Lincoln - Kiera Hardy connected on six three-pointers to break Nebraska's all-time three-point mark with 158 career threes while scoring a game-high 29 points in the Husker women's basketball team's 70-62 loss to Texas at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night.
Hardy passed current WNBA All-Star Anna DeForge, who hit 155 three-pointers in 117 career games, with her second three-pointer of the second half at the 16:54 mark before connecting on two more three-pointers the rest of the way to keep NU with striking distance of the Longhorns. Hardy established NU's record in just her 75th career game. On the night, Hardy hit 6-of-10 from behind the arc, while her 29 points marked her second-best scoring total of the season.
Despite Hardy's record-breaking night, the Huskers could not overcome UT's plus-17 rebounding margin (40-23) and 53.6 percent shooting from the field. Led by 22 points and 12 rebounds from Tiffany Jackson, the Longhorns turned a five-point halftime lead into a 17-point second-half advantage before the Huskers made a strong surge down the stretch.
Aubry Cook added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Longhorns, who improved to 9-6 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12 with their third straight win. Nebraska slipped to 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the league with its third straight setback.
Freshman Kelsey Griffin joined Hardy in double digits with 12 points, while LaToya Howell added six points and five assists.
Down 7-2 early in the first half, Hardy sparked a 10-0 Husker run with back-to-back three pointers to take the lead 12-7 with just over 14 minutes left in the game. The Huskers pushed the lead out to six with a basket from Hardy to make it 16-10 less than seven minutes into the game, but the Longhorns responded with a 12-4 surge to regain the lead at 22-20 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
In a half that featured five ties and five lead changes, the two teams were tied at 20, 22, 24 and 28, before Texas gained a measure of control late in the first half on Daria Mielosynska's three-pointer with 50 seconds left to give UT a 37-32 halftime lead.
Hardy led the Huskers with 11 points, including a pair of three-pointers, in the first half, while Griffin and Howell each scored six first-half points. Jessica Gerhart pitched in five points in the first half.
The Longhorns started strong in the second half, scoring the first six points to take the first double-digit lead by either team in the game at 43-32 with 18:31 left. After a Nebraska timeout, Hardy buried a long three-pointer to tie the Nebraska all-time three-point record with her 155th career three to cut UT's lead to 43-35 with 17:45 left.
Less than a minute later, Hardy connected on another big three to set the school career record and pull NU with seven with 16:54 left. NU then got another stop and Howell hit Griffin in transition for a layup to pull NU back within five points at 45-40.
The Longhorns answered with a 14-2 run to push the lead out to 17 at 59-42, until Hardy broke the Huskers' scoring drought with a layup with nine minutes to play. Hardy scored 10 of the Huskers' first 12 points in the second half.
The Huskers slowly chipped away at the Texas lead, bringing it within nine with a pair of free throws from Hardy with just over five minutes to play. Jackson pushed it back to 11 with a layup, but Griffin was fouled in a bonus situation and buried both free throws with 4:15 to play. Danielle Page then knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the UT lead to seven at 66-59 with 3:50 left.
The Huskers had several excellent scoring opportunities from the field after trimming the lead with eight straight points at the foul line, but NU would get no closer the rest of the way.
Nebraska shot under 40 percent from the field for the third straight game, hitting just 38.5 percent of its chances, but the Huskers did connect on 6-of-16 three-pointers (37.5 percent). NU was also strong at the foul line, hitting 88.9 percent (16-18) of its attempts while outscoring UT, 16-7, at the charity stripe.
NU committed just 14 turnovers against the Longhorns to finish at plus-five in the turnover department, but UT pulled down 11 offensive rebounds compared to just four for the Huskers, while outscoring NU in second-chance points, 12-0.
The Huskers return to road action by taking on Texas Tech on Saturday, Jan. 21, at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Tip-off is set for 5:06 p.m. with a live national telecast by Fox Sports Net. The game can also be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network, including 98.1 KFGE in Lincoln and world wide on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score UT vs Nebraska 01/18/06 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, NE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: UT 9-6, 3-2 Big 12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 33 Jackson, Tiffany.... f 9-17 0-0 4-5 3 9 12 1 22 4 4 0 4 40 51 Mieloszynska, Daria. f 2-4 2-4 0-0 1 3 4 3 6 3 2 0 0 24 43 Cook, Aubry......... c 6-7 0-0 3-3 3 5 8 1 15 1 2 0 0 19 04 Arriaran, Erika..... g 3-7 1-3 0-0 0 3 3 2 7 4 6 0 3 19 22 Norman, Nina........ g 3-8 0-1 0-1 0 2 2 3 6 1 2 2 0 30 01 Cobbins, Tamra...... 2-5 0-0 0-1 1 3 4 1 4 2 1 1 1 25 20 Bailey, Erneisha.... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 23 Reed, Coco.......... 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 1 15 34 Boyd, Crystal....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 35 Lindsey, Ashley..... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 11 44 Robinson, Katrina... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 0 10 TEAM................ 2 2 4 1 Totals.............. 30-56 3-8 7-12 11 29 40 17 70 15 19 6 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-29 55.2% 2nd Half: 14-27 51.9% Game: 53.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 37.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 58.3% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 10-6, 2-3 Big 12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 33 GERHART, Jessica.... f 2-6 0-1 1-2 0 5 5 3 5 0 0 0 0 20 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 0 2 0 0 24 05 HOWELL, LaToya...... g 2-11 0-3 2-2 0 0 0 5 6 5 1 1 1 31 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 10-21 6-10 3-4 0 4 4 2 29 2 2 0 3 38 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... g 2-4 0-0 8-8 0 2 2 2 12 1 1 1 2 31 02 FORD, Ashley........ 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 1 2 0 0 7 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 14 14 WHITE, Sarah........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 5 15 DIAZ, Elena......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 13 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 1-3 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 0 4 0 1 1 1 17 TEAM................ Totals.............. 20-52 6-16 16-18 4 19 23 15 62 9 14 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-23 47.8% 2nd Half: 9-29 31.0% Game: 38.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 37.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 8-10 80.0% 2nd Half: 8-8 100 % Game: 88.9% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Michael Price, Dee Kanter, John Fullilove Technical fouls: UT-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2666 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total UT............................ 37 33 - 70 Nebraska...................... 32 30 - 62