Huskers Bury Bears with First-Half Barrage

The fifth-seeded Nebraska women's basketball team used a 28-3 first-half run to cruise to an 82-61 win over 12th-seeded Baylor in front of 3,770 fans at Municipal Auditorium in the first round of the 2000 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament in Kansas City on Tuesday afternoon.

Nebraska held the Lady Bears scoreless for a 6:51 stretch in the first half to produce its biggest run of the year with a 17-0 spurt capped by Shahidrah Roberts' 3-pointer with 5:27 left in the half. The Huskers carried a 49-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Huskers had nine players score in the first half and recorded 12 assists as a team during the first period, which pleased Coach Paul Sanderford.

"I thought that our kids came out ready to play," Sanderford said. "I thought that we were very unselfish. Hats off to my team because when you get a 28-point lead it is hard to continue to play with the intensity that you want to as a coach. I don't think that the lead got below 20 in the second half. You know, it's March and you don't let people back into the ballgame."

Junior center Casey Leonhardt played one of her best games of the season, leading the Huskers with 19 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year. Leonhardt's 19 points were the second-highest output of her Husker career, trailing only a 21-point effort against Montana on Nov. 26. Her 11 boards also tied her second-best performance of the season. It was Leonhardt's first double-double since a 13-point, 11-rebound effort against Colorado on Jan. 26.

Junior guard Amanda Went added 12 points while tying a career-high with four 3-pointers to lead Nebraska's backcourt. Senior forward Charlie Rogers added 12 points and four rebounds.

"I think that just knowing that it's March, it's tournament time, you have got to be pumped," Went said. "Any game can be your last. We walked in today and couple of us said to the underclassmen, "this is it. This is the big time."

Senior Nicole Kubik played a strong game for the Huskers despite scoring just nine points. The first-team All-Big 12 guard grabbed six rebounds, snatched five steals and dished out four assists while playing just 20 minutes. It was the first time that Kubik did not produce double figures since scoring six against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 3, and it ended a streak of 25 consecutive Big 12 Conference games in which she had scored double figures dating back to a six-point effort in a win over Iowa State on Feb. 7, 1999.

Senior guard Brooke Schwartz was also held to single digits with six points, five assists and two steals, ending a streak of 57 games in which either Kubik or Schwartz had scored in double figures for the Huskers dating back to a win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Nov. 21, 1998.

The Huskers shot 44.8 percent for the game, including 51.5 percent from the field in the first half, while holding Baylor to 36.7 percent shooting, including a 28.6 percent effort in the first half. Nebraska knocked down 50 percent (6-12) of its 3-point attempts, and shot 72.7 percent from the free throw line. The Huskers also outrebounded the Lady Bears, 46-33, while forcing 24 turnovers.

Nebraska's 21-point margin of victory was its largest in the four-year history of the Big 12 Tournament, and the Huskers' biggest league tournament win since an 87-39 victory over Iowa State in the first round of the 1993 Big Eight Tournament.

Mandy Hayworth led Baylor with 23 points, including five 3-pointers, while Monica Arnold added 15 points for the Lady Bears, who finished with a 7-20 record.