Kansas City, Mo. - The sixth-seeded Nebraska women's basketball team struggled with its shooting touch, while third-seeded Kansas State fired on all cylinders, as the Wildcats cruised to a 71-45 victory over the Huskers in the second round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament at Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday night.
The Huskers were eliminated from the league tournament after defeating Oklahoma State 60-45, in the opening round on Tuesday night. Nebraska slipped to 17-13 overall after finishing the Big 12 regular season with an 8-8 record, and will now await their postseason tournament fate.
The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 13, while the Huskers have also made themselves eligible for the Women's National Invitational Tournament by finishing the regular season with a winning record.
No. 17 Kansas State improved to 22-6 overall after finishing Big 12 regular-season play with a 12-4 mark. The Wildcats will advance to play No. 2 seed Texas, which slipped past seventh-seeded Oklahoma 65-59 earlier Wednesday evening.
The Wildcats built a 24-point halftime leading by shooting 60 percent (18-30) from the field, including 50 percent (5-10) from three-point range. While KSU was cashing in offensively, the Huskers hit just 20 percent (6-30) of their field goal attempts in the first half, while missing all six of their three-point field goal attempts on their way to a 2-of-12 performance from beyond the arc on the night.
Elena Diaz provided the only highlight for the Huskers by scoring a career-high 15 points while tying her career best with nine rebounds. The junior from Medellin, Colombia, hit 7-of-13 shots from the field and was the only Husker to hit more than three field goals on the night.
Big 12 Player-of-the-Year Kendra Wecker led the Wildcats with 19 points, setting the conference all-time scoring record with her jumper on a putback with just over 14 minutes to play in the second half. Wecker was the only KSU starter to score in double figures, while Twiggy McIntyre added 10 points off the bench.
Nebraska was able to cut the lead to 19 points in the second half but could get no closer, as the Huskers continued to struggle in the second half. NU hit just 11-of-32 shots after intermission to finish at a season-low 27.4 percent (17-62) from the field for the game.
Kansas State cooled down from the field to finish at 51.7 percent, while hitting just 2-of-8 three-point attempts in the second half, but NU was never able to make a dent in the KSU lead.
Kiera Hardy scored just eight points on just 3-of-14 shooting to end her streak of 25 consecutive games scoring in double figures, while Jelena Spiric added eight points and five rebounds, but hit just 3-of-9 shots from the field. Chelsea Aubry was NU's next leading scorer with just four points on 1-of-9 shooting on the night.
Diaz scored NU's first points of the night in the opening 10 seconds of the game to give NU its only lead at 2-0, before the Wildcats scored seven straight points to take a 2-7 lead with 17:40 left in the first half. The Huskers answered with a 6-2 run to cut the KSU lead to 9-8 with 14:20 to play on Hardy's jumper, but NU then went ice cold from the field, going scoreless for the next 5:37.
Kansas State responded with a 16-0 run to take a commanding 25-8 lead with 9:28 left in the opening half. Spiric and Diaz scored back-to-back baskets to trim the lead to 13 points with 8:12 left in the half, before the Wildcats outscored the Huskers 16-4 over the final eight minutes of the half to take a 41-17 lead into the locker room.
Before Nebraska's game with the Wildcats, more than 400 Husker fans gathered at Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kan., to participate in the Husker Nation Tour "Beyond the Borders" event that featured former Husker NFL stars Will Shields and Neil Smith, along with former NU quarterback and current assistant director of athletic development Tommie Frazier. The event included a presentation by Associate Athletic Director for Football Tim Cassidy of NU's 2005 football recruiting class and video welcomes from NU men's basketball coach Barry Collier and women's basketball coach Connie Yori.