After going toe to toe with Nebraska in the first half, Ohio State let the game slip away from them in the final 20 minutes in a 58-39 loss to the Huskers Thursday night at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.
The loss snaps a three-game win streak by the Buckeyes, dropping them to 14-11 and 4-8 in Big Ten play. Nebraska improves to 19-6 and holds on to second place in the B1G standings at 9-3.
Tayler Hill scored 20 points to lead the Buckeyes, who fought hard on the defensive end but shot only 25 percent from the field. Ohio State held Jordan Hooper, NU’s leading scorer, to just eight points and held NU to 32 percent shooting. But the ball would not drop for the Buckeyes on this night as they went 3 of 16 from long range and assisted on three of their 16 field goals.
Ohio State trailed by just four at the half, 25-21, behind 15 first-half points from Hill. But Nebraska scored the first six points of the second half to push their lead to 10, 31-21. A jumper by Ashley Adams and a three-pointer by Amber Stokes would cut the lead to six, but NU answered with a 9-0 run to take command 40-25 nearly 7 minutes into the half. The Buckeyes played even with the Huskers the rest of the way, but just couldn’t get enough shots to fall to make a final run.
Adams had nine rebounds and four points while Stokes and Raven Ferguson added six each.
The Buckeyes are back in action at 6 p.m. next Thursday against Minnesota at Value City Arena.
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