Columbia, Mo. - Senior center Katie Morse scored a season-high 18 points and freshman guard Kiera Hardy added career highs with 17 points and six steals to lead the Nebraska women’s basketball team to a 74-69 win over Missouri in Columbia, Mo., on Wednesday night.
Morse and Hardy led four Huskers in double figures to help Nebraska improve to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 Conference action, while Missouri slipped to 9-5 overall and 0-3 in league play.
With the victory, Nebraska snapped a six-game losing streak to the Tigers and doubled its number of conference wins from a year ago. The Huskers now have four more victories than they accumulated during the entire 2002-03 season when they finished with an 8-20 overall record and a 1-15 mark in the Big 12. The five-point margin of victory also pushed the Huskers to 9-1 this season in games decided by eight points or less.
Although the final margin was close, Nebraska threatened to blow the Tigers out in the second half. After Morse scored 13 of her team-high 18 points in the first half to send the Huskers to locker room with a 35-28 halftime lead, Nebraska bolted out of the gates in the second half.
"We came out at halftime and did everything right," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Missouri came back strong and kept fighting, but we found a way to win again. It was a great win for our team."
The Huskers opened the second half with a 10-2 surge to push their lead quickly to 15 points. The lead grew as large as 18 points at 57-39 with 10:47 remaining in the game, before the short-handed Tigers launched a furious rally.
Stretch James led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, while Evan Unrau contributed most of her 15 points and 10 boards down the stretch. James and Unrau helped Missouri storm back to with one point at 67-66 with 1:53 left in the game.
But as the Huskers have so many times this season, Nebraska answered the call at the free throw line, connecting on 19-of-23 free throws for the game, including 7-of-8 from the line in final two minutes.
Keasha Cannon-Johnson added a solid game for the Huskers with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Alexa Johnson added 11 points and eight boards.
Tracy Lozier also gave Missouri a boost by scoring 12 points and dishing out five assists for a Missouri squad that was without injured starting point guard LaToya Bond for the third straight game because of a foot injury. The Tigers also played without reserve guard MyEsha Perkins and reserve center Christelle N’Garsanet, who were both suspended by the Big 12 Conference and Missouri for their involvement in a post-game altercation with Kansas players after their loss to the Jayhawks on Saturday.
The Huskers connected on 25-of-58 (43.1 percent) of their field goals, including 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point range. Nebraska committed just 14 turnovers, but Missouri was able to hang with the Huskers by committing just 12 turnovers and matching NU on the boards with 41 rebounds. The Tigers also pulled down an opponent season-high 19 offensive boards.
Missouri shot 41.7 percent (30-72) from the field, but hit just 13.3 percent (2-15) from three-point range and connected on just 7-of-13 free throws in a losing effort.
Nebraska returns home to take on Texas A&M (7-7, 0-3) at the Devaney Center on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.