<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Memphis, Tenn. ? Alexa Johnson’s three-pointer from the corner rimmed in and out and the Nebraska women’s basketball suffered its first defeat of the season with a 69-66 loss to Mississippi in the opening round of the Lady Tiger Kroger Thanksgiving Classic at The Elma Roane Fieldhouse on Friday night.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
Johnson, a 6-1 senior forward from Hacienda Heights, Calif., led the Huskers with 20 points and six rebounds, but her last-second attempt to tie the score and send the game to overtime rattled in and out, as the Huskers slipped to 2-1 on the season. Margaret Richards added 19 points and nine rebounds for Nebraska, which dropped into the consolation bracket of the four-team tournament to play Eastern Kentucky (1-2) on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said the Huskers would need to rebound quickly from their first setback.
“It will be a good test of our toughness to see how we bounce back tomorrow night,” Yori said. “We need to get focused and prepared to play better basketball tomorrow against Eastern Kentucky.”
Ole Miss, which improved to 3-1 on the season, will advance to play the hosts from Memphis, which defeated Eastern Kentucky, 78-65, in Friday’s first game in Memphis.
Johnson, who had hit a three-pointer with 2:39 remaining to tie the score at 64, connected on 2-of-3 three-point attempts and 6-of-12 shots from the field overall on her way to a season-high scoring night. Johnson’s 20 points came in just 21 minutes, as she sat out much of the second half in foul trouble. Johnson picked up her fourth foul with 13:08 remaining in the game and the Huskers clinging to a 40-39 lead.
But Johnson wasn’t the only Husker strapped with foul trouble in the second half. Senior guard Keasha Cannon-Johnson picked up her fourth foul with 11:53 remaining in the game, and with two of the Huskers’ most experienced and dangerous players on the bench, the Rebels turned a one-point deficit into a seven-point lead at 49-42 with 10:29 remaining in the game.
Although the Huskers were riddled with foul trouble, they actually were whistled for one fewer foul than Ole Miss and outscored the Rebels at the free throw line, 24-18, on the night.
It was the Huskers’ ability to convert at the free throw line that kept them in the game, as Richards and Jessica Gerhart combined to hit five straight free throws to trim the Ole Miss lead to 51-47 with 9:06 left. After the Huskers scrapped their way back into the game at the line, Heather Kephart sparked the NU offense from long range by connecting on back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Huskers within two points at 55-53 with 7:26 left.
But Kephart then fouled Ole Miss’ Genice Terry after connecting on a three-pointer. The foul was Kephart’s fifth, and Terry hit the free throw to convert the four-point play and build the UM lead back to six points.
Nebraska refused to give in, as freshman guard Andrea Lightfoot, who replaced Kephart, hit a pair of free throws and Gerhart knocked down a pair of jumpers to tie the score at 59 with 4:07 left. Gerhart finished with a career-high 10 points and eight rebounds for the Huskers in a strong performance off the bench for the freshman forward from Fenton, Iowa.
A three-point play by the Rebels’ Amber Watts put Mississippi back in front at 62-61, before Richards hit a layup to cut the lead back to one point. Armintie Price then converted a steal into a layup for Ole Miss to push the lead back to three, before Johnson tied it for the last time at 64 with her three-pointer. Price and Watts combined for the Rebels’ final five points to secure the win.
Price finished with 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the Rebels, while Genice Terry added 13 points and seven rebounds for Ole Miss.
Nebraska, which led by as many as eight points in the first half, shot just 34.5 percent (19-55) from the field, while connecting on just 4-of-16 three-pointers (25 percent). The Huskers did hit 80 percent (24-30) of their free throws and outrebounded Mississippi, 52-38. Nebraska committed 21 turnovers, while forcing just nine turnovers by the Rebels. Ole Miss shot just 34.3 percent (23-67) from the field and hit just 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) of its three-point attempts.