Lincoln ? Katie Morse made a successful return to the court, scoring 16 points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds, as Nebraska opened the season with an impressive 104-46 victory over Wofford Friday evening at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Morse, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last December, showed the form that made her one of the Big 12’s most improved players last season, hitting on 4-of-6 shots from the floor and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe, while easily topping her previous career high of 10 rebounds set three other times. The 6-foot-4 senior, who had back-to-back double-doubles in her final two games before suffering the injury in a 65-55 win over No. 25 Cincinnati last Dec. 15, also had three steals in just 24 minutes of action in posting her fourth career double-double.
Morse’s successful return to the court was one of many highlights, as the Huskers placed five players in double figures while topping the 100-point mark for the first time since scoring 113 points against Georgia Southern on Nov. 19, 1999. The 104-point effort marked only the 23rd time in school history that Nebraska scored 100 points in a game, while the 58-point margin of victory was NU’s highest since a 69-point rout of Nicholls State during the 1995-96 season.
Nebraska finished with 23 assists while shooting 52 percent from the floor, numbers that impressed Head Coach ConnieYori.
"We felt really good about what we did on the offensive end," Yori said. "We wanted to move the ball around and let things develop."
In addition to Morse, senior Keasha Cannon-Johnson and freshman Heather Kephart tied for team-high honors with 16 points apiece. Cannon-Johnson, who sat out the 2002-03 season as a redshirt, was 6-of-9 from the floor with six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in just 17 minutes, while Kephart was 5-of-10 from the floor, including four three-pointers, in just 18 minutes off the bench.
Freshman Chelsea Aubry and Margaret Richards also finished in double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, as all 10 players who dressed broke into the scoring column while playing at least 15 minutes.
"It was a good start for us," Yori said. "We did a lot of things well, but we know we still have a lot to work on."
The Huskers took any suspense out of the contest with a 33-5 run, turning a two-point lead into 39-9 cushion with six minutes remaining in the first half. NU shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half in building a 51-25 lead ? their most first-half points since scoring 54 points against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Dec. 19, 2000 ? and were never threatened by Wofford, which dropped to 0-1 on the season.
Brie Bradshaw was the only Terrier to finish in double figures, scoring 11 points in a losing effort.
The Huskers return to action on Sunday afternoon when they play host to Princeton with tip-off 2:05 p.m.