LINCOLN, Nebr. (AP) — Leigha Brown scored 20 points and No. 14 Michigan defeated Nebraska 76-59 on Wednesday night, giving coach Kim Barnes Arico her 500th career win.
Emily Kiser had three 3-pointers and scored 18 points for the Wolverines (12-1, 2-0 Big Ten Conference) and Maddie Nolan, who had 16 points, had four, as they were a combined 7 of 11 behind the arc. Laila Phelia added 12 points. Brown, a fifth-year senior who played her first two years at Nebraska, was 8-of-12 shooting with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Barnes Arico has 230 wins in 11 seasons at Michigan and with 316 losses in her 27 seasons, including 10 at St. John’s.
Jaz Shelley had 21 points to lead the Cornhuskers (10-4, 2-1), who had their five-game winning streak snapped as they failed to get coach Amy Williams her 300th career win. Sam Haiby scored six points to surpass 1,400 for her career. Alexis Markowski scored five to tie her dad Andy, who played for the Huskers from 1995-1999, with 603 career points.
This game was all about shooting, or the lack of shooting. Michigan hit 8 of 18 3-pointers and shot 52% overall (27 of 52). Nebraska went 6 of 26 behind the arc and 20 of 60 overall.
Kiser scored seven points as Michigan opened the game with nine-straight points to lead 19-5 at the end of the first quarter. Nebraska missed all five of its 3-pointers and was 2 of 13 overall (15%), having missed its first three and its last seven, and had five turnovers.
The Huskers trailed by as many as 18 but got within six late in the third quarter.
A 10-0 run, with Kiser and Nolan hitting 3s, and Brown scoring four points, pushed the lead to 63-44 midway through the fourth quarter.
Just before the game, Williams announced on the radio that starting sophomore Allison Weidner, who averages 10 points a game, will miss the rest of the season. She was injured in the fourth quarter of the Cornhuskers’ last game, an 85-79 triple overtime win over No. 20 Kansas.
Both teams play a ranked team in their next game, Michigan, coming off 76-68 win over No. 6 North Carolina, is at No. 3 Ohio State on New Year’s Eve and Nebraska is at No. 4 Indiana on New Year’s Day.
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