Ames, Iowa - Danielle Page and Kiera Hardy each scored 12 points, but it was not enough to prevent the Nebraska women's basketball team from suffering a 64-53 loss to Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Nebraska slipped to 21-7 overall and 9-5 in the Big 12, while Iowa State improved to 20-7 and 8-6 in league action.
Iowa State used a 21-4 run midway through the second half to turn a narrow 32-30 lead into a 53-34 advantage with eight minutes left. During the decisive stretch, the Cyclones got a pair of three-pointers from Megan Ronhovde, another from Alison Lacey and two more from Heather Ezell to shoot to a 19-point lead.
The Huskers, who suffered through one of their worst shooting nights of the season by hitting just 33.8 percent from the field, surged back with a 10-2 run to cut ISU's edge to 55-44 with five minutes left. NU trimmed the lead to 10 with just over two minutes left, but the Cyclones executed at home on Senior Night down the stretch to post their 10th straight win over the Huskers in Ames.
Ronhovde led Iowa State with 15 points, while fellow senior Lyndsey Medders added 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Toccara Ross pitched in 10 points, nine boards and four assists, while Nicky Wieben contributed nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
The Huskers struggled to their lowest output of the season in the first half, managing just 19 points on 24.3 percent shooting from the field, including 1-for-14 from three-point range.
"I thought we played hard. I can't fault our effort," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "But to have a chance to win a game, you are going to have to hit some shots. In the first half especially, we just didn't hit any shots. We got just about every shot we wanted, then we got second shots and we still didn't hit them."
Despite NU's cold shooting, the Huskers went to the locker room down just seven at the half by attempting nine more field goals than Iowa State. In the opening period, NU pulled down seven offensive rebounds compared to just three for the Cyclones, and Nebraska was plus-three (9-6) in the turnover department.
Iowa State didn't fare much better offensively in the opening period, hitting just 35.7 percent (10-28) from the field, including 2-of-9 three-pointers. The Cyclones did hit all four of their free throw attempts in the first half, but shut out the Huskers at the line in the opening half.
Medders, who scored the final five points of the first half, led ISU with seven points and eight rebounds, while Ronhovde added seven points and five boards. Hardy led the Huskers with seven points on 3-of-10 shooting in the first half, including 1-of-4 three-pointers.
Hardy's three came with 4:44 left in the first half to cut ISU's lead to 21-19, giving her the 251st three-pointer in her career to move into a tie for seventh on the all-time Big 12 list. It also moved her ahead of Debra Powell into sixth place on Nebraska's career scoring list. She finished the night with 252 threes in her career to sit all alone in seventh on the Big 12 list.
Iowa State then bolted out to an 11-point lead in the first two minutes of the second half after a three-pointer by Medders and a three-point play by Nicky Wieben, but the Huskers responded with a 9-0 run that was capped by seven straight points from Jelena Spiric to trim ISU's edge to just 32-30 with 15:09 left. Spiric finished with nine points and nine rebounds in a strong effort for the Huskers.
For the game, ISU hit 37.5 percent (24-64) of its shots from the field but knocked down 9-of-21 three-pointers, including 7-of-12 in the second half. Nebraska hit just 5-of-24 three-pointers, including just two of its first 20. Both teams committed 13 turnovers, while Iowa State outrebounded NU 46-40.
Nebraska will continues its two-game Big 12 road swing when the Huskers travel to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. with a free radio broadcast on Huskers.com from the Husker Sports Network.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Iowa State 02/20/07 7:07 PM at Hilton Coliseum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 21-7; 9-5 Big 12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 2 FORD, Ashley........ * 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 2 1 0 2 29 21 HARDY, Kiera........ * 5-17 2-8 0-0 2 3 5 4 12 1 2 0 1 24 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... * 2-9 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 1 4 3 1 1 1 22 4 SPIRIC, Jelena...... * 4-7 1-3 0-0 4 5 9 0 9 1 2 0 1 26 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... * 2-8 0-5 0-1 0 2 2 2 4 0 2 1 0 25 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-6 1-5 0-0 0 3 3 0 3 3 2 0 2 21 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... 3-3 1-1 0-0 3 0 3 3 7 0 2 0 0 16 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 4-10 0-0 4-5 0 6 6 2 12 0 1 3 0 24 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 22-65 5-24 4-6 12 28 40 15 53 10 13 5 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-37 24.3% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 33.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-14 7.1% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 20.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-5 80.0% Game: 66.7% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Iowa State 20-7; 8-6 Big 12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 14 Medders, Lyndsey.... * 4-12 3-8 2-2 1 8 9 0 13 8 2 0 1 32 31 Ronhovde, Megan..... * 6-14 3-7 0-2 2 6 8 1 15 1 1 0 0 37 40 Reinert, Abby....... * 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 41 Ross, Toccara....... * 5-14 0-0 0-0 5 4 9 3 10 4 3 0 1 31 5 Wieben, Nicky....... * 3-11 0-0 3-3 3 7 10 4 9 0 1 4 0 23 15 Ezell, Heather...... 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 29 3 Pierson, Rachel..... 3-6 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 3 6 2 3 0 1 19 30 Mosman, Shellie..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 32 Nisleit, Amanda..... 0-1 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 7 4 Lacey, Alison....... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 1 2 0 0 14 TEAM................ 2 1 3 Totals.............. 24-64 9-21 7-9 13 33 46 14 64 17 13 5 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 14-36 38.9% Game: 37.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 77.8% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Scott Yarbrough, Bryan Enterline, John Fullilove Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Iowa State-None. Attendance: 9904 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 19 34 - 53 Iowa State.................... 26 38 - 64 Fouled out: none