in Las Vegas
 Shepard |  Cincore |  Simon |
-----------------------------
1 2 3 4 total
Virginia 23 17 23 10 73
NEBRASKA 16 10 8 17 51
----------------------------- | ||
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 3-3 on the season, while Virginia improved to 5-1.
Shepard was the only Husker to manage double figures against the Cavaliers, but Shepard went just 4-for-13 from the floor. Jasmine Cincore, who finished with seven points, was the only other Husker to hit three field goals (3-8) in the game. Nebraska hit just 19-of-54 shots from the field, including just 5-of-21 three-pointers. The Huskers did hit 8-of-11 free throws.
After leading 40-26 at the half, Virginia took advantage of cold shooting by the Huskers to build its biggest lead at 71-36 with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter. Nebraska refused to quit though, as a jumper at the top of the key by freshman Grace Mitchell started a 15-2 surge to end the game. NU's final push included seven points from Maddie Simon and three-pointers by Emily Wood and Rylie Cascio Jensen. Simon finished with eight points and a team-high three steals, while Cincore finished with six points and a team-high five rebounds.
As a team, Nebraska was outrebounded 43-32, and lost the turnover battle 19-15 to the Cavaliers.
Virginia hit 30-of-63 shots from the field for the game, including 5-of-21 threes. The Cavs were also just 8-of-17 at the free throw line. Lauren Moses led four Cavaliers in double figures with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Aliyah Huland El pitched in 14 points. Jocelyn Willoughby contributed 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Cavs, while J'Kyra Brown pitched in 11 points and game highs of nine rebounds and six assists off the bench.
Nebraska owned a 5-4 lead before Virginia put together a 6-0 run to take a 10-5 lead. Virginia's biggest lead of the quarter came at 23-15, before taking a seven-point lead to the second quarter. The Cavaliers' lead grew to 10 before a bucket for Allie Havers and a three-point play by Esther Ramacieri cut the Virginia margin back to five at 28-23 with five minutes left in the first half.
However, Illinois answered with a 7-0 run of its own and took its biggest lead of the half at 15 points with 30 seconds left, before the Huskers scored the final point to cut the margin to 40-26 at the half.
Shepard led the Huskers with six points, two rebounds and three assists in the first half, but hit just 2-of-8 field goals. Havers added five points on 2-of-4 shooting to go along with three rebounds and an assists, while Jasmine Cincore contributed four points, three rebounds and an assist.
As a team, Nebraska hit 10-of-25 shots from the floor, including 2-of-8 threes and 4-of-7 free throws. The Huskers were outrebounded 21-12, and lost the first-half turnover battle, 10-9.
Virginia hit 56.3 percent (18-32) of its first-half field goals, despite hitting just 1-of-10 threes. The Cavaliers also went just 3-of-8 at the line. Virginia hit 77.3 percent (17-22) of its first-half field goal attempts.
The Huskers return to Nebraska on Sunday before hitting the road again to take on Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Thursday. Tip-off between the Huskers and Hokies from Blacksburg, Va., is set for 6 p.m. (CT).