Lincoln - Kelsey Griffin produced her second straight double-double and Cory Montgomery scored a team-high 15 points, as the Nebraska women's basketball team rallied for a 76-62 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the Huskers' home opener at the Devaney Center on Friday night.
Griffin, a 6-2 forward from Eagle River, Alaska, scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, to post her fifth career double-double. Griffin, who had 11 points and nine rebounds in the second half to lead NU to a win over No. 18 New Mexico on Monday, added nine points and eight boards in the second half against the Titans.
Nebraska improved to 3-1 with the victory, while Cal State Fullerton slipped to 1-2, including a loss at Iowa State on Wednesday.
True freshman Cory Montgomery scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second half, while senior forward Chelsea Aubry also added eight of her 10 points in the second stanza to power the Huskers.
While Nebraska's post players dominated the second half, it was the guards who shot the Huskers back into the game in the first half. Nebraska trailed 18-7 midway through the first half after Cal State Fullerton connected on its first five shots from the field and eight of its first 10 to take control early.
"Even though we got behind, I definitely feel like we were ready to play," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We had a great warmup and our team was ready to go in the locker room. Then that just didn't quite carry over to court at the start of the game. We hit some shots and then we were able to turn up our defensive pressure and get more aggressive as the game wore on."
But freshman Nicole Neals sparked the Husker comeback by burying a pair of three-pointers. Neals finished the first half with eight points.
TK LaFleur also gave NU a lift by hitting a three off the bench and turning up Nebraska's defensive pressure to begin to reel in the Titans.
Then Kiera Hardy took over.
The two-time first-team All-Big 12 guard got a steal and a layup to pull NU within two possessions at 26-20 with five minutes left in the half.
A pair of Hardy free throws cut CSF's lead to three at 27-24, before a jumper and a three-pointer cut the Titans' lead to just one point at 34-33 at halftime. Hardy scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half, including the 202nd and 203rd three-pointers of her career.
In the second half, it was all inside for the Huskers. Aubry gave NU its first lead since 4-2 with a layup just 11 seconds into the second half to make it 35-34. She added another layup to give the Huskers the lead for good at 37-36 with 18:21 left. Montgomery, Griffin and Danielle Page, who scored six of her eight points in the second half, then carried the scoring and rebounding load the rest of the way for Nebraska.
The Huskers shot 48.2 percent (27-56) from the field, including 35 percent (7-20) from three-point range. NU also hit 71.4 percent (15-21) of its free throws and outrebounded CSF, 34-29. Nebraska also forced 23 Titan turnovers, while committing just 18 turnovers of its own.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Charlee Underwood, who hit 10-of-15 field goal attempts, including a pair of three-pointers, to finish with a game-high 25 points. Underwood hit her first seven field goal attempts of the game to shoot the Titans to the early lead. Toni Thomas added 12 points and nine boards for Fullerton, while India McDaniel added 12 points of her own.
Nebraska continues a three-game stretch against California foes when the Huskers travel to Irvine, Calif., to take on the UC-Irvine Anteaters on Friday, Nov. 24 at 9 p.m. central time. The Huskers conclude a two-game West Coast road trip against No. 19 USC on Sunday at 4 p.m. central at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Official Basketball Box Score CSF vs Nebraska 11/17/06 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, NE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: CSF (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 23 Underwood, Charlee.. f 10-15 2-4 3-3 1 2 3 3 25 0 4 0 3 39 33 Bennett, Alison..... f 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 18 44 Thomas, Toni........ c 5-11 1-1 1-2 3 6 9 0 12 3 5 0 1 31 14 Taylor, Audrey...... g 1-8 0-1 1-2 1 3 4 1 3 5 3 0 0 34 22 McDaniel, India..... g 3-5 0-1 6-10 0 1 1 2 12 1 6 0 1 32 02 Weathersby, Daviyonn 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 3 04 Scott, Jasmine...... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 10 Adams, Andrea....... 2-6 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 5 2 2 0 0 17 24 Tupou, Salote....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 32 Adams, Ariel........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 0 2 1 0 1 18 TEAM................ 1 2 3 Totals.............. 23-51 5-12 11-17 8 21 29 18 62 14 23 0 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-25 60.0% 2nd Half: 8-26 30.8% Game: 45.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 41.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 9-14 64.3% Game: 64.7% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska (3-1) 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 2-7 1-4 0-0 2 8 10 2 5 4 7 0 1 30 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 5-11 0-1 3-6 6 6 12 2 13 0 2 0 3 24 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 4-6 1-2 1-2 1 0 1 1 10 3 3 0 0 27 02 FORD, Ashley........ g 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 4 2 0 1 27 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 4-10 2-6 4-4 1 2 3 4 14 4 1 0 1 27 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 2-5 2-4 2-2 0 1 1 1 8 0 2 0 0 16 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 19 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 5-8 0-0 5-7 0 1 1 0 15 0 1 0 1 16 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 8 3 0 1 0 12 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 27-56 7-20 15-21 10 24 34 14 76 19 18 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 15-28 53.6% Game: 48.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-15 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 35.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 11-17 64.7% Game: 71.4% 4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jesse Dickerson, Scott Fruehling, Jeffrey Stromgren Technical fouls: CSF-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2645 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total CSF........................... 34 28 - 62 Nebraska...................... 33 43 - 76