No. 15 Spartans slip past top 25 Husker women

EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 24 Nebraska led No. 15 Michigan State 69-66 with 1:35 left, but the Spartans made the plays down the stretch to escape with a 73-71 win over the Huskers at the Breslin Center on Thursday night.

Nebraska slipped to 14-4 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten with all four losses to top 20 teams, while the Spartans improved to 17-1 and 6-1 in the conference.

In a back and forth game in which no team held a double-digit lead at any point, the Huskers trailed 62-58 with six minutes left, before Amiah Hargrove led a significant Nebraska surge in a five-minute stretch.

Hargrove, who finished with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, scored seven straight Nebraska points to put the Big Red up 65-64 with 3:58 left.

Kennadi Williams then pushed the Husker lead to 67-64 with 3:21 left, before Grace Van Slooten scored on a layup for her last of a game-high 22 points in the game for the Spartans.

Hargrove answered with her final field goal of the night with 1:35 left to make it 69-66, before Jalyn Brown hit Michigan State’s only three-pointer of the second half to tie the game at 69.

Prince then sank a tough 16-foot jumper with the shot clock winding down to put Nebraska back in front 71-69 with about 50 seconds left. Prince finished with 16 points and four assists despite being limited by foul trouble in the third quarter.

Michigan State’s Rashunda Jones tied the score at 71 on a pair of free throws with 39.1 seconds left after being fouled by Williams on a lane-line drive. Jones finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Spartans.