Lincoln - Cory Montgomery scored a career-high 21 points off the bench and Danielle Page added 21 points and a team-high eight rebounds as the Nebraska women's basketball team rolled to an 87-69 victory over USC at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday night.
With the victory over one of women's basketball's most tradition-rich programs, a young Nebraska team improved to 7-2 on the season, including 6-0 at home. USC slipped to 4-3 on the year.
"That is a big win for us," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We believe USC is a quality basketball team that is going to have a pretty successful season. They play in a great conference in the Pac-10 and they are traditionally a postseason team, so that win might help us later this year."
Montgomery, a 6-2 sophomore forward from Cannon Falls, Minn., poured in 14 of her 21 points in the second half, including seven points in the final 3:14 seconds, as NU turned a seven-point lead into an 18-point victory down the stretch.
The Huskers, who feature only one senior on their 13-player roster and just one returning starter from last year's club, scored on every possession in the final 3:14, including five straight points from Montgomery to open the stretch. Even when she missed from the free throw line during the closing minutes, good things happened for the Huskers.
Montgomery scored on a tremendous finish inside after a pair of Simone Jelks free throws cut the NU lead to 74-67 with 3:31 left in the game. After a defensive stop, Nebraska pushed its lead back to double figures on Montgomery's putback of a missed jumper by Page.
"Cory has been playing great basketball for us this season, and she probably played her best game tonight," Yori said. "She made some big plays for us at both ends and the offensive rebound and finish she had late in the game was a huge play."
After a pair of free throws by Allison Jaskowiak Kennedy trimmed the lead back to nine points, Montgomery was fouled in the middle of the lane and hit the first free throw. She missed the second but freshman Kaitlyn Burke ran down a loose ball rebound and California native Tay Hester drilled a jumper seconds later to pump NU's lead to 81-69.
Sophomore Yvonne Turner then stole USC's inbounds pass and Burke nailed a jumper 20 seconds later to complete a rare five-point possession for NU to give the Huskers an 83-69 lead with 1:30 left.
Montgomery then pulled down a defensive board and was fouled by Nadia Parker, her fifth of the game, with 1:07 left. Montgomery calmly stepped to the line and drained a pair of free throws to give NU its biggest lead of the night at 16 points.
Hester, who scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half, then stole a pass from Hailey Dunham. Burke found Hester 25 seconds later for an uncontested layup to close the scoring and give NU an 18-point victory.
The Huskers, who trailed for less than two minutes early in the game after USC opened a 6-2 lead, carried a 38-36 lead at the half after running to a 12-point edge midway through the opening stanza.
Nebraska was on fire early in the game, knocking down 14-of-20 shots from the field to open the game, with most of the shots coming on mid-range jumpers by Page, Montgomery and Kelsey Griffin.
Griffin, scored Nebraska's first two points of the night in the opening minute to become the 23rd player in Husker history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in her career. She finished with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in a season-high 30 minutes of action.
Page scored 13 of her 21 points in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting from the field with one of her misses coming from three-point range. For the night, she hit 10-of-18 shots from the field, while adding a season-high five blocks. She also distributed three assists to go along with eight boards.
Montgomery's line was spectacular, finishing with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 6-for-8 performance at the free throw line. She added six boards and an assist with no turnovers in just 17 minutes of action off the bench.
While Page, Montgomery and Griffin combined for 55 points on the offensive end, they also limited USC's potent inside attack to a season-low shooting percentage. Nadia Parker, who entered the game hitting nearly 75 percent of her attempts from the field, connected on just 5-of-11 shots on the night to finish with 14 points. Morghan Medlock faired even worse, going 3-for-12 from the field to finish with seven points.
Nebraska's stifling fullcourt pressure wore down USC's legs in the second half, as the Women of Troy hit just 7-of-31 shots from the field (22.6 percent). USC was able to stay in the game by hitting 8-of-20 three-pointers (40 percent), including four threes in each half.
Yvonne Turner led Nebraska's backcourt players with eight points, four rebounds and three steals, while Burke added seven points, five assists and four rebounds on a perfect shooting night from the field. Fellow freshman Dominique Kelley added five points, four assists and a steal in an outstanding team effort.
