LINCOLN, Neb. (Nov. 14, 2019)-Leigha Brown came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points and Eliely Nicea posted a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to lead Nebraska past Morgan State, 78-55 in a non-conference game on Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
 
Ashtyn Veerbeek and Kate Cain each added 13 points for the Huskers, who remained unbeaten on the season and improved to 3-0.
 
On a night where Nebraska was celebrating its 100th regular season women's game at Pinnacle Bank Arena and was searching for the program's 70th home win at the arena, Morgan State had other plans in mind.
 
For three quarters the Lady Bears went toe-to tie with Big Ten opponent Nebraska. Visiting Morgan State would also do so, by watching the Huskers knock down 26-of-33 free throws during that stretch, while Morgan State would not attempt a free throw at all for the first three quarters.
 
Nebraska would finish the game connecting on 28-of-35 (80 percent) from the charity line, while Morgan State would finally go to the line four times in the fourth quarter to finish the game 3-for-4 at the line for 75 percent.
 
Despite the free throw discrepancy, Morgan State would weather the storm through three quarters. The Lady Bears trailed 14-11 after the first quarter of play with the hosts going a perfect 10-for-10 at the line. Morgan State responded to outscore the Huskers 19-16 in the second to even the score at 30 all at the intermission.
 
Nebraska used an 8-2 run in the third period to help it outscore the Lady Bears by four points, after connecting on 10-of-13 free throws in the period to take a 52-48 advantage into the fourth and final 10-minute session of regulation.
 
That's when it would fall apart for the guests, as the Huskers used a 20-3 spurt over six minutes to take a 72-53 lead, following a three-pointer by Grace Mitchell with 2:51 remaining in the game. Nebraska would outscore Morgan State by 19 points in the quarter after limiting the Lady Bears to just seven points.
 
The Lady Bears would shoot 2-of-20 from the floor, while Nebraska shot 11-of-16 in the final period.
 
Morgan State (2-2) was led by Jihayah Chavis, who scored a team-best 14 points and added a steal to move into a tie with former Lady Bear Monesha Davis (166 steals from 2009-13) for eighth place at Morgan State. Ashia McCalla poured in 13 points and Dahnye Redd recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Lady Bears shot 23-of-70 from the floor for 33 percent, while Nebraska shot 46 percent (24-of-52. The guests knocked down four more three-pointers (6-of-22) than Nebraska, who connected on 2-of-13.
 
Nebraska held a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint, 16-8 in points off turnovers, 24-11 in second chance points and scored 17 fast break points compared to none for Morgan State. The Huskers out rebounded Morgan State, 46-34 for the game and their bench also outscored Morgan State's by 20 points (32-12).   
 
Morgan State will be off until Sunday, Nov. 17 when it travels to Nebraska Omaha for a non-conference game at 2 p.m. CT.