Nebraska Women Beat Western Illinois 98-35, Prince Hits 1,000

Britt Prince became the 39th player in Nebraska history to score 1,000 career points on the first shot of the game on Saturday, and Nebraska beat Western Illinois 98-35 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

Prince led Nebraska with 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting. The Cornhuskers improved to 2-0, and the 63-point margin was the seventh largest victory margin in school history.

A game decided early

Nebraska never trailed. The Cornhuskers ran out to a 14-4 lead just over three minutes into the game and kept building from there.

The defense set the margin. Nebraska held Western Illinois to single-digit scoring in each of the first three quarters: nine points in the first, eight in the second and six in the third. Western Illinois arrived as the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion and a team that reached the NCAA Tournament last season, and the Leathernecks could not find a run of baskets against the home defense.

The glass and the second chances

Nebraska outrebounded Western Illinois 38-24. The Cornhuskers also outscored the Leathernecks 13-0 in second-chance points, turning offensive rebounds into the extra possessions that stretched the lead quarter after quarter.

For Prince, the milestone came in the opening seconds. Her first shot of the afternoon took her to 1,000 career points, a mark only 38 Nebraska players had reached before her, and she finished as the game's leading scorer in a game her team controlled from the first minutes.

What comes next

Nebraska closes its three-game season-opening home stand on Tuesday, November 10, when North Carolina A&T visits Pinnacle Bank Arena for a 7 p.m. Central tip.

Western Illinois continues its road trip on Monday, November 9, at Omaha.

By the numbers

The quarter lines show how one-sided the afternoon was. Western Illinois scored nine points in the first quarter, eight in the second and six in the third, and never put together the kind of quarter that could have pulled the game back into reach. Nebraska, by contrast, scored at a steady rate all game and finished with 98 points, 63 more than the visitors.

It was also the first road test of the season for Western Illinois, and it came against a ranked-calibre home team playing its second game in front of its own crowd. The Leathernecks leave Lincoln with the loss and a quick turnaround, with the Omaha game coming on Monday night.