Lincoln - Kiera Hardy scored a career-high 21 points to lead four Huskers in double figures as the Nebraska women's basketball team built a 17-point second-half lead, but could not hold on in a 78-76 loss to Missouri in front of 3,616 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 16-9 overall and 6-8 in Big 12 play, while Missouri improved to 14-11 overall and 5-9 in the league.
Hardy, a 5-6 freshman guard from Kansas City, Mo., gave the Huskers their biggest lead of the night at 59-42 on a pair of free throws with 14:21 remaining in the game. Hardy added four straight points nearly six minutes later to keep NU's lead at 69-55 with 8:37 left in the game. Unfortunately for the Huskers, Hardy's steal and layup at the 8:37 mark was the last field goal of the night for Nebraska, which managed just seven free throws the rest of the way.
Nebraska's offensive drought doomed the Huskers down the stretch, while Missouri connected on 9-of-11 field goals and scored on 11 of its last 13 possessions in the final 7:15. EeTisha Riddle tied the score at 74 with her jumper with 1:20 remaining. It marked the first time that Missouri had pulled even since the game was tied at six with 14:42 left in the first half.
Evan Unrau gave Missouri its first lead since leading 6-4, with her jumper with 41 seconds remaining to make it 76-74 MU. Nebraska senior Alexa Johnson, who scored 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, including a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line, hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 76 with 26 seconds left.
Riddle, who finished with just six points, hit the game winner for the Tigers with 11 seconds left. Nebraska sprinted to halfcourt and called timeout to set up an inbounds play with six seconds left. Keasha Cannon-Johnson, who scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds on the night, caught the ball near the right wing and drove to the middle and down the left side of the lane but lost the ball out of bounds with just 0.3 seconds remaining.
However, Missouri turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass right in front of the Nebraska bench, giving the Huskers one last desperation shot at the buzzer. NU threw an over-the-top, alley-oop pass to Cannon-Johnson across court, who bobbled the ball initially, forcing her to land. She threw the ball high off the glass and it somehow went in, but the shot came clearly after the buzzer had sounded.
MyEsha Perkins led four Tigers in double figures with 18 points, while Stretch James added 16 points and nine rebounds. Unrau, who scored 40 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in MU's previous game against Kansas State, did not score in the first half and played only 6:23 before picking up her second foul with 13:37 remaining in the opening stanza. Unrau did not score her first point until hitting a free throw with 16:25 remaining in the game, but she scored 11 of the Tigers' last 36 points in the final 13:48 to lead Missouri all the way back for the victory. Unrau finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said Missouri's play-making ability in the closing minutes was the difference.
"Missouri made plays down the stretch," Yori said. "We didn't make plays down the stretch, and quite simply that was the difference in the game."
While Missouri sizzled from the field in the final eight minutes, Nebraska was 0-for-8 from the field and committed four turnovers. Nebraska did manage to hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch and finished the game 24-of-26 from the free throw line.
Nebraska also shot well from three-point range, connecting on 6-of-9 shots from long range (66.7 percent), but finished the game at just 42.6 percent from the field. In the first 32 minutes, Nebraska was 23-of-46 (50 percent) from the field before going cold in the closing minutes.
Missouri finished the game at 45.9 percent from the field, despite hitting just 19-of-50 field goals (38 percent) in the first 32 minutes. The Tigers were 6-of-13 from three-point range, including 3-of-4 from long range in the last eight minutes. MU also hit 16-of-21 free throws (76.2 percent). The Tigers outrebounded the Huskers 35-32, including a 20-13 edge on the boards in the second half. Missouri committed 16 turnovers for the game, and just one turnover in the final eight minutes, while Nebraska turned the ball over 18 times.
Hardy and Cannon-Johnson combined for 27 first-half points to power the Huskers to a 42-32 halftime lead. Hardy scored 15 first-half points, just two short of her previous career-high total for a game, while Cannon-Johnson added 12 first-half points.
The Huskers connected on 12-of-26 field goals, including 3-of-4 three-point field goal attempts. Nebraska was also a perfect 15-of-15 at the free throw line in the first half.
Nebraska took advantage of Unrau's first-half foul trouble, rolling for a 14-2 run to take a 10-point lead midway through the half. The Tigers cut the lead to three on two occasions, before Nebraska stretched the lead back to 10 points on Johnson's buzzer beater to end the half.
The Huskers play their final road regular-season Big 12 Conference game on Saturday, when they travel to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.