Lincoln - Sophomore forwards Jessica Gerhart and Chelsea Aubry combined for 35 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 78-61 victory over Washington State in front of 2,471 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Monday night.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 3-1 on the season with the Huskers' only loss coming at No. 10 Notre Dame in the the second round of the Preseason WNIT. Washington State slipped to 1-1 on the young season.
Gerhart, who entered the game as Nebraska's leading scorer and rebounder, scored a team-high 19 points and pulled down six boards. After hitting 10-of-12 shots from the field in the win over Northern Colorado on Friday night, Gerhart connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field, including her fourth three-pointer of the year, against the Cougars.
Aubry tied her career high with 16 points, while adding a team-best seven boards for the Huskers. Aubry also enjoyed a strong shooting night by connecting on 6-of-8 shots from the field.
The Huskers, who led 39-38 at the half, came out on fire to start to the second half behind the strong play of Aubry and Gerhart.
The pair of 6-2 forwards combined to score Nebraska's first 13 points of the half and helped erase the Huskers' 14-rebound deficit on the boards in the first half.
Nebraska's Coach Connie Yori said Aubry, who scored NU's first seven points of the second half, provided the inspiration and Gerhart, who followed with straight points of her own, helped with the offense and rebounding in NU's decisive second half.
"Our defensive rebounding was the difference," Yori said. "Chelsea gave us a lot of energy to start the second half, and the rest of the players followed her lead. We decided to go to work in the second half, and we decided to rebound better and play better defense."
Washington State Coach Sherri Murrell agreed.
"That was a fun first half with two good basketball teams really getting after each other," Murrell said. "Nebraska just got after it a little more and turned it up a notch in the second half."
The Cougars were able to hang with the Huskers in the first half thanks to a strong rebounding effort and the inspired offensive play of sophomore Adriane Ferguson, who struck for career highs of 19 points and five three-pointers in the first half alone. Ferguson, whose previous career bests were 15 points and a pair of three-pointers against Arizona State last season, carried the Cougars in the first half.
Ferguson finished with a game-high 26 points and fell just one three-pointer shy of the Devaney Center record of seven three-pointers. For the game, Ferguson went 8-of-13 from the field, including 6-of-8 from three-point range. However, other than forward Emma Joneby, who produced her second straight double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Ferguson was WSU's only consistent threat.
The rest of the Cougars went just 2-for-15 from three-point range, and while Ferguson and Joneby combined to go 13-of-21 from the field, the other seven Cougars hit just 7-of-34 field goal attempts on the night.
The Huskers on the other hand provided plenty of support behind the stellar nights supplied by Gerhart and Aubry. Jina Johansen scored a season-high nine points with a trio of three-pointers, while matching her season high with seven assists. Jelena Spiric produced her best offensive performance as a Husker with eight points, including a pair of first-half three-pointers. Kiera Hardy managed eight points, four rebounds and four assists, despite struggling with 3-of-16 shooting from the field, and LaToya Howell played a strong all-around game with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals in her first career start.
For the game, Nebraska shot 46 percent from the field, including 41.2 percent from three-point range. NU also knocked down 76.5 percent of its free throw attempts. WSU managed just 36.4 percent shooting from the field, including just 29.2 percent shooting in the second half. The Cougars did outrebound NU for the game, 37-34, but the Huskers held a plus-11 rebound margin in the second half. Nebraska again took excellent care of the basketball, committing just 11 turnovers, while forcing 20 WSU miscues.
The Huskers will try to improve on their 3-1 start to the season when they travel to the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, this weekend. Nebraska opens the four-team tournament by taking on North Carolina State on Friday at 6 p.m. central time, before playing either Louisville or Hampton on Saturday at either 6 or 8:30 p.m. All four teams in the tournament advanced to postseason play a year ago. Nebraska's game with North Carolina State can be heard on KOOL 105-FM in Lincoln.