Lincoln - Nebraska watched No. 24 Texas A&M race to a 19-4 lead to open the game and the Huskers were never able to recover, as the Aggies notched a 69-50 victory over the Huskers in front of 6,143 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 12-10 overall and 4-7 in the Big 12, while Texas A&M improved to 19-5 overall and 8-3 in the league standings.
Despite the loss, the Huskers received another strong performance from freshman Kelsay Griffin, who finished with 20 points, on 9-of-10 shooting from the field. She also led the Huskers with five rebounds and three steals. It was Griffin's best shooting effort of the season, her third career 20-point effort and second in the last three contests. Over NU's last three games, Griffin is averaing 22.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Griffin, who scored 16 of her 20 points in the first half, was joined in double figures by junior All-Big 12 guard Kiera Hardy, who finished with 10 points despite hitting just 3-of-13 shots from the floor.
Morenike Atunrase led Texas A&M with her first double-double of the year, totaling game highs in points (23) and rebounds (10), as she hit 8-of-13 shots from the floor, including all three attempts from three-point range. Atunrase finished with 19 first-half points, hitting 7-of-8 shots from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Takia Starks and A'Quonesia Franklin aslo totaled double-digit efforts in the win, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively, as the Aggies shot 55 percent in the first half, including 5-of-8 from three-point range, and never trailed after scoring the game's first nine points.
The Aggies came out firing in the first half, sprinting to a 19-4 lead by hitting 8-of-11 shots from the field to open the game. The Aggies knocked down a trio of three-pointers during the game's first five minutes to put the Huskers in an early hole. But Nebraska battled back, scoring nine straight points after the first media timeout to cut A&M's lead to eight points at 23-15 after four straight points from Griffin.
The Aggies answered back with a 9-0 run of their own to push their lead to 17 points on a Starks jumper to make it 32-15, before Hardy scored on a three-point play to make it 32-18 with 9:33 left in the first half.
Texas A&M led by 17 points on three occasions in the first half, the last time coming after a Danielle Gant jumper to make it 41-24 with under four minutes left in the half. Nebraska closed the half with momentum, outscoring A&M 6-2 in the final 3:30 to trim the Aggies' lead to 43-30 at halftime.
After a slow start for both teams to the second half, A&M scored six straight points to take a 19-point lead at 51-32 with 14:00 left in the game. The Huskers answered with a 6-0 run of their own, capped by a Hardy three-pointer with 12:22 left to trim the A&M edge back to 13 points.
Both teams struggled to score throughout the second half before the Aggies scored seven straight points to take a 62-42 lead with 5:54 to play. A&M took its biggest lead of the game at 21 points with 1:16 to play.
The Huskers return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 15, as they travel to Lawrence, Kan., to take on the Jayhawks. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and Wednesday's game can be heard on selected Pinnacle Sports Network stations and on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Texas A&M vs Nebraska 02/11/06 1:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, NE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Texas A&M 19-5, 8-3 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 12 Micheaux, La Toya... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 15 21 Atunrase, Morenike.. f 8-13 3-3 4-7 3 7 10 2 23 1 5 3 2 35 24 Reado, Patrice...... f 1-3 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 1 18 03 Starks, Takia....... g 6-11 1-3 1-2 0 1 1 4 14 3 2 0 1 26 10 Franklin, A'Quonesia g 4-11 1-4 2-2 0 6 6 2 11 5 6 0 1 35 05 Toran, Brittany..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 11 Gulley, LaToya...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 Roy, Erica.......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 2 1 0 1 17 22 Wilks, Jennifer..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 23 Pounds, Katy........ 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 30 Scales, Tamea....... 2-6 0-1 4-5 2 2 4 0 8 0 5 0 3 16 52 Zimova, Lenka....... 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 10 55 Gant, Danielle...... 1-4 0-0 2-2 3 3 6 2 4 0 1 0 4 17 TEAM................ 3 3 Totals.............. 25-55 5-11 14-22 16 23 39 17 69 11 22 3 16 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-31 54.8% 2nd Half: 8-24 33.3% Game: 45.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 45.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 10-17 58.8% Game: 63.6% 4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 12-10, 4-7 Big12 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 9-10 0-0 2-3 1 4 5 4 20 0 4 1 3 30 33 GERHART, Jessica.... f 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 0 6 1 2 0 1 24 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 0-3 0-1 3-4 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 0 0 25 02 FORD, Ashley........ g 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 17 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 3-13 1-5 3-4 0 1 1 2 10 1 2 0 1 28 05 HOWELL, LaToya...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 5 0 4 6 0 4 23 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 2-8 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 2 5 1 2 0 1 23 14 WHITE, Sarah........ 1-3 0-1 2-2 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 15 DIAZ, Elena......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 2 14 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 12 TEAM................ 1 1 2 1 Totals.............. 19-45 1-8 11-15 6 18 24 17 50 9 25 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-23 47.8% 2nd Half: 8-22 36.4% Game: 42.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-3 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 12.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 73.3% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jeff Caudle, Artrail Tillman, Amy Bonner Technical fouls: Texas A&M-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 6143 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Texas A&M..................... 43 26 - 69 Nebraska...................... 30 20 - 50