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February 15, 2015
Big Red Battle Past Badgers
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Romeo
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Laudermill
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Sample
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                 1   2   total 
Wisconsin (NR)  32  31    63 
NEBRASKA  (22)  33  37    70 
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Lincoln, Neb. — Natalie Romeo led No. 22 Nebraska with a career-high 21 points, while Tear'a Laudermill added 20 points and a career-high seven assists to power the Huskers to a 70-63 women's basketball win over Wisconsin on Sunday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Playing in front of a season-high crowd of 8,622, the Huskers made the plays down the stretch thanks to big games from Laudermill and Romeo along with help from senior forward Hailie Sample.

Sample, who suffered an ankle sprain late in Nebraska's game with Iowa on Thursday, celebrated her birthday with eight points, 10 rebounds and two assists to help the Huskers improve to 18-7 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin slipped to 8-16 overall and 4-10 in the conference.

In addition to the injuries to starters Rachel Theriot, who missed her fourth straight game, and Sample, the Huskers were challenged down the stretch when seniors Emily Cady (3:48) and Brandi Jeffery (0:28) fouled out of the game. Cady still finished with nine points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Jeffery pitched in four points and four assists.

Nebraska jumped to a 13-point first-half before Wisconsin rallied to take a four-point lead before halftime. The Huskers regained some momentum by carrying a 33-32 at the half.

Romeo
Photo Courtesy Nate Olsen/NU Media Relations
Natalie Romeo scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Huskers.

The Badgers regained a 39-37 lead with 17 minutes left, before the Huskers surged ahead again, using a 13-0 run that began with a Laudermill three and ended with a Romeo layup off an assist from Laudermill to put the Big Red up 50-39 with 12:52 to play.

Wisconsin cut NU's lead back to four at 52-48 with 9:54 left, before Laudermill started another Husker surge with a jumper. Jasmine Cincore then provided one of the biggest shots of the game with her jumper with 8:37 left for her only two of the game. Cincore followed with an assist on Samples' three-point play 1:10 later that put NU back up 59-48. A pair of Romeo free throws and a Laudermill layup capped an 11-0 NU run that gave the Big Red their biggest lead of the game at 63-48 with 6:10 left.

For the game, Nebraska hit 42.9 percent (27-63) from the field, including 5-of-21 threes. The Huskers struggled to hit just 11-of-19 free throws (.579), but hit enough shots down the stretch to seal the win. Nebraska won the turnover battle 20-11, and turned UW's miscues into 23 points. NU also outscored Wisconsin 34-20 in the paint.

Nicole Bauman led four Badgers in double figures with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Jacki Gulczynski added 15 points, including 4-of-4 three-pointers. Gulczynski pitched in eight rebounds and four blocks. Tessa Cichy contributed 13 points and seven boards, while Dakota Whyte managed 12 points and five assists, despite committing four fouls in seven second-half minutes on her way to fouling out.

UW hit 40 percent (24-60) of its shots, including 42.1 percent (8-19) of its threes, but also struggled to hit just 7-of-13 free throws (.538). The Badgers outrebounded the Huskers, 45-36.

Nebraska jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead in the first three minutes, before pushing the lead to 13 points at 23-10 with 9:35 left in the first half. However, the Badgers caught fire over the next two minutes with 10 points, including a pair of long threes by Bauman, who finished with six points and five boards in the half. UW also got four quick points from Whyte, who led the Badgers with nine points, five assists and two steals in the opening half.

The Badgers came all the way back to take their first lead of the day at 29-28 on a Gulczynski jumper with just over a minute left. Gulczynski had eight first-half points, while Cichy added seven points and four boards.

UW pushed its lead to four before Romeo hit a three and Allie Havers closed the half with a layup with four seconds left to make it 33-32 Big Red at halftime.

Romeo led the Huskers with 10 first-half points, including a pair of threes, Tear'a Laudermill added eight points, five rebounds and two assists in the opening half.

Cady pitched in five points and three rebounds before heading to the bench with two fouls late in the half. All seven Huskers who played in the first half found the scoring column, including four from Jeffery and two each from Havers, Chandler Smith and Sample, who added five rebounds and two assists.

Nebraska and Wisconsin both hit 40 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half, but the Badgers hit 6-of-12 threes compared to 2-of-10 for the Huskers. Both teams also hit 50 percent of their first-half free throws. Nebraska won the first-half turnover battle, 9-7, while UW outrebounded NU, 22-21 in the half. However, the Huskers had nine second-chance points compared to just two for the Badgers.

The Huskers return to Big Ten road action for a pair of games next week, beginning with a Wednesday game at Northwestern. Tip-off between the Big Red and Wildcats is set for 7 p.m. (CT). Northwestern enters the game with a 19-6 overall record that includes a 9-5 Big Ten mark, one game ahead of the Huskers in the Big Ten standings.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.