by CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Sophomore guard Aaliyah Nye (Gun Lake/Potawatomii) tied a career-high with 23 points and redshirt senior center Eva Rubin scored a season-most 13 as the duo triggered a fourth-quarter comeback that saw the Illini (6-14, 1-8 B1G) rally to pull within striking distance of visiting Nebraska (18-6, 7-6 B1G), before ultimately falling, 82-63, on Saturday afternoon at State Farm Center.
Nye scored 17 after halftime, and Rubin added 10 over the final 20 minutes, helping the Illini chip away at a deficit that had reached 23 (41-18) at the 3:27 mark of the second quarter after the Huskers opened up a 25-11 first-quarter lead.
Nebraska held a comfortable 64-44 edge after the third, before the Illini opened the final frame on an 11-0 run. The stretch – which included six points from Rubin, two from freshman guard Adalia McKenzie, and Nye’s second three-pointer of the game – pulled the Illini within nine points, 64-55, the closest the Orange and Blue had been since the Nye scored the team’s first bucket of the game to make it 9-2 at the 5:51 mark of the first. The Huskers answered with six straight to push the lead back to 15, and held the Illini to just one bucket over the final two and a half minutes to claim the win.
Junior guard De’Myla Brown, the team’s second-leading scorer, once again provided an offensive spark off the bench for the Illini, tallying 12 points. Kendall Bostic, the Big Ten’s leading rebounder, led the Illini with eight boards.
