Raleigh, N.C. - The Nebraska women's basketball team lost its fifth one-possession game of the season, as eighth-seeded Temple outscored the Huskers 9-2 in the final 2:22 in NU's 64-61 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the RBC Center late Sunday night.
Nebraska finished one of the best seasons in school history with a 22-10 record after making its seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history. Temple improved to 25-7 on the year while earning the third NCAA Tournament win in school history. The Owls advance to Tuesday's second round in the Greensboro Regional to take on top-seeded Duke. The Blue Devils advanced to the second round with an 81-44 win over Holy Cross in the opening round.
Kiera Hardy led the Huskers with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, while Kelsey Griffin added 11 points and six boards. Danielle Page pitched in eight points, eight rebounds and a Nebraska NCAA Tournament game record five blocked shots off the bench for NU.
Fatima Maddox led Temple with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, including the Owls' last four points of the game at the free throw line to seal the victory. Lady Comfort added 15 points and six rebounds, while Kamesha Hairston contributed 12 points and six boards.
Nebraska, whose last three losses of the year were each by three points, led 59-55 with 2:49 left in the game after a putback by senior forward Chelsea Aubry. Reserve guard Ashley Morris sparked Temple with a three-point play with 2:22 left, before Temple took the lead 60-59 on a second-chance basket by Comfort after an offensive rebound from Shenita Landry.
Maddox then gave Temple breathing room by hitting a pair of free throws in a one-and-one situation after Nebraska turned the ball over at the offensive end.
Griffin pulled NU within one with her basket on the block with 32.4 seconds left. Maddox hit two more free throws with 20 seconds left and Temple prevented the Huskers from getting a clean look at the bucket in the final possession, as Hardy's three-point hook shot was off the mark as time expired.
Nebraska used a 13-0 run late in the second half to turn a 27-15 deficit into a 28-27 advantage. The Huskers, who held Temple without a field goal for the final 7:43 of the first half, took a 30-29 lead into the locker room thanks to 10 points from Hardy.
Hardy scored seven points in the final 6:14 of the first half during Nebraska's surge, while freshman forward Cory Montgomery added five points during the same stretch. Montgomery's production was a key for the Huskers in the opening period after Griffin, Aubry and Page all spent time on the bench in foul trouble. Griffin was called for three first-half fouls and played just six minutes, while Aubry and Page each committed two fouls in the opening period.
The Huskers continued to surge at the start of the second half, quickly pushing the lead to seven points at 38-31 on Ashley Ford's three-pointer with 17:32 left in the game. Temple finally ended its field goal drought after nine minutes on LaKeisha Eaddy's short jumper with 18:34 remaining.
For the game, Nebraska hit 40.4 percent (21-52) of its field goal attempts, including 5-of-16 three-pointers. The Huskers were also a solid 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) at the free throw line. Temple hit 40.7 percent (24-59) of its field goal attempts, and missed its only three-point attempt of the game in the final minute. The Owls were also 16-of-23 (69.6 percent) at the line.
Temple did outrebound NU, 42-32, and held a plus-one turnover margin (18-17).
"Temple is a really good rebounding team, and ultimately that's where the game was decided," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We had our chances, and we weren't able to get it done down the stretch. I'll take full responsibility for that. We let that one get away."
Nebraska will say goodbye to four seniors who started every game together in their final season. Kiera Hardy, Chelsea Aubry, Jelena Spiric and Ashley Ford started 32 straight games for the Huskers in 2006-07. Hardy, a 5-6 guard from Kansas City, Mo., will leave as the school's fourth-leading scorer with 1,930 points and NU's career three-point leader with 267.
Aubry scored nearly 900 points and grabbed more than 500 rebounds in her four-year career, while Spiric was a two-year starter for NU. Ford, Nebraska's lone Lincoln native, finished her senior season with 75 assists and 30 steals. NU's seniors led the Huskers to their first NCAA Tournament trip since 2000.
"This is a tremendous group of seniors that I've had an opportunity to coach," Yori said. "You look at where we were when Kiera and Chelsea joined our team, when they were in high school, we were 1-15 in the Big 12. Since they've been with us, we've been competitive."
Hardy summed up her career at Nebraska in a few simple words.
"It's been the best four years of my life."
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Temple 3/18/07 9:45pm at Raleigh, NC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 22-10 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 02 FORD, Ashley........ * 2-5 1-4 0-1 0 2 2 3 5 2 1 0 0 25 04 SPIRIC, Jelena...... * 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 1 0 22 21 HARDY, Kiera........ * 8-15 3-8 4-4 0 2 2 3 23 1 3 0 1 35 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... * 3-8 0-0 5-5 4 2 6 3 11 0 2 1 0 19 45 AUBRY, Chelsea...... * 2-6 1-2 0-0 4 2 6 2 5 0 3 0 0 25 12 LaFLEUR, TK......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 1 21 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... 0-2 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 17 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 2-4 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 12 52 PAGE, Danielle...... 3-10 0-0 2-4 4 4 8 5 8 0 4 5 0 24 TEAM................ 1 1 2 1 Totals.............. 21-52 5-16 14-18 13 19 32 19 61 8 18 7 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 9-24 37.5% Game: 40.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 31.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 11-13 84.6% Game: 77.8% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Temple 25-7 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 10 EADDY, Lakeisha..... * 1-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 1 3 0 0 25 14 LANDRY, Shenita..... * 2-7 0-0 5-8 3 2 5 4 9 1 1 0 1 31 21 HAIRSTON, Kamesha... * 5-14 0-1 2-2 3 3 6 3 12 1 3 0 3 37 30 MADDOX, Fatima...... * 7-14 0-0 4-4 2 4 6 2 18 5 5 0 2 34 42 COMFORT, Lady....... * 7-13 0-0 1-3 4 2 6 3 15 2 2 1 0 31 12 MORRIS, Ashley...... 2-4 0-0 3-4 2 3 5 1 7 4 1 0 1 25 15 STONE, Jasmine...... 0-1 0-0 1-2 2 4 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 11 25 PITTMAN, Nicole..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 6 TEAM................ 4 1 5 Totals.............. 24-59 0-1 16-23 21 21 42 18 64 14 17 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-31 32.3% 2nd Half: 14-28 50.0% Game: 40.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 0.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 9-14 64.3% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 69.6% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Eric Brewton, Joseph Cunningham, Darla Foutz Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Temple-None. Attendance: 4226 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 30 31 - 61 Temple........................ 29 35 - 64 Fouled Out: Nebraska: #52 Page, D. @ 0:20.0 in 2nd Half