Honolulu -- Monet Williams posted a double-double in her first career start, and Cori McDill scored a career-high 17 points to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to an 85-66 win over St. John's at the 20th Annual Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday, Nov. 28.
The Huskers, who improved to 4-1 on the season, will play the winner of today's second game between Louisville and Illinois State for fifth place in the eight-team tournament tomorrow (Nov. 29) at 3:10 p.m. central standard time.
Nebraska Coach Paul Sanderford said he was happy with the Huskers' effort against St. John's, which fell to 2-4 with the loss.
"I was pleased overall with our performance today," Sanderford said. "I thought we showed some heart and some character bouncing back from the loss to UCLA yesterday."
Williams, a senior guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., recorded career highs with 10 points and 13 rebounds, replacing junior forward Naciska Gilmore in the Huskers' starting lineup. Williams' previous career highs were nine points and four rebounds.
Sanderford said Williams definitely provided a spark for the Huskers.
"I thought Monet Williams did an outstanding job for us," Sanderford said. "She did a great job on the boards, and along with her offense, she did a nice job for us defensively."
In addition to Williams' career performance, McDill added a career high with 17 points, smashing her previous best of 12 points. McDill also contributed eight rebounds.
Junior guard Nicole Kubik produced a double-double of her own, tying a career high with 11 assists while scoring 12 points, for the second double-double of her career. Junior guard Brooke Schwartz led the Huskers with 18 points.
St. John's Ebony Dickinson led all scorers with 21 points.
Nebraska shot 50 percent from the field, while holding the Red Storm to 36.5 percent field-goal shooting. The Huskers also outrebounded St. John's, 42-35.
Nebraska led by as many as 14 points at 27-13 with 9:05 remaining in the firsthalf, but the Red Storm battled back to take their first lead of the game at 32-31 with 1:56 left in the half. St. John's led 34-33 with 40 seconds remaining before Nebraska scored the final four points to take a 37-34 lead at intermission
The Huskers continued their run into the second half, scoring the first 12 points of the second stanza to take a 49-34 lead with 14:48 remaining. That lead ballooned to 23 points at 83-60 with 1:53 remaining in the game.