Michigan State University
18-7, 9-5
Nebraska
17-8, 8-6
No. 17 Michigan State Upset By Nebraska, 73-66, Sunday
2/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Junior forward Aerial Powers tallied 19 points and freshman forward Jenna Allen tallied a career-high 14 points for No. 17 Michigan State, but Nebraska countered with school-record performances by Jessica Shepard and Natalie Romeo as the Cornhuskers ended a 10-game losing streak against ranked teams on Sunday with a 73-66 win over the Spartans.
Shepard scored a game-best 26 points and became the first Cornhuskers freshman to surpass 500 points, reaching 514. Romeo, a sophomore, netted 25 points, including hitting five 3-pointers, the last giving her a school record 86 for the season.
Rachel Theriot had 12 assists for Nebraska (17-8, 8-6 Big Ten), increasing her school record for double-figure assists to 12.
Powers tallied 19 points and Allen added 14 on 7 of 10 shooting for the Spartans (18-7, 9-5). Allen's 14 points was her first double-digit scoring outing this season.
Nebraska scored the last seven points of the first quarter to take a 10-9 lead and scored the first seven of the second quarter. The Cornhuskers outscored the Spartans 29-19 in the second quarter, hitting 10 of 15 shots.
Michigan State was within five entering the fourth quarter but Nebraska made 7 of 11 shots in the fourth to hold on.
The Spartans continue action on the road, heading to Piscataway, N.J. to take on Rutgers on Thursday, Feb. 18 in a 7 p.m. (ET) tip-off that will be on BTN Plus. MSU returns home to host Minnesota on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. at the Breslin Center in a nationally televised game on the Big Ten Network.
Post-Game Notes vs. Nebraska (Feb. 14)
● The starting lineup of Aerial Powers, Tori Jankoska, Branndais Agee, Akyah Taylor and Jasmine Hines started for the ninth-straight game. MSU is now 6-3 with that starting lineup.
● Junior guard Aerial Powers scored 19 points in the loss. Powers has now scored in double-figures in all 23 games she's played in this season after missing MSU's first two games of the year. The 19 points also gives Powers 77 career games in double-figures.
● Powers' 19 points gives her 1,595 for her career, climbing from No. 7 to No. 5 on MSU's career scoring list, passing Maxann Reese (1996-2000) with 1,589 points and Kris Emerson (1983-87) with 1,590 points. With five more points, Powers will become just the fifth Spartan women's basketball player to reach the 1,600 career points plateau and Powers needs just 54 points to catch Allyssa DeHaan (2006-10) at No. 4 with 1,649 points.
● With 14 points, freshman Jenna Allen set a new career high in points, netting double-figures for the first time this season and topping her previous season-best of eight points, which she had done on four different occasions, most recently at Maryland on Feb. 5. With 14 points Sunday, Allen has now scored 32 points in the last four games, her biggest point production in any four-game stretch this season.
● Allen's 14 points boosted the Spartans' bench to 19 points, their most in a Big Ten game this season and most since 22 bench points against Detroit on Dec. 21.
● Redshirt-sophomore forward Branndais Agee drained a team-high three 3-pointers Sunday, marking the fourth time in the last five games that she drained three or more treys, having hit four vs. Michigan, followed by three each at Maryland and at Iowa.
● Senior center Jasmine Hines scored nine points with 10 rebounds, just shy of her third double-double of the season. She has reached double-digits in rebounds three times this season. Hines also led the team with six offensive boards, which tied a season-high and tied the third-most of her career.
● This is only the Spartans' second two-game losing streak of the season, also dropping two against Baylor on Nov. 28 and Louisville on Dec. 3
● Michigan State is now 1-1 in Play4Kay games this season, defeating Wisconsin in Madison, 77-54 and falling to Nebraska 73-66. The Spartans' Play4Kay game at the Breslin Center is on Feb. 21 against Minnesota.
● Michigan State had 12 second-chance points compared to two by the Huskers.
● MSU also won the battle of the boards with a 38-28 rebounding advantage over Nebraska on Sunday, marking the Spartans' 17th double-figure rebounding margin edge this season.
● The Spartans shot 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from 3-point range, marking the fifth game this season of shooting 40 percent or better behind the arc, and was Michigan State's third-best percentage from distance behind 47.8 percent (11-of-23) against Cincinnati and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) against Michigan.
