Huskers Fall at CU, 78-76

Boulder, Colo. - The Nebraska women's basketball team fought back from a 15-point deficit with 5:20 left to cut Colorado's lead to just one point with 26 seconds left on a Kiera Hardy three-pointer, but the Buffaloes held on for a 78-76 win at the Coors Events Center on Wednesday.

After Hardy's three-pointer trimmed the CU lead to one, Jina Johansen stole the inbounds pass and found Hardy on the baseline.  Hardy drove to the lane and left a bounce pass for Elena Diaz for what appeared to be an uncontested layup to give the Huskers a 79-78 lead with 19 seconds left.  However, the basket was waved off and Hardy was called for an offensive foul after throwing the pass.

Yari Escalera then hit the second of two free throws with 15 seconds left.  Nebraska came down the floor and found Diaz on the right wing. Diaz missed a strongly contested jumper by a pair of Buffaloes from 12 feet and her shot fell short by several feet without the ball being touched.

Coaching her team for the last time in Boulder after announcing her retirement from coaching on Feb. 24, Ceal Barry's team played its best game of the season by shooting nearly 50 percent from the field, while outrebounding the Huskers 41-34 to send NU to its fourth consecutive loss to end the Big 12 regular season.

Despite the Huskers' recent downturn, Nebraska has secured the No. 6 in next week's Big 12 Conference Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.  NU closes conference play with an 8-8 record for its first .500 league mark since 1999-2000.  The Huskers fell to 16-12 overall.  Nebraska will play 11th-seeded Oklahoma State on Tuesday, March 8 at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Colorado improved to 9-18 overall and 2-14 in Big 12 play. The Buffs will be the No. 12 seed at the Big 12 Tournament and will play fifth-seeded Iowa State in the first round.

Hardy led the Huskers with 21 points and five rebounds, while Chelsea Aubry scored all of her 14 points in the second half to help Nebraska overcome a 12-point first-half deficit.  Diaz finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Jelena Spiric added 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.  Johansen added a solid night with seven points, five assists and four steals. LaToya Howell also matched her career-best with five steals, while adding six points off the bench.

Nebraska's defensive pressure forced 26 Colorado turnovers and brought the Huskers back from a 15-point deficit with 5:43 left in the game.  The Huskers battled back into the game by scoring six points in an eight-second span to cut a 10-point lead with 4:28 left to just six points with 4:20 left after a pair of Howell free throws.

Colorado pushed the lead back to 10 points with 3:14 left, but Nebraska ran off eight straight points capped by Hardy's jumper with 58 seconds left.  Veronica Johns-Richardson hit a jumper to give CU a brief four-point cushion with 40 seconds left, before Hardy's three-pointer with 26 seconds set up the dramatic finish.

Johns-Richardson finished with 18 points, while Kara Richards led the Buffs with 19 points.  Ilic added 16 points off the bench, as the Buffs shot 49.1 percent from the field, including 53.1 percent in the first half.  Colorado, one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the Big 12, also hit 81 percent (17-21) of its free throws, including its first 14 shots from the foul line.  

Nebraska shot just 37.7 percent from the field and just 31.8 percent from three-point range but managed to bring the game down to the wire by constantly outhustling the Buffaloes for loose ball after loose ball.  The Huskers also shot 77.3 percent from the free throw line. 

Colorado jumped to a quick 10-2 lead before Nebraska answered with a 15-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 17:12 with 12:34 left in the first half.

The Buffs answered back with five straight points to tie the score at 17, before Hardy and Gerhart hit back-to-back jumpers to regain a 21-17 lead with 9:42 to play.  But the Huskers went cold over the next 4:30, going scoreless while Colorado ran off 14 straight points to take a 31-21 lead with 5:33 left in first half.

Johansen and Hardy hit back-to-back shots in a 25 second span to trim the CU lead back to five points, before an Elena Diaz layup two minutes later cut Colorado's lead to just four points at 33-29 with 2:20 to play in the opening period.  But the Buffaloes regained momentum heading into the locker room by outscoring the Huskers 11-3 in the last two minutes to claim their biggest lead at 44-32 at halftime.