Lincoln - Senior forward Alexa Johnson scored a team-high 17 points and pulled down six rebounds to lead Nebraska to a thrilling 59-48, come-from-behind victory over Kansas Saturday night before 3,888 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Trailing 41-32 with 9:42 remaining in the game, the Huskers outscored KU, 24-2, in a furious eight-minute rally to secure the win and improve to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in the Big 12 Conference.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
With the victory, <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska earned its highest overall and conference win totals since the 1999-2000 season, when NU finished 18-13 overall and 10-6 in Big 12 play. The Huskers, who snapped a three-game losing streak, also picked up their first win against the Jayhawks since the 2002 season.
“It’s not very often that you go 10 minutes in the second half without a field goal and win,” Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yori said. “But at this point in the season, we’ll take what we can get. I don’t care how we win, as long as we find a way.”
Joining Johnson in double-figures were senior guard Jina Johansen (11 points, four assists) and freshman guard Kiera Hardy, who scored eight of her 14 points during the critical second-half run. Hardy also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, as the Huskers outrebounded KU, 52-37, and outscored Kansas 19-4 on second-chance points. Senior guard Keasha Cannon-Johnson notched a team-high 11 boards for NU.
Junior guard Larisha Graves led Kansas with a career-high 17 points, including 14 in the first half, while adding five rebounds for Kansas, which fell to 9-11 overall and 2-7 in the league.
The Huskers, who led 27-24 at halftime, lost momentum in the opening minutes of the second half after missing 14 of their first 15 shots. Graves sank a pair of free throws to tie the score at 32 with 16:30 remaining. Graves’ charity shots marked the beginning of a 9-0 Kansas run, as the Jayhawks took their largest lead of the game at 41-32.
Cannon-Johnson finally answered with a lay-up at the 9:34 mark, scoring the Huskers’ first points in over seven minutes and their first field goal in 10 minutes. Katie Morse and Johnson followed with field goals, and Cannon-Johnson tied the game at 41 on a three-pointer. Nebraska then took a 43-41 lead with 6:09 remaining when Johnson scored to cap an 11-point NU run.
Kansas tied it again when Tamara Ransburg scored. But the Huskers again took control with back-to-back three-point shots from Johansen and Hardy, who scored eight points in the final five minutes of the game. By the end of the 13-point run, Nebraska held a commanding 56-43 lead.
Yori said the key to the Huskers’ second-half surge was rebounding. NU totaled 10 offensive rebounds in the second half.
“I got on the team at halftime about our offensive rebounds,” Yori said. “In the second half, we were consistently getting two shots, and every once in awhile, those shots are going to go in.”
Nebraska opened the game with an 8-2 lead after the first three minutes of play, but Kansas answered with a 10-0 run that included eight points from Graves. After a time out, Nebraska, which made just three of its first 16 shots in the game, responded with eight points in less than two minutes and led, 16-12, with 9:00 remaining in the first half. The quick turnaround was sparked by Hardy, who came through with four points and a steal in less than 15 seconds during the stretch.
Nebraska maintained at least a 2-point advantage until Erica Hallman scored on a lay-up, tying the game at 22 with 3:14 remaining in the first half. But Johansen responded with her second three-point field goal of the half, as NU outscored the Jayhawks, 5-2, in the final 1:42 of play to take a 27-24 halftime lead.
Nebraska returns to action Feb. 11 when it plays host to Oklahoma State in a 7:05 p.m. game at the Devaney Center.