Dallas - The Nebraska women's basketball team had its 2002-03 season come to an end with a 71-51 loss to fifth-seeded Oklahoma in front of 3,061 fans at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, in the first round of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament.
With the loss, the 12th-seeded Huskers finished the season with an 8-20 overall record, while Oklahoma improved to 19-11 overall. OU advances to play fourth-seeded Colorado in the second round on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
The Huskers trailed Oklahoma, 27-19, at halftime after holding OU scoreless for the final 5:11 of the first half, but the Sooners used a 9-0 run in the first 1:45 of the second half to build a commanding 17-point lead at 36-19. Nebraska could never get closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Despite the loss, Nebraska coach Connie Yori credited her players for battling throughout the game and the season.
"I want to commend our players for continuing to play hard throughout the year," Yori said. "We never gave up, not in this game, and not this year. Our players stuck with it, even though they had a lot of obstacles to overcome and a lot of reasons to throw in the towel. They just kept battling, and they should be commended for that."
Alexa Johnson led the Huskers with 11 points but connected on just 5-of-20 shots from the field. The 6-1 junior forward from Hacienda Heights, Calif., was the only NU player to manage double figures on the afternoon. Margaret Richards pitched in nine points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Jina Johansen, Shahidrah Roberts and Laura Pilakowski all contributed seven points.
Pilakowski also set career highs with five blocked shots and four assists, to go along with her six rebounds. Pilakowski's five blocks were the second-best individual performance in Big 12 Tournament history and nearly matched her season and career total of six blocks coming into the Big 12 Tournament. Johansen's two three-pointers also tied a career high.
Dionnah Jackson led Oklahoma with a game-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. She added five assists. Maria Villarroel scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half to help the Sooners, and Theresa Schuknecht contributed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
For the game, Nebraska shot 32.8 percent (19-58) from the field, including just 25.0 percent (7-28) in the first half. The Huskers hit 26.7 percent (4-15) of their attempts from three-point range, and 60 percent (9-15) of their free throws.
Oklahoma connected on 46.9 percent (30-64) of its field goal attempts, including a sizzling 42.9 percent (6-14) from three-point range, while connecting on 83.3 percent (5-6) of its free throws. The Sooners also outrebounded NU, 44-34. Both teams committed 16 turnovers.