Huskers Heat Up in Second Half in 101-83 Win at Penn State

University Park, Pa. - Amiah Hargrove erupted for a career-high 26 points, including 4-of-5 three-pointers, to lead five Huskers in double figures and shoot Nebraska to a 101-83 women's basketball win over Penn State on Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

With the victory, Nebraska improved to 9-0 and scored 80 points for the school-record ninth consecutive game, while Penn State slipped to 6-2 on the year. The Huskers won their Big Ten opener by putting up 67 points in the second half alone, including 31 in the third and 36 in the fourth.

The 36 fourth-quarter points were the most ever scored by Nebraska in a period since the inception of the quarter system (2015-16), while the 67 first-half points tied for the most second-half points in school history, trailing only a 68-point effort against Howard (Dec. 11, 1992).

Fellow sophomore Britt Prince added 20 points, including 2-of-4 threes, while adding six assists in the win. Prince and Hargrove combined for Nebraska's first 14 points in the second half after the Big Red trailed 38-34 at the break. 

With Hargrove and Prince leading the way, the Huskers outscored Penn State 31-22 in the third, as the duo combined for 20 points (Prince-11, Hargrove-9) in the period to send the Big Red to the fourth quarter with a 65-60 lead.

In the fourth, fellow sophomore Petra Bozan took over. Bozan, who scored a career-high 17 points, scored Nebraska's final basket of the third before putting up NU's first nine points of the fourth to push the Huskers to a 74-65 lead with 7:41 left.

Penn State trimmed the margin back to 74-70 with just over 6:30 left, before Logan Nissley went off to put the game away for Nebraska.

Nissley buried three three-pointers around one of Hargrove's threes to cap a 12-4 surge in just over two minutes to extend NU's lead to 86-74 win 4:12 left.

Nissley finished with a season-high 14 points, while adding a team-high five rebounds to go with four assists.

Hargrove put the game fully away for the Huskers by scoring seven more points in the next two minutes, including her fourth three-pointer to help the Big Red push the margin to 20 at 98-78.

Jessica Petrie rounded out the five Huskers in double figures with 10 points and four rebounds. The Huskers got great contributions across the board, including a career-high eight assists from Callin Hake.

Hailey Weaver contributed six points including the last of Nebraska's 10 second-half three-pointers to push the Huskers across the 100-point plateau.

As a team, Nebraska hit a sizzling 36-of-68 (.528) from the field, including 12-of-29 threes (.414). The Huskers went 10-for-17 (.588) from downtown in the second half after going just 2-for-12 in the opening 20 minutes. 

The Huskers also sank 17-of-21 free throws (.810) and won the turnover battle, 18-8. NU committed just two second-half turnovers. Penn State won the rebounding battle, 28-26, but Nebraska out-boarded the Lady Lions, 14-6 in the second half.

Gracie Merkle led Penn State with 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting, while Kiyomi McMiller added 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Moriah Murray finished with 16 points for PSU, which went 32-of-59 (.542) from the field and 7-of-16 (.432) from three-point range while sinking 12-of-14 free throws (.857).

Nebraska used a 9-0 run to open the game before building an 11-point lead at 20-9 late in the first quarter. The Huskers held a 22-13 lead at the end of one quarter despite going just 1-for-6 from three-point range in the quarter.

NU briefly regained the 11-point edge on the opening possession of the second quarter on a pair of free throws by Hake, but the Huskers got only a layup by Prince and a free throw by Weaver over the next 6:23, as Penn State took its first lead of the game at 29-27.

The Huskers got a jumper from Prince to tie the score at 29 with 3:21, but the Lady Lions closed out the quarter with five straight points from Moriah Murray, who had 11 points in the quarter, to take a 38-34 lead to halftime.

Nebraska went just 1-for-6 from long range in the second quarter with the make coming from Hargrove on NU's final bucket of the half. Hargrove led the Huskers with seven first-half points, while Prince and Bozan added six points.

While Nebraska was a chilly 2-for-12 from beyond the arc in the half, Penn State went 5-for-10, including 4-for-8 from Murray who led all scorers with 14 in the half.

Merkle added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting inside for Penn State in the half.

Penn State outscored Nebraska 25-12 in the second quarter and finished the half shooting 45.2 percent (14-31) from the floor, including 50 percent from three and 100 percent (5-5) at the free throw line. The Lady Lions outrebounded NU, 22-12, while the Huskers won the turnover battle in the half, 12-6.

Nebraska hit just 11-of-30 shots (.367) in the half, but did connect on 10-of-12 free throws (.833).

The Huskers return to home non-conference action on Tuesday when they play host to Omaha. Tip-off at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 7 p.m. (CT) with tickets available now at Huskers.com. Live audio coverage from the Huskers Radio Network on Huskers.com and the Huskers App, and live video will be available to B1G+ subscribers.