Undefeated, No. 17 Georgia Tech women upend No. 23 Nebraska, 72-61

THE FLATS – No. 17 Georgia Tech closed out non-conference play pocketing another top-25 win, downing No. 23 Nebraska, 72-61, Saturday evening in McCamish Pavilion. Dani Carnegie led the offensive front with 20 points, while Kara Dunn logged a double-double as Tech improved to 13-0 on the season.

A defensive battle ensued in the first half as the teams remained within one possession through the first nine minutes of the game. It was a back-and-forth battle in the early going before the Jackets put together a 14-4 run fueled by four points from Kayla Blackshear and triples from Carnegie and Chit-Chat Wright. Wright’s triple put Tech on top 21-12 with 7:51 to play in the second, forcing Nebraska to burn an early timeout. Tech closed the half on three-pointers from Wright and back-to-back treys from Carnegie for a 32-19 halftime lead. Carnegie went into the locker room leading all scorers with 12 points on four three-pointers.

The Jackets pushed their lead out to 18 points in the third period, using a 7-0 spurt midway through the quarter to lead 43-25. Nebraska slowly chipped away at its deficit and would cut the score to single digits for the first time since the second quarter following a three-pointer from Logan Nissley at 1:36 in the fourth to setup a 64-55 tally. Nebraska would continue to send Tech to the free throw line over the final minute, and the Jackets held steady, converting 7-of-8 attempts to close the game. Tech was nearly perfect at the charity stripe overall, going 18-for-21 (85.7 percent) to help seal the win.

Tech was held to a 38.7 percent shooting effort from the field led by Carnegie with 20 points. Dunn added 16 points to the scoreboard, while Wright finished with a season-high 15 points and Tonie Morgan chipped in 10. The Jackets won the rebounding battle, 42-39, led by Dunn’s second double-double of the season with a career-high 14 rebounds. Dunn added four steals to her stat line and was 6-of-7 at the free throw line in the win.

Nebraska came into the contest leading the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage (39.8) and averaging 9.4 a game. The Cornhuskers were held one three-pointer in the first half and finished with 6-of-23 overall for a 26.1 percent clip. Alexis Markowski led Nebraska with 20 points and 10 rebounds in just the second loss for the Cornhuskers this season.

Georgia Tech returns to conference play, welcoming Pitt to McCamish Pavilion on Dec. 29. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.