Gainesville, Fla. - Kelsey Griffin produced her fifth double-double of the season to lead four Huskers in double figures as the Nebraska women's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the State Farm Classic with a 94-74 win over NC State at the O'Connell Center on Thursday afternoon.
Nebraska improved to 11-2 on the season with its fifth consecutive victory, while the Wolfpack slipped to 10-3 with the loss. The Huskers advance to play the winner of Thursday's second game between the hosts from Florida and Alabama State.
Griffin, who led the Huskers with 18 points and 10 rebounds, powered a Husker offense that produced its highest point total of the season with 94, against an NC State club that entered the game ranked eighth in the nation allowing just 50.2 points per game. It was also the most points scored by a Wolfpack opponent since then-No. 14 Washington scored 95 on Dec. 21, 1997.
"This was the best we have played all season," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. "Our seniors were awesome tonight, and so was Danielle Page, and our sophomores (Kelsey Griffin and TK LaFleur) were pretty good, too. Obviously, the key stretch in the game came after NC State tied the game and our team responded."
Senior guard Kiera Hardy pitched in 16 points, a game-high five assists and four rebounds, while senior forward Chelsea Aubry pitched in 16 points and three boards while tying her career high with four three-pointers.
Aubry scored 11 points and buried a trio of three-pointers during a 20-1 outburst by the Huskers to take control of the game early in the second half.
Nebraska led 46-39 at the half, but NC State bolted out of the locker room on a 7-0 run in the first two minutes to tie the game at 46. Hardy stopped the run with a jumper, before Aubry added a two-pointer to give the Huskers a four-point cushion with 17:16 left.
Jelena Spiric then hit back-to-back baskets, including a three-pointer, to push NU's lead to nine points with 16 minutes left, before Hardy hit another jumper to match the Huskers' then-biggest lead of the game at 11 points with 15:20 left.
Aubry put the Wolfpack away by connecting on three consecutive three-pointers in the next 1:45 to increase NU's lead to 66-47 with 13:05 to play. NC State never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way, as Nebraska's margin grew to as large as 27 points on Griffin's final basket of the game to make it 85-58 with six minutes left.
TK LaFleur contributed one of the best performances of her career off the bench with 11 points and four rebounds to round out the Husker quartet in double figures.
Ashley Ford added a career high with eight points and four rebounds, while Cory Montgomery pitched in eight points of her own. Spiric and Danielle Page, who grabbed six rebounds, each contributed eight points.
As a team, Nebraska shot 48.4 percent (31-64) from the field, including 58.6 percent in the second half. The Huskers shot a sizzling 53.3 percent (8-15) from three-point range and 80 percent (24-30) at the free throw line. NU also outrebounded NC State 44-36, while committing just 12 turnovers and forcing 15 miscues by the Wolfpack.
NC State hit 41.2 percent (28-68) of its shots, including 28.6 percent (4-14) of its three-pointers. The Wolfpack also managed 66.7 percent shooting (14-21) at the free throw line.
Nebraska led from nearly start to finish, using a 14-2 surge midway through the first half to turn a 16-13 deficit into a 27-18 lead with 10:10 remaining in the half. The Husker lead grew to 11 points on a pair of Griffin free throws with 5:27 left in the half to make it 36-25 NU, but the Wolfpack responded with a 12-4 spurt to cut Nebraska's margin to just three at 40-37 with less than two minutes left in the half.
The Huskers pumped the lead back to nine with a 6-0 run on six straight free throws before Keisha Brown knocked down a jumper in the lane for NC State in the closing seconds of the first half to send the two teams to halftime with NU leading 46-39.
Nebraska Notes
Team
* - The Husker victory was their first over an ACC team since defeating North Carolina, 81-75, at the Carolinas Holiday Beach Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Dec. 20, 1995.
* - Nebraska has won 42 straight games when scoring 80 or more points, including a perfect 5-0 mark this season.
*- The 94 points by the Huskers were the most scored by an NU team since beating Texas State, 96-47, on Dec. 20, 2005.
