COLLEGE PARK — The march toward Big Ten Conference perfection remains uninterrupted for the Maryland women's basketball team.
The No. 5 Terps survived lethargic stretches during much of their game Sunday afternoon before using a late second-half burst to pull away from No. 19 Nebraska, 59-47.
Maryland (21-2, 12-0) won for the 15th straight time, its longest winning streak since 16 in a row to start the 2011-12 season. The Terps also swept the regular-season series with Nebraska, their fifth ranked opponent this season and second this month, to remain the only team in the Big Ten with an unblemished conference record.
Maryland faces one more ranked team in the regular season: No. 21 Rutgers, which comes to College Park on Tuesday night. Of the Terps' following final five games, only one opponent, Northwestern, is above .500 in league play. The other four teams have a combined 12 Big Ten victories.
"Obviously, a slow start for us," said Maryland coach Brenda Frese, whose team finished with its lowest point total of the season. "I credit Nebraska in terms of how they came out in their sagging defense. Nice to be able to see [in] the second half, I thought we were finally able to get some stops, some rebounds. We were able to break it open when we started finally clicking on all cylinders."
Sophomore point guard Lexie Brown led the Terps with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists before an announced 10,937, the highest attendance this season at Xfinity Center. She also began a decisive 11-0 run with a 3-pointer with 7:21 left in regulation. That basket came after Allie Havers' layup to draw the Cornhuskers (17-6, 7-5) within 43-37, the closest they came in the second half.
Brown made another jumper to bump the advantage back to double digits, and sophomore center Brionna Jones (Aberdeen) collected an offensive rebound and scored on the put-back. Nebraska called timeout, but the Terps added to their lead with two free throws by redshirt senior guard Laurin Mincy and a jumper by Brown for a 54-37 advantage with 4:13 to play.
Junior forward Malina Howard added 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting and seven rebounds, and Jones finished with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Maryland doubled Nebraska's total points in the paint (32-16) and second-chance points (14-7).
"I think we definitely looked inside," Howard said. "The guards did a great job of getting the ball into the post, and we were open and posted really hard. I think it was really just in the flow of the game."
The largest lead of the first half belonged to Maryland, 15-8, when Brown hit a 3-pointer to close a 7-0 run. The Cornhuskers countered with 14 of the next 20 points, including Chandler Smith's jumper for a 22-21 advantage that lasted only briefly.
The Terps, who committed 16 first-half turnovers, went back in front when sophomore wing Shatori Walker-Kimbrough beat her defender on a drive and made a reverse layup. Howard followed with a field goal, and Maryland closed the half with a 29-24 lead thanks to freshman guard Kiara Leslie's short turnaround jumper in the lane and Brown's fadeaway as the shot clock wound down.
Nebraska got a game-high 16 points from guard Tear'a Laudermill, who also had four of her team's 17 turnovers. No other player reached double figures for the Cornhuskers, who were playing without All-America point guard Rachel Theriot. The junior, averaging a team-best 16.5 points per game, hurt her ankle early last week in practice and is day-to-day.
The Cornhuskers shot 32 percent, including 2-for-14 from beyond the arc in the second half. In all, Nebraska missed 22 of 28 3-pointers.
"I think Maryland has a chance to make a really, really deep run in the NCAA tournament," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. "They're really good. I'm not handing them the Big Ten title, but it seems to be going in that direction."