CORVALLIS, Ore. — Alexis Murkowski had 16 points and six rebounds and No. 6 seed Nebraska narrowly held off No. 11 Texas A&M, 61-59, on Friday night for the first time since 2014. Won the NCAA tournament game.
Nebraska (23-22) will play No. 3 seed Oregon State on Sunday. The Beavers (25-7) overcame a slow start to beat No. 14 Washington, 73-51, on Friday night. Sunday's winner will head to the Sweet Sixteen in Albany, New York.
Logan Nissley also scored 16 points for Nebraska. Senior Jazz Shelley, who averaged 13.7 points and 5.6 assists this season, had five points, five rebounds and six assists.
Aisha Coulibaly had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Texas A&M (19-12), which finished fifth in the SEC and earned a bid to this year's women's tournament.
The Huskers led by as many as 17 points, but Koulibaly's short jumper with 4:34 left brought Texas A&M within 56-54. Endea Rodgers made two free throws to tie the game at 66 points.
Murkowski's layup under the basket put Nebraska ahead, then Koulibaly's layup and free throw gave the Aggies the lead with 17.7 seconds left.
The Huskers regained the lead on a Nissly free throw. Sherry scored the first goal of the pair with 1.7 seconds to play, making it 61-59.
Rodgers' winning 3-point shot missed, and the Huskers advanced.
Nebraska finished fifth in the Big Ten this season, reaching the conference tournament finals before losing to Iowa State and Caitlin Clark.
It was Texas A&M's first appearance in the tournament since 2021, when the team advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season.
Texas A&M has come a long way since last season, when it won just nine games in coach Joni Taylor's first year.
The Aggies ranked 15th nationally in rebounding, averaging 42.3 total rebounds per game. He had 38 points against the Huskers.
Nebraska held a 14-12 lead after the first quarter, but began to pull away in the second, taking a 24-17 lead on Nissley's 3-pointer.
The Huskers led 27-20 at halftime and extended their advantage to 36-22 in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Kendall Moriarty.
The Aggies cut the lead to 48-40 early in the fourth quarter on Coulibaly's layup.
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