*- Nebraska's 48 points in the second half were a team season high, surpassing the 46 the Huskers scored in a 40-point win over Michigan on Dec. 9.
*- Nebraska's 53.3 three-point percentage (8-15) was also a season high, surpassing the 45.5 percent (5-11) NU shot last week in a win over Creighton. It was the fifth time in the past eight games that NU hit eight or more three-pointers.
*- Nebraska has not won a tournament away from the Devaney Center since capturing the Big Kona Classic title with a win over then No. 10 Iowa on Dec. 8, 1996.
Individual
* - Senior point guard Ashley Ford scored a career-high eight points, surpassing the seven points she had against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 12.
*- Senior power forward Chelsea Aubry tied her career high with four three-pointers. She was 4-for-4 against Michigan on Dec. 9. In the last eight games, Aubry has hit 17-of-22 three-pointers and leads the Big 12 Conference in three-point percentage on the season at 62.1 percent (18-29).
*-Aubry finished the game with 16 points, her second-best total of the season and fifth time this year that she scored in double figures, including the fourth time in the past six games.
* Senior guard Kiera Hardy hit a pair of three-pointers to move ahead of Mandy Nightingale (Colorado) into the No. 8 spot on the Big 12's career three-point list with 225.
*- Sophomore forward Kelsey Griffin has produced a double-double in two of her last three games and five on the season. She has eight career double-doubles.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score N.C. State vs Nebraska 12/28/06 4:30 pm ET at Gainesville, Fla. * O'Connell Center
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: N.C. State 10-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 01 K. Whittington...... f 5-9 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 3 10 1 3 0 2 22 12 Marquetta Dickens... f 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 5 4 3 2 1 0 21 02 Nikitta Gartrell.... g 1-7 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 1 17 15 Ashley Key.......... g 7-14 2-5 1-1 1 0 1 4 17 1 3 0 1 28 23 Shayla Fields....... g 4-12 2-6 5-7 1 3 4 1 15 1 3 0 1 34 00 Amber White......... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 2 9 03 Keisha Brown........ 3-7 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 0 0 0 0 23 04 Sasha Reaves........ 2-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 2 5 1 0 0 0 11 24 Lucy Ellison........ 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 6 31 Sharnise Beal....... 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 3 2 0 2 0 0 8 45 Chanita Jordan...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 0 5 55 Gillian Goring...... 2-6 0-0 1-5 3 4 7 0 5 2 1 2 0 16 TEAM................ 2 1 3 Totals.............. 28-68 4-14 14-21 14 22 36 24 74 10 15 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-40 40.0% 2nd Half: 12-28 42.9% Game: 41.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 28.6% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 8-10 80.0% Game: 66.7% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 11-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 7-17 0-0 4-4 4 6 10 2 18 0 0 0 1 20 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... f 5-6 4-5 2-2 1 2 3 0 16 1 1 0 2 25 02 FORD, Ashley........ g 2-3 1-2 3-4 0 4 4 2 8 2 1 0 0 26 04 SPIRIC, Jelena...... g 3-5 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 3 7 4 1 0 0 23 21 HARDY, Kiera........ g 6-13 2-7 2-2 0 4 4 0 16 5 3 0 0 29 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 2-4 1 0 1 3 2 1 1 0 1 9 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 2-5 0-0 7-8 2 2 4 2 11 0 1 0 1 20 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 8 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 4-9 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 8 0 2 1 0 16 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 2-4 0-0 3-4 1 5 6 5 7 1 1 0 1 16 TEAM................ 4 3 7 Totals.............. 31-64 8-15 24-30 14 30 44 19 94 15 12 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-35 40.0% 2nd Half: 17-29 58.6% Game: 48.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 53.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 15-18 83.3% 2nd Half: 9-12 75.0% Game: 80.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Mary Day, Beverly Roberts, David Kramer Technical fouls: N.C. State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total N.C. State.................... 39 35 - 74 Nebraska...................... 46 48 - 94 ID-492653 State Farm Classic Game 1 Fouled Out: #12 Dickens (NCST) 6:40; #52 Page (NU) 2:47 (both 2nd)