Ames, Iowa - The Nebraska women's basketball team struggled through a poor shooting night and the illness of freshman forward Kelsey Griffin to suffer a 79-57 loss at Iowa State on Saturday night at Hilton Coliseum.
The Huskers (10-5, 2-2) shot below 40 percent from the field the for the second straight game, while Griffin, the Big 12 Rookie of the Week, battled a severe case of the stomach flu to play just 15 minutes in the loss.
Nebraska junior forward Jessica Gerhart led the Huskers with 12 points, while Chelsea Aubry added 10 points, including a career-high tying three three-pointers for the Huskers. Junior guard Kiera Hardy scored just six points after being limited in the first half with two early fouls. Hardy hit just 3-of-13 shots from the field, including an 0-for-7 night from three-point range. In a gutsy performance, Griffin finished with eight points and five rebounds before fouling out.
Iowa State junior guard Lyndsey Medders scored a game-high 31 points, including 20 in the first half alone, to power the Cylcones (11-4, 2-2). Medders and the Cyclones forced 11 turnovers in the first half, which they converted into 21 points to take control of the game. Entering the game, Nebraska had committed a total of just 28 turnovers in three Big 12 games, but finished with 15 turnovers against ISU on the night.
"Lyndsey Medders had a great game tonight," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "She was clearly in control of the game. She was hitting shots and distributing the ball. She played a great game. To Iowa State's credit, they got all the loose balls and all the hustle plays. We did not play well at all in the first half, but I thought we came out and competed hard in the second half. It just wasn't the Huskers' night."
Nebraska got off to a solid start to build a 13-7 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half. Senior forward Elena Diaz led the Huskers with six points off the bench early to help the Huskers to the quick lead. Diaz was one of four NU forwards who combined for Nebraska's first 21 points of the game.
After Diaz hit her second straight jumper to put NU up 13-7, Iowa State sprinted out to a 12-0 run to take a 19-13 lead after a Medders' three-pointer with 9:10 left in the half.
Gerhart, a native of Fenton, Iowa, stopped ISU's run with four straight points to cut the Cyclone lead to 19-17 with 8:30 left in the half. Gerhart led the Huskers with eight first-half points.
The Huskers cut into the ISU lead again as Aubry scored four straight points after a Medders' three to trim the Cyclone advantage to 22-21 with 7:10 left. Aubry finished with seven points in the first half to keep the Huskers within striking distance.
Iowa State then went on an 8-0 run to push its lead to 30-21, before Ashley Ford knocked down a three-pointer with 4:25 in the half to bring the Huskers within 30-24. Ford's three-pointer marked the only points by a Nebraska guard in the first half.
The Cyclones closed the half on a 9-3 surge, including six straight points by Medders to close the half, as Iowa State took its biggest lead at 39-27 heading into the locker room at halftime.
Nebraska was never able to get the lead to single digits in the second half, as Iowa State's lead large grew as large as 24 points in the second half.
Nebraska returns home to the Devaney Center in Lincoln on Wednesday, Jan. 18, to take on Texas. Tip-off against the Longhorns is set for 7:05 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Iowa State Cyclones 1-14-06 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska Cornhuskers 10-5, 2-2 Big12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 05 HOWELL, LaToya...... * 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 2 10 5 0 1 26 21 HARDY, Kiera........ * 3-13 0-7 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 2 2 0 1 22 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... * 3-5 0-0 2-4 4 1 5 5 8 0 0 0 1 15 33 GERHART, Jessica.... * 6-15 0-1 0-0 1 4 5 2 12 0 1 0 1 26 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... * 3-9 3-6 1-2 3 5 8 1 10 2 3 0 1 31 02 FORD, Ashley........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 1 0 0 0 13 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-5 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 2 1 0 0 22 14 WHITE, Sarah........ 1-2 1-2 1-2 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 7 15 DIAZ, Elena......... 4-7 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 8 0 1 0 2 21 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 0 2 1 0 17 TEAM................ 2 4 6 Totals.............. 24-64 5-19 4-8 14 24 38 21 57 17 15 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-26 42.3% 2nd Half: 13-38 34.2% Game: 37.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 2-11 18.2% Game: 26.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 50.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Iowa State Cyclones 11-4, 2-2 Big12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 05 Wieben, Nicky....... * 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 21 14 Medders, Lyndsey.... * 11-19 5-9 4-4 1 1 2 1 31 7 3 0 0 37 15 Ezell, Heather...... * 3-11 2-7 3-3 0 4 4 0 11 6 3 0 3 36 31 Ronhovde, Megan..... * 2-7 2-6 1-5 4 9 13 4 7 6 0 1 2 40 51 Wilkins, Brittany... * 8-11 1-2 0-2 1 9 10 1 17 0 2 3 0 30 25 Bildeaux, Lisa...... 4-8 0-1 3-3 1 2 3 1 11 3 3 2 2 32 30 Beenken, Kandice.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 32 Nisleit, Amanda..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 40 Reinert, Abby....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 TEAM................ 1 1 2 Totals.............. 29-58 10-25 11-18 9 27 36 9 79 22 12 8 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-27 55.6% 2nd Half: 14-31 45.2% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 6-14 42.9% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 61.1% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Wesley Dean, Scotty Hermann, Metta Roberts Technical fouls: Nebraska Cornhuskers-None. Iowa State Cyclones-None. Attendance: 10838 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska Cornhuskers.......... 27 30 - 57 Iowa State Cyclones........... 39 40 - 79