Honolulu, Hawaii - The Nebraska women's basketball team pushed 2007 NCAA Sweet 16 qualifier Marist to the limit, but the Red Foxes made enough plays down the stretch to hold on for a 66-59 win over the Huskers at the Oahu Classic on Friday.
The Huskers (3-1) suffered their first loss of the season after hitting just 1-17 three-point attempts on the afternoon. The Red Foxes improved to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the tournament by connecting on 5-of-15 three-pointers. The Huskers won the rebounding battle (36-34) and the turnover battle (14-13), but the Red Foxes hit more shots from long range and at the line to secure the win.
Sophomore forward Cory Montgomery led the Huskers with a season-high 14 points, while senior forward Danielle Page pitched in 10 points. Page also pulled down nine rebounds to help NU win the rebounding battle, 36-34 on the day, including a 12-8 edge on the offensive glass. But NU hit just 42.6 percent of its shots from the field, while Marist managed 43.6 percent shooting on the day.
Marist also knocked down 13-of-15 free throws, while the Huskers were just 6-of-10 at the line.
Rachelle Fitz led all scorers with a career-high 28 points, while adding 11 rebounds, just one day after setting a career best with 26 points in an overtime win over Utah. Julianne Viani added 17 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range to lead the Red Foxes.
Nebraska jumped out to a 14-4 lead over the Red Foxes just over eight minutes into the game, behind four points each from Kelsey Griffin, Montgomery and Tay Hester in the early going. Page added a basket during the opening surge, but after she picked up her second foul midway through the first half, Fitz got rolling.
Fitz, who finished with 11 first-half points, scored five straight to trim NU's lead to 14-11. Elise Caron hit a three-pointer for the Red Foxes to tie the game for the first time at 18 with 7:15 left in the half. Sarah Smrdel then hit a jumper to give Marist its first lead of the game with 6:38 left in the half. Viani added a jumper to cap a 10-0 Red Fox run with 5:20 left, before Montgomery and Griffin hit back-to-back baskets to trim Marist's lead to just one at 23-22 with 4:35 left.
But a three-pointer by Viani sparked a 7-0 Marist run to give the Red Foxes an eight-point lead with 2:27 left. Marist was able to maintain that eight-point at the half, despite 10 points off the bench from Montgomery.
Nebraska cut Marist's lead to two points on two occasions midway through the second half, the last time coming on Dominique Kelley's shot with 16:45 left in the game to make it 40-38. The Red Foxes answered NU's surge with a 15-3 run that included a trio of three-pointers on four consecutive possessions by Marist.
The Huskers answered Marist's run by pumping in seven straight points, including a pair of Page jumpers and a three-pointer by Kelley, to vault back into the game, trailing 57-50 with 6:45 to play. NU cut the lead to six points on two occasions in the final two minutes, but could not get closer against the disciplined Red Foxes.
The Huskers continue tournament action in the Oahu Classic against Utah (2-2) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Utes fell in overtime to Marist on Thursday before defeating Akron, 71-60, in Friday's first game. The game can be heard live on the Husker Sports Network, including 98.1 FM-KFGE in Lincoln, and free world wide on Huskers.com. Live video and live stats will not be available.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs MARIST 11/23/07 2:30 pm at Honolulu, HI (McKinley High School Gym)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 3-1; 0-0 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 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... * 2-7 0-3 2-3 0 3 3 2 6 4 0 0 0 30 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... * 3-9 0-0 3-4 1 3 4 2 9 0 4 1 2 31 24 KELLEY, Dominique... * 3-5 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 7 0 2 0 0 16 32 HESTER, Tay......... * 2-6 0-1 0-1 1 5 6 2 4 2 1 1 1 28 52 PAGE, Danielle...... * 5-6 0-0 0-0 3 6 9 2 10 1 1 0 1 23 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 2-6 0-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 4 2 0 0 2 19 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-3 0-2 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 16 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 2-4 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 1 4 3 0 0 1 12 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 7-13 0-3 0-0 1 1 2 1 14 0 0 0 1 16 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 3 44 REDMON, Catheryn.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 TEAM................ 2 1 3 3 Totals.............. 26-61 1-17 6-10 12 24 36 16 59 13 13 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 14-29 48.3% Game: 42.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-8 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 5.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 60.0% 0,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: MARIST 5-1; 0-0 MAAC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Viani, Julianne..... * 7-10 3-4 0-0 0 5 5 1 17 4 0 0 1 34 12 Fitz, Rachele....... * 10-18 0-0 8-8 3 8 11 1 28 2 1 0 1 30 14 Dahlman, Meg........ * 3-7 0-1 0-1 0 6 6 4 6 1 1 1 0 22 22 Flores, Nikki....... * 2-7 1-4 4-4 0 0 0 1 9 3 2 0 1 31 31 Johnson, Lynzee..... * 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 2 0 0 2 0 1 26 05 Caron, Elise........ 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 3 4 0 0 18 10 Allenspach, Erica... 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 1 3 0 0 11 11 Engle, Brittany..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 13 Laterza, Maria...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 50 Smrdel, Sarah....... 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 22 TEAM................ 3 3 6 Totals.............. 24-55 5-15 13-15 8 26 34 14 66 14 14 1 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-24 50.0% 2nd Half: 12-31 38.7% Game: 43.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 10-12 83.3% 2nd Half: 3-3 100 % Game: 86.7% 0,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Mark Gines, Cindy Leaong, Kailie Kimura Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. MARIST-None. Attendance: 134 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 28 31 - 59 MARIST........................ 36 30 - 66 Game 4 of the 2007 Oahu Classic