt Johnson scored 10.

NEXT UP

Both teams next play Saturday. Weber State hosts Northern Arizona while Northern Colorado visits Idaho State.