Huskers hold on to defeat Texas A&M, advance in March Madness

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Huskers are headed to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 6 seed Nebraska women’s basketball team defeated No. 11 Texas A&M 61-59 on Friday night in Corvallis, Oregon.

The Huskers built up a 17-point lead, but the Aggies rallied in the second half to give Nebraska a fright.

The two teams were evenly matched by almost every metric.

NU shot 36.7% overall, and A&M shot 36.1%.

From 3-point range, the Huskers were 28.6%, and the Aggies were 26.9%.

Nebraska kept Texas A&M off the board for the first 4½ minutes to take a 6-0 lead.

Then the Aggies went on a run of their own and took a brief 11-10 lead.

The teams stayed close, and Nebraska entered halftime with a 27-20 lead.

The Huskers came out hot in the second half, with Logan Nissley sinking two straight 3-pointers.

Right after that, Kendall Moriarty made another 3.

Later on the third quarter, Nebraska capitalized on trips to the free-throw line. Alexis Markowski, Annika Stewart and Callin Hake each made two to put the Huskers up 44-30.

Texas A&M guard Aicha Coulibaly responded with an 8-0 run, and at the end of the third, NU led 48-38.

The Aggies narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 58 with 22 seconds left.

Markowski fouled Coulibaly, who made a free throw to give A&M its first lead since the first quarter.

But Nissley then made her own trip to the free-throw line and gave Nebraska a 60-59 lead with 15 seconds left.

Jaz Shelley made another free throw with one second remaining, and the Aggies missed the buzzer beater.

Nissley and Markowski each scored 16 points to lead the Huskers.

Nebraska will play No. 3 Oregon State on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Gill Coliseum. ESPN will televise the game.