Hooper burns Hoosiers for 31 points

Jordan Hooper etched her name in the Nebraska record books Sunday, leading the No. 21 Cornhuskers to a 76-61 victory against IU.

The senior forward shot 56 percent from the field and finished with a game-high 31 points — two shy of her season best.

She set the Nebraska women’s basketball program record with her 271st career-made 3-pointer and controlled the Cornhuskers’ (19-5, 9-3) offense in the second half.

The Hoosier (17-8, 4-8) defense simply had no answer for Hooper.

“The thing that’s so tough about Nebraska is they exploit every mistake,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “And when you make a defensive assignment mistake they have great players like Hooper and (Rachel) Theriot to step up and hurt you.”

Whenever IU made a run, Hooper answered.

Just before halftime, freshman guard Alexis Gassion got to the lane and converted on a layup to put the Hoosiers up by four points.

Hooper responded to Gassion’s layup by stepping into a 3-pointer on the ensuing Nebraska possession, tying the Nebraska 3-point record and bringing the Cornhuskers back to within one possession.

IU started the second half with a four-point lead, but Hooper caught fire and brought the Cornhuskers storming back.

Hooper began taking and converting shots from wherever she had the ball.

With IU ahead by two during the opening minutes of the second half, Hooper got the ball under the basket and converted on a short jumper while getting fouled to tie the game at 50.

Although most of her scoring was done from beyond the arc, Hooper finished an efficient 4-of-6 from within the 3-point line.

Two possessions later, Hooper began to catch fire from long-range once again to extend the Nebraska lead.

She created space off a dribble step-back combination and nailed a jumper from just within the 3-point line to increase Nebraska’s lead to four.

Hooper scored another long jumper two possessions later.

Timeout was called with 7:43 remaining and Nebraska up by eight points. There was still enough time left for the Hoosiers to climb back into the game, but as IU struggled to make shots, Hooper continued hitting them.

Miller said there wasn’t much else he could do to slow down Hooper.

“It’s tough to watch as a coach because you can see it happen,” Miller said.

Hooper converted on another 3-pointer from three feet beyond the arc with 7:25 remaining in the game, pulling Nebraska to a 65-54 lead.

Her 3-pointer put an end to the Hoosiers’ hopes to come back. With IU’s offense sputtering down the stretch, the double-digit lead was too much for IU to overcome during the closing minutes of the game.

Nebraska outscored IU 44-25 during the second half.

“They took advantage of a lot more of our mistakes than we could take advantage of their mistakes,” Miller said.

“They were terrific in that last eight to 10 minutes against us.”

Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen.