Hardy Earns Big 12 Honor

Lincoln - Junior Kiera Hardy earned Big 12 Conference Player-of-the-Week honors for her performance in helping the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 2-1 record last week, the league office in Dallas announced on Monday.

Hardy, a 5-6 guard from Kansas City, Mo., captured Miami Thanksgiving Classic all-tournament honors after setting the tournament scoring record with 45 points in games against No. 3 LSU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over the weekend.

The returning first-team All-Big 12 guard averaged 22.5 points in two tournament games and outscored 2005 National Player of the Year Seimone Augustus of LSU by putting up 26 points against the Lady Tigers on Friday. Hardy followed with 19 points in the Huskers' win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday.

In addition to her 26 points against LSU, Hardy added five steals and two assists. Against TAMUCC, Hardy dished out five assists and added two steals.

For the season, Hardy is averaging 15.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a team-leading 2.8 steals per game. She has also knocked down a team-best eight three-pointers.

Hardy's award marked the third Big 12 Conference Player-of-the-Week honor of her career.

Nebraska, which returned from Miami on Monday, begins preparations for its road contest at nationally ranked Minnesota scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. in Minneapolis.