Huskers Power Past Iowa State

Lincoln -- Chelsea Aubry produced one of her best efforts of the season with 13 points to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 54-42 victory over IowaState in front of 4,813 fans at the BobDevaneySportsCenter in Lincoln on Wednesday night.

With its second straight victory, Nebraska improved to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in Big 12 Conference action, while the Cyclones slipped to 12-7 overall and 3-5 in league action. It was Nebraska's third consecutive victory over Iowa State in Lincoln.

Aubry scored 10 of her points in the first half to help the Huskers to a 23-19 halftime lead against the Cyclones, as Nebraska led throughout the final 28 minutes after a sluggish start. Aubry, who entered the game averaging 6.6 points per game, hit a pair of three-pointers in the first half. She scored all 10 of her points during a nine-minute stretch that turned a 7-6 IowaState lead into a 23-13 Husker advantage with 3:26 to play in the first half.

The 6-2 forward from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada tied her career high with a trio of three-pointers and was the only Husker to hit more than one shot from the field in the first half, but six other Huskers managed to find the scoring column against the Cyclones in the opening half. Aubry was the only Husker to manage double figures.

Aubry led a sterling defensive perfornance, as Nebraska held the Cyclones to just 34.1 percent shooting. ISU's 42 points were its lowest total in nearly two years. Nebraska also forced ISU into 21 turnovers, wreaking havoc with a full-court press that helped control the tempo.

The 42 points allowed marked Nebraska’s second-lowest total in a Big 12 game in Connie Yori’s four seasons at NU and the third-lowest opponent total ever for the Huskers in a Big 12 Conference game. ISU managed just 15 field goals to tie NU's opponent season low, but the Huskers also tied their season low with just 19 made field goals. Nebraska's 52 points represented its second-lowest scoring total of the year.

While Aubry powered the Huskers in the first half, freshman forward Kelsey Griffin provided the offensive punch in the second half scoring all nine of her points after halftime. Griffin also set a career high with four steals. Kiera Hardy also added nine points, including seven in the second half, to help the Huskers.

Playing without leading scorer Lyndsey Medders who was on the bench in crutches and a walking boot on her right foot, Iowa State shot to a quick 7-0 lead in the first 1:24 on five points from Megan Ronhovde and two from Heather Ezell.  Ronhovde led all scorers with 19 points, including five three-pointers, while Ezell finished with 10 points and a game-high seven assists.

Nebraska answered with an 8-0 run of their own over the next six minutes to take its first lead at 8-7 on Aubry's first jumper of the night. After a Brittany Wilkins basket gave the lead back to the Cyclones, Aubry hit a three-pointer to help the Huskers outscore ISU, 15-4, over the next seven minutes to build a 23-13 lead. But IowaState shut Nebraska out the rest of the first half, while Ezell and Ronhovde hit back-to-back three-pointers to close the half and pull ISU back within four points at the half.

Defensively, Nebraska forced 13 ISU turnovers in the first half, but committed 10 miscues of its own in the opening stanza.

ISU closed to within 23-21 on a Wilkins basket with 19:19 left in the game, but a pair of Griffin baskets triggered a 10-0 Husker run over the next 8:03, helping NU take a 33-21 lead. Once again, Nebraska’s run was keyed on the defensive end, as the Huskers forced ISU to miss seven straight shots from the floor and commit four turnovers in pushing the lead back to double digits.

The Cyclones were unable to cut into Nebraska’s lead in the second stanza, as the Huskers pushed the margin to as many as 17 points at 48-31 after a Griffin jumper with just over three minutes remaining and cruised to a comfortable 12-point win.

Nebraska returns to road action in Big 12 play when the Huskers travel to Kansas State on Saturday. Tip-off time with the Wildcats in Manhattan is set for 7 p.m., with a national telecast provided by Fox Sports Net.

 

Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score ISU vs Nebraska 02/01/06 7:06 PM at Lincoln, NE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: ISU (12-7, 3-5) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 31 Ronhovde, Megan..... f 6-13 5-10 2-4 1 4 5 4 19 1 5 1 1 40 32 Nisleit, Amanda..... f 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 0 26 51 Wilkins, Brittany... c 4-8 0-1 0-0 2 3 5 4 8 1 5 1 1 28 05 Wieben, Nicky....... g 0-5 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 3 1 0 1 1 2 37 15 Ezell, Heather...... g 3-10 3-9 1-2 0 3 3 3 10 7 5 0 3 40 20 Dawson, Seirra...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 24 Bjerke, Gillian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 25 Bildeaux, Lisa...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 10 30 Beenken, Kandice.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 40 Reinert, Abby....... 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 6 TEAM................ 1 6 7 1 Totals.............. 15-44 8-21 4-8 7 22 29 20 42 10 21 3 7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-19 36.8% 2nd Half: 8-25 32.0% Game: 34.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 38.1% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 50.0% 3

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska (12-7, 4-4) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 4-8 0-0 1-3 2 2 4 1 9 0 1 1 4 28 33 GERHART, Jessica.... f 2-7 0-0 2-2 3 1 4 2 6 0 0 0 0 20 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 5-9 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 3 13 0 1 0 1 35 05 HOWELL, LaToya...... g 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1 3 4 3 0 1 25 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 2-9 0-5 5-7 0 4 4 2 9 3 3 0 1 30 02 FORD, Ashley........ 0-1 0-1 2-2 0 4 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 17 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-4 1-3 1-2 0 1 1 1 4 1 4 0 2 11 14 WHITE, Sarah........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 15 DIAZ, Elena......... 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 0 2 20 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 1 4 0 0 2 0 12 TEAM................ 4 3 7 2 Totals.............. 19-47 4-13 12-18 10 23 33 13 54 10 15 3 12 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-23 43.5% 2nd Half: 9-24 37.5% Game: 40.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 30.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 12-18 66.7% Game: 66.7% 2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Scotty Hermann, Cameron Inouye, Charles Gonzales Technical fouls: ISU-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 4813 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total ISU........................... 19 23 - 42 Nebraska...................... 23 31 - 54