Nebraska beats short-handed Minnesota in Big Ten’s 2nd round

Sam Haiby had 19 points and eight rebounds, Kate Cain added 16 points and six rebounds, and Nebraska used a 22-10 second quarter to break away from short-handed Minnesota 72-61 on Wednesday in the second round of the Big Ten Conference tournament.

Nebraska (12-11) advances to play top-seeded and No. 7 Maryland on Thursday. The defending champion Terrapins won the regular-season matchup 95-73 on Feb. 14 to give coach Brenda Frese her 500th win with the program.

Isabelle Bourne had 14 points and seven boards for Nebraska. Freshman Ruby Porter was helped off the floor with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter and did not return. Haiby needs only seven points to become the 35th Husker to reach 1,000 career points.

The No. 8 seed Huskers avenged two regular-season losses to Minnesota — a 76-71 defeat at home on Jan 19 and 73-63 on Feb. 24.

Gadiva Hubbard and Katie Borowicz, an early enrollee from Roseau High School, scored 12 points apiece for Minnesota (8-13). Klarke Sconiers added 11 points and Laura Bagwell-Katalinich 10.

Minnesota was without its top three leading scorers — Jasmine Powell (14.5), Sara Scalia (14.5) and Kadi Sissoko (12.6) — due to injuries. Powell missed her third straight game because of an ankle injury, Sissoko hit her head on the court on March 5 and Scalia suffered an undisclosed injury during practice on Tuesday.