Lincoln - Kiera Hardy scored 11 points in the first six minutes to shoot Nebraska to a 15-2 lead and the Nebraska women's basketball team never looked back in a 77-37 win over Texas-Pan American at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Tuesday.
Hardy, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week after averaging 27.5 points per game in weekend wins at UC Irvine and USC, scored 13 points, while adding a rebound, an assist and a steal in just eight first-half minutes to spark Nebraska to a 49-16 lead. Hardy was 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point range, while adding a 2-for-2 effort at the free throw line in the opening perod.
Nebraska improved to 6-1 on the season with their sixth consecutive victory, while Texas-Pan American slipped to 3-4 on the year.
Freshman forward Cory Montgomery added 13 points off the bench in the first half on her way to a career-high 18 points for the game.
The 16 points allowed by the Huskers in the first half tied for the sixth-fewest ever allowed in an opening period by an NU club. LeKeisha Gray scored 12 of the 16 for the Lady Broncs in the first half and finished with a team-high 16 points.
Nebraska hit 16-of-28 shots from the field, including 6-of-12 three-pointers against the Lady Broncs, while knocking down 11-of-14 free throws in the first half. NU also forced 17 first-half turnovers by UTPA, while committing just eight turnovers.
The Huskers held UTPA to just 23.1 percent (6-26) shooting in the first half, including 0-of-3 shooting from three-point range.
After building a big first-half lead, the Husker starters erupted on a 13-0 run out of the locker room in the opening five minutes of the second half to push NU's lead to 46 points at 62-16.
The fast starts by the Huskers in each half impressed Coach Connie Yori.
"I was really worried about our focus heading into the game, since we just got back from a long road trip and had very little time to prepare," Yori said. "Obviously we came out ready to play and got off to a good start in each half. We got our non-starters more minutes than our starters, so that was good to get our younger players some more playing time."
The Huskers had 10 different players find the scoring column, led by Montgomery's career-high 18 points. The 6-2 forward from Cannon Falls, Minn., added three rebounds, two assists and a steal in a strong effort.
Senior forward Chelsea Aubry added nine points in 17 minutes as the only Husker starter to play more than 15 minutes on the night. Kelsey Griffin added six points on 3-of-5 shooting while leading NU on the glass for the seventh straight game with seven rebounds.
Sophomore guard TK LaFleur, a Texas native, added eight points and three rebounds on a perfect shooting night that included a pair of threes to help the Huskers.
For the game, Nebraska shot 51.9 percent (27-52) from the field, including 38.9 percent (7-18) from three-point range. The Huskers also hit 64 percent (16-25) of their free throws.
Texas-Pan American hit just 27.8 percent (15-54) of its shots from the field, including just 14.3 percent (1-7) from three-point range. UTPA was 6-of-9 at the free throw line. The Lady Broncs finished the night with 29 turnovers, but matched NU with 37 rebounds.
The Huskers will enjoy a full week off before continuing their four-game homestand by battling Big Ten power Minnesota on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 7:05 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Texas-Pan American vs Nebraska 11/28/06 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, NE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Texas-Pan American (3-4) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 13 DANIEL, MaHogany.... f 1-6 0-0 0-3 1 6 7 4 2 2 2 2 2 33 52 GRIGSBY, Aleeya..... f 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 15 10 GRAY, LeKeisha...... g 6-11 0-2 4-4 2 1 3 2 16 0 4 0 0 30 15 VAUGHN, Tamara...... g 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 1 2 1 3 0 3 22 24 GARRETT, Robin...... g 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 0 0 2 1 1 14 03 WILSON, Tiona....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 05 JONES, Rachel....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 4 14 FREEMAN, Hadley..... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 10 23 WINFREY, Teshay..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 1 2 0 0 6 25 JEAN, Rose Esther... 2-6 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 3 4 1 0 1 1 19 30 WOODARD, La'Shae.... 3-12 0-0 2-2 1 4 5 3 8 0 6 0 3 21 31 SCHNEIDER, Taylor... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 33 RAMIERZ, Cinthia.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 5 41 COULSON, Whitney.... 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 2 0 1 0 0 14 TEAM................ 3 2 5 1 Totals.............. 15-54 1-7 6-9 16 21 37 22 37 8 29 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-26 23.1% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 27.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-3 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 14.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 66.7% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska (6-1) 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 2-8 1-4 2-2 0 3 3 2 7 3 1 0 1 12 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 3-5 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 1 6 2 0 0 0 15 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 4-5 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 9 0 2 0 1 17 02 FORD, Ashley........ g 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 2 10 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 4-4 3-3 2-2 0 2 2 2 13 2 0 0 1 11 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-5 0-5 0-0 0 2 2 4 0 2 3 0 2 23 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 3-3 2-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 8 0 2 0 1 20 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 20 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... 2-2 0-0 2-4 1 4 5 3 6 1 5 0 3 25 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 5-9 0-0 8-11 3 0 3 1 18 2 2 0 1 22 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 2-4 0-0 0-3 0 1 1 0 4 0 3 1 2 10 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 1-2 0-0 2-3 1 2 3 1 4 1 2 0 3 15 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 27-52 7-18 16-25 11 26 37 17 77 21 21 1 17 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-28 57.1% 2nd Half: 11-24 45.8% Game: 51.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 38.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 11-14 78.6% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 64.0% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Phil Streit, Ann Schroeder, Doug Miller Technical fouls: Texas-Pan American-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2199 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Texas-Pan American............ 16 21 - 37 Nebraska...................... 49 28 - 77