For the game, Nebraska shot a sizzling 57.1 percent (36-63) from the field, including 33.3 percent (3-9) from three-point range. NU also knocked down 12-of-20 free throws, including 8-of-10 in the game's final 7:23.
Nebraska outrebounded USC, 43-41, despite USC's 23 offensive rebounds. Although USC had a huge total on the offensive boards, the Women of Troy were unable to convert on their second chances, finishing with just 11 second-chance points. In fact, USC had 11 offensive boards in the first half and not only did score a point off the rebounds, it immediately committed seven turnovers without even putting up a second shot.
The Huskers also won the turnover battle, forcing 21 miscues by the Trojans, while committing 19 turnovers of their own. USC finished at just 31.4 percent (22-70) from the field, but did hit 77.3 percent (17-22) of its free throws.
Nebraska's 87 points marked its second-highest scoring total of the season and the fourth time in six home games that the Huskers have surpassed the 80-point plateau. NU has won 48 straight games when scoring 80 or more points.
Nebraska will try to extend its four-game winning streak by playing its first true road games of the season next week. The Huskers travel to California for a pair of games, including a battle at Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday at 9 p.m. (Central time). NU concludes its California road trip by taking on Long Beach State on Saturday at 7 p.m. (Central). Both games will be carried live on the Husker Sports Network, including 98.1 KFGE in Lincoln, with free Internet audio broadcasts on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Southern California vs Nebraska 12/08/07 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, NE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Southern California 4-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 55 Medlock, Morghan.... f 3-12 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 1 7 2 2 0 1 21 44 Parker, Nadia....... c 5-11 0-0 4-4 3 2 5 5 14 0 2 2 0 23 01 Lenoir, Camille..... g 2-13 2-5 0-0 2 1 3 3 6 5 2 0 0 29 11 Cameron, Brynn...... g 2-6 0-3 0-1 0 0 0 2 4 1 2 0 2 14 22 Jaskowiak Kennedy, A g 2-4 2-4 6-6 4 4 8 0 12 2 2 0 2 27 03 Dunham, Hailey...... 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 2 4 0 1 10 04 Jelks, Simone....... 2-5 1-3 3-4 2 3 5 3 8 0 1 0 0 20 05 Lea, Markisha....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 10 Oliver, Heather..... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 1 20 13 LaPlante, Kari...... 1-5 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 1 4 1 0 1 0 11 21 Hughes, Aarika...... 3-5 2-3 1-4 6 3 9 1 9 0 5 0 1 21 TEAM................ 5 2 7 Totals.............. 22-70 8-20 17-22 23 18 41 19 69 13 21 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-39 38.5% 2nd Half: 7-31 22.6% Game: 31.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-12 33.3% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 15-17 88.2% Game: 77.3% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 7-2 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 5-12 0-3 3-4 0 3 3 0 13 2 3 2 1 30 52 PAGE, Danielle...... c 10-18 0-1 1-2 2 6 8 3 21 3 3 5 0 27 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... g 4-7 0-1 0-0 2 2 4 2 8 1 1 0 3 28 24 KELLEY, Dominique... g 2-3 0-0 1-3 2 0 2 1 5 4 1 0 1 27 32 HESTER, Tay......... g 5-9 1-1 1-3 0 5 5 4 12 2 3 0 2 16 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 3-3 1-1 0-0 1 3 4 1 7 5 3 0 0 23 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 2 3 0 1 11 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 15 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 7-10 1-2 6-8 3 3 6 3 21 1 0 0 0 17 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 6 TEAM................ 3 5 8 Totals.............. 36-63 3-9 12-20 15 28 43 18 87 22 19 7 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-29 58.6% 2nd Half: 19-34 55.9% Game: 57.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 9-13 69.2% Game: 60.0% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Melissa Barlow, Scott Yarbrough, Clarke Stevens Technical fouls: Southern California-None. Nebraska-TEAM. Attendance: 1556 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Southern California........... 36 33 - 69 Nebraska...................... 38 49 - 87
Points in the paint-USC 16,NU 46. Points off turnovers-USC 20,NU 27. 2nd chance points-USC 11,NU 13. Fast break points-USC 2,NU 12. Bench points-USC 26,NU 28. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-2 times. Last FG-USC 2nd-04:53, NU 2nd-00:34. Largest lead-USC by 4 1st-18:36, NU by 18 2nd-00:34.