Laramie, Wyo. - Kiera Hardy scored 21 points to lead three Huskers in double figures as the Nebraska women's basketball team overcame a 58-57 deficit late in the second half to secure a 72-67 road victory in front of 4,443 fans at the Arena-Auditorium on Wednesday night.
With the victory, Nebraska advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT for the first time in school history and improved to 19-12 on the season. The Huskers, who have won seven of their past nine games, will take on Big 12 Conference rival Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan. The Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals with a 64-61 win over Fresno State in Manhattan.
Nebraska's 19 victories are the most since the 1998-99 season for the Huskers, while the Wyoming finished one of the best seasons in school history with a 21-9.
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said it was a tremendous effort by her team.
"I thought it was a great effort by all of our players, especially with the travel situation, our health situation and the altitude," Yori said. "We had a bunch of players that were far from 100 percent tonight, and we toughed it out and find a way to win in a tough place to play on the road. This is really a great win for our team, and I am really proud of our players."
Trailing 58-57, Hardy connected on her fifth three-pointer of the game to give the Huskers a 60-58 lead with 6:29 remaining in the game. Nebraska pushed its lead to four points on two occasions, the last time on Jessica Gerhart's jumper with 3:15 left. Jodi Bolerjack, who finished with 21 points, converted a three-point play to pull the Cowgirls within one point with 2:41 left.
Then Wyoming's Dominque Sisk was fouled and hit the first free throw to tie the game at 65 with 2:08 left, before missing the second free throw. Chelsea Aubry, who produced her seventh double-figure scoring effort of the season with 10 points, pulled down the defensive rebound and LaToya Howell was fouled on her way to the basket to earn two shots.
Howell hit both free throws with 1:40 left, before Hanna Zavick, who led all scorers with 27 points, hit a runner to tie the game at 67 with 1:11.
Kelsey Griffin put the Huskers in control by converting a three-point play on a strong drive to the basket with 1:02 left to give NU a 70-67 lead. Griffin, the Dallas Morning News Big 12 Freshman of the Year, finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and a block despite battling illness.
Nebraska forced a turnover on Wyoming's next possession on sophomore Danielle Page put the exclamation point on the win with her only basket of the game in the closing seconds of the game to give NU the 72-67 win.
The Huskers got off to a strong start, jumping to a 15-3 lead on the strength of five quick points from Aubry and four points from Howell to spark a 12-0 NU run. Howell finished a strong game with eight points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.
But Wyoming answered with a 10-0 run of its own to cut NU's lead to 15-13 with 11:40 left in the first half.
The Huskers weathered the storm of the Cowgirls' first run thanks in large part to a scoring explosion by Hardy. The two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection scored 11 of NU's next 15 points to push the Huskers' lead back to 30-20, before TK LaFleur knocked down a jumper to match NU's biggest lead of the game at 12 points at 32-20 with four minutes left.
The Cowgirls finished the half strong, outscoring Nebraska 8-0 in the final 3:30 to close the half and send the Huskers to the locker room with a 32-28 halftime margin.
Nebraska opened the half solid again, pushing its lead back to eight points at 39-31. The Huskers maintained the lead until the Cowgirls took their first lead of the game at 50-49 with 10:33 left after five straight points from Zavick. The Cowgirls managed a one-point lead on three occasions in the second half before NU finally prevailed.
For the game, Nebraska shot 51.9 percent from the field, including 50 percent (9-18) from three-point range. The Huskers also knocked down 9-of-13 free throws, while outrebounding UW, 32-27. NU forced only 10 turnovers, but the Huskers turned the ball over only 12 times.
Wyoming managed 42.6 percent shooting from the field, including 9-of-27 shooting from three-point range. The Cowgirls also hit 12-of-15 free throws.
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Wyoming Cowgirls (3/22/06 at Laramie, Wyoming (Arena Auditoirum))
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Wyoming Cowgirls 3/22/06 7:00 p.m. at Laramie, Wyoming (Arena Auditoirum) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska Cornhuskers 19-12 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 2-3 1 6 7 1 10 1 0 1 0 23 33 GERHART, Jessica.... f 4-7 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 0 8 0 3 0 0 25 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 4-6 2-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 10 1 2 0 1 25 05 HOWELL, LaToya...... g 1-2 0-1 6-8 1 3 4 4 8 8 2 0 3 36 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 8-17 5-9 0-0 2 3 5 2 21 1 3 0 1 31 02 FORD, Ashley........ 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 3-4 2-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 8 0 2 0 0 21 14 WHITE, Sarah........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 15 DIAZ, Elena......... 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 3 5 1 0 0 1 15 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 16 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 27-52 9-18 9-13 7 25 32 12 72 12 12 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-28 46.4% 2nd Half: 14-24 58.3% Game: 51.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 50.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 69.2% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Wyoming Cowgirls 21-9 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 05 ZAVECZ, Hanna....... f 10-17 4-9 3-4 1 5 6 1 27 2 1 2 3 37 25 TAYLOR, Michelle.... f 2-7 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 4 0 1 1 1 31 02 BOLERJACK, Jodi..... g 6-16 3-11 6-7 1 2 3 2 21 1 1 0 0 38 23 HICKS, Erin......... g 0-5 0-3 0-0 0 5 5 3 0 3 2 0 1 33 24 MCGUFFEY, Megan..... g 2-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 5 2 3 0 2 28 12 SISK, Dominique..... 2-3 1-2 3-4 1 2 3 0 8 4 1 0 0 24 42 EWING, Lorissa...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 9 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 23-54 9-27 12-15 8 19 27 10 67 12 10 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 13-26 50.0% Game: 42.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 23.1% 2nd Half: 6-14 42.9% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 80.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Peter Contreras, Michol Murray, Les Williams Technical fouls: Nebraska Cornhuskers-None. Wyoming Cowgirls-None. Attendance: 4443 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska Cornhuskers.......... 32 40 - 72 Wyoming Cowgirls.............. 28 39 - 67 Largest attendance in Wyoming history