Lincoln-The Nebraska women’s basketball team erupted for a 13-1 run in the final 3:30 to turn a 61-57 deficit into a 70-62 victory in front of 3,037 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Sunday afternoon.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 8-1 on the season to match its best nine-game start since 1996-97 when the Huskers opened the year 9-0. NU also opened the year 8-1 in 1997-98, 1998-99 and 2001-02. Nebraska also matched its season victory total from 2002-03, and improved to 6-0 at the Devaney Center this season. The Bluejays slipped to 3-5 on the season with the loss.
Coach Connie Yori, who is in her second season at Nebraska after spending 10 seasons as the head coach at Creighton, said the Huskers’ belief in each other was a key in the game.
"We have been in enough close games now and we have been successful in most of those games, that our players trust that if they just keep playing, good things will happen," Yori said. "I think this was a really good game for women’s basketball in our state. Regardless of who won the game, it was just a really well-played game with few turnovers."
Senior guard Keasha Cannon-Johnson, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, scored a season-high 23 points and grabbed a season-best four steals, while adding eight rebounds and four assists in a stellar all-around effort. Margaret Richards added her second double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while also dishing out four assists. Senior Katie Morse contributed 11 points to give the Huskers three players in double figures.
Morse, a 6-4 center from Minden, Iowa, did most of her scoring when it mattered most. With NU trailing 61-57 after Creighton’s Laura Spanheimer knocked down a three-pointer with 3:30 left in the game, Morse helped carry the Huskers to victory.
After Cannon-Johnson hit a jumper to cut the CU lead to two points with 3:06 left, Morse connected on a pair of free throws with 2:13 left to tie the score at 61. Morse hit two more free throws with 1:04 remaining in the game to give Nebraska its first lead of the second half at 63-61.
Richards added a breakaway layup with 38 seconds left to give NU a 65-61 lead, before Morse pulled down a defensive rebound of Christy Erickson’s missed three-pointer and was immediately fouled. Morse hit one more foul shot to give the Huskers a five-point lead at 66-61 with 25 seconds remaining. Richards and Chelsea Aubry each added a pair of free throws down the stretch for Nebraska.
Nebraska outscored Creighton, 20-2, at the free throw line for the game, as Morse connected on 7-of-9 shots from the charity stripe, while Aubry hit 6-of-8 and Richards knocked down 5-of-6 free throws.
While the Huskers were winning the battle at the line, the Bluejays were firing from long range, hitting 10-of-29 three-pointers on the afternoon to maintain control for much of the game. CU senior Dayna Finch knocked down 4-of-7 three-point attempts to finish with a team-high 14 points, while Spanheimer managed 2-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Angie Janis added a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, but hit just 6-of-19 shots from the field, as the Jays struggled to find easy points inside.
The Bluejays also played the entire second half without Christy Neneman, who suffered a dislocated ring finger on her left hand midway through the first half. Neneman left the game with six points and two assists in just 11 minutes, helping CU race to a 14-5 lead in the first five minutes.
Nebraska fought back in the first half by answering with a 9-0 run to tie the score at 14 on a pair of Richards’ free throws with 13:13 left in the half. NU took its first lead of the game with 9:39 remaining in the first half on Richards’ jumper. Alexa Johnson gave the Huskers a 22-21 lead with 8:05 left in the half, while Nebraska managed its only other the lead in the first 38 minutes when Aubry hit a free throw to give NU a 29-28 lead with 2:28 left in the opening stanza. The two teams went to the locker room tied at 31.
Creighton regained control early in the second half, and took its biggest lead of the second stanza at 50-43 with 13:37 left on Finch’s third consecutive three-pointer.
But Nebraska turned up the defense, holding the Bluejays to just two field goals in the final 8:26 of the game. In fact, Creighton only hit a pair of two-point field goals in the final 17 minutes.
"I’m really proud of the way our team just kept playing," Yori said. "Our defense was really excellent for most of the game, and our players just dug down deep and found a way to win."
Nebraska will take eight days off from competition before returning to road action against Rice in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, Dec. 30, at 8 p.m. The Huskers close the non-conference portion of their schedule by playing host to St. Bonaventure at the Devaney Center on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 2:05 p.m.