Tempe, Ariz. - Kelsey Griffin notched the fourth double-double of her career, while Kiera Hardy and Jelena Spiric each added double figures to power Nebraska to a 66-59 victory over No. 18 New Mexico at the Veterans Day Classic at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday afternoon.
Griffin finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, including 11 points and nine boards in the second half to lead the Huskers. Hardy added 16 points, including an eight-point run to the close the first half and put NU in the lead. Spiric added 13 points and five rebounds in a strong effort to help the Huskers improve to 2-1 on the season with their only loss at No. 13 Arizona State on Friday night.
Nebraska's victory over the No. 18 Lobos was the Huskers' first over a top-25 team on the road in non-conference play since beating No. 16 Western Kentucky in the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT in Storrs, Conn., in 1997.
"Wow, what a great game. Kelsey played a great game, Jelena played a great game, Kiera played a great game - everybody played a great game for us," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Kiera gave us a big lift to close the first half and then we just wouldn't give in when New Mexico came back. Kelsey and Jelena played really big for us in the second half."
Chelsea Aubry added six points and seven boards for the Huskers, while Cory Montgomery pitched in five first-half points.
For the game, Nebraska shot 40 percent (22-55) from the field, including 30 percent (6-20) from three-point range. NU also hit 16-of-25 free throws. The Huskers also won the battle of the boards, 44-41. NU forced 15 Lobo turnovers, but committed 18 miscues on the day.
Nebraska's solid defense held New Mexico to just 35 percent (21-60) shooting from the field, including just 28.6 percent (6-21) from three-point range. The Lobos also struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 11-of-22 free throws.
Dionne Marsh led the Lobos with 16 points and six rebounds, while Brandi Kimble added 12 points and eight boards. Julie Briody contributed 11 points and six rebounds in a losing effort. Lincoln native Katie Montgomery, the nation's second-leading three-point shooter in 2005-06, connected on just 2-of-10 three-pointers on the day against a Husker defense that held her to eight points.
Hardy sparked the Huskers late in the first half by scoring eight straight points to shoot Nebraska to a 33-30 lead. Hardy's 200th career three-pointer gave NU a 31-30 lead with just over one minute left in the opening period, after knocking down her first three-pointer of the game a minute earlier to cut into New Mexico's 30-25 lead.
Hardy's landmark three-pointer made her just the 12th player in Big 12 Conference history to reach the 200 mark. Hardy also moved up to No. 9 on NU's all-time scoring list during her eight-point eruption.
The 5-6 guard from Kansas City, Mo., capped her outburst with a jumper with 32 seconds left to give the Huskers their biggest lead of the half.
New Mexico's five-point lead before Hardy's streak was the Lobos' largest in a game that did remained a two-possession for the first 33 minutes of the contest.
Hardy hit her third three-pointer of the contest with just under 12 minutes left in the game to push NU's lead to 46-42, before knocking down a jumper to extend NU's lead to five at 51-46 with just over eight minutes to play.
Spiric made it a three-possession game for the first time by scoring four straight points to give NU a 55-48 with seven minutes in the game.
The lead grew to eight points when Griffin scored four straight points to give the Huskers a 59-51 advantage with 3:24 in the game. Spiric pushed the NU lead to 10 points for the only time with a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left.
Nebraska will play its regular-season home opener against Cal State Fullerton at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7:05 p.m.
The Nebraska Student-Athlete Advisory Committee encourages all fans to bring new or good condition picture or chapter books to donate to the "Read to Succeed" Book Drive. The donated books will be distributed to Lincoln Public School students to help promote a love of reading with their families. Books will also be collected at the Husker volleyball match with Texas A&M on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the NU Coliseum and at the NU men's basketball game against Creighton on Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Devaney Center.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs New Mexico 11-13-06 3:00 PM MT at Ned Wulk Court - Tempe, Ariz.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 2-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 04 SPIRIC, Jelena...... f 5-7 1-3 2-6 2 3 5 2 13 2 2 1 0 34 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 5-8 0-0 7-9 2 10 12 2 17 0 7 1 3 29 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 3-9 0-3 0-0 1 6 7 2 6 2 1 0 0 28 02 FORD, Ashley........ g 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 4 0 2 1 0 2 14 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 5-13 3-6 3-4 1 3 4 3 16 1 5 0 1 32 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 1-4 1-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 15 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 2 1 0 2 20 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 2-8 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 5 0 0 0 0 12 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 0-2 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 11 TEAM................ 6 1 7 Totals.............. 22-55 6-20 16-25 16 28 44 21 66 10 18 2 8 199
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 10-27 37.0% Game: 40.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 30.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 10-16 62.5% Game: 64.0% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: New Mexico 1-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 33 MARSH, Dionne....... f 8-13 0-0 0-1 2 4 6 2 16 2 3 2 1 37 44 HARTILL, Angela..... c 1-2 0-0 3-4 1 6 7 4 5 2 1 1 0 23 13 MONTGOMERY, Katie... g 2-12 2-10 2-2 0 4 4 3 8 3 2 0 6 38 40 BRIODY, Julie....... g 3-6 2-3 3-4 1 5 6 0 11 2 1 1 1 29 41 KIMBLE, Brandi...... g 5-15 2-5 0-4 5 3 8 1 12 0 1 0 2 25 03 WEISSMANN, Eileen... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 10 BEGGIN, Amy......... 1-7 0-2 2-4 2 0 2 3 4 5 3 0 2 27 11 SHELTER, Christian.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 15 E-NUNU, Timi........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 5 0 0 3 0 0 10 34 KAST, Valerie....... 1-1 0-0 1-3 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 4 TEAM................ 3 3 Totals.............. 21-60 6-21 11-22 17 24 41 22 59 14 15 5 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 9-30 30.0% Game: 35.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-11 18.2% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 28.6% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 50.0% 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Chuck Gonzalez, Jay Schumaker, Darla Foutz Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. New Mexico-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 33 33 - 66 New Mexico.................... 30 29 - 59