Ames, Iowa - Cory Montgomery tied her career high with 21 points and the Nebraska women's basketball team set a school record with 11 three-pointers in an 82-72 victory over Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday.
With the victory, Nebraska snapped a 10-game losing streak at Hilton Coliseum dating back to 1997 and improved to 14-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12, while Iowa State slipped to 12-5 overall and 1-3 in the league.
Montgomery led five Huskers in double figures, including Kelsey Griffin who pumped in 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, along with 13 points from Danielle Page on 5-of-7 shooting. Kaitlyn Burke added 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range, while Yvonne Turner added 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Nebraska shot a season-high 57.9 percent (11-19) from three-point range, while matching its season-best shooting percentage overall at 57.1 percent (32-56). The Huskers also set a season-high with 25 assists, while committing just 14 turnovers.
"That was a big win for our program," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We have not won in Ames for a long time, and in my opinion this is one of the hardest buildings in the country to come in and get a win. Iowa State was short-handed after losing (Nicky) Wieben against Texas, but as you saw, they aren't going to back down from anybody."
Yori said the Huskers' ability to hit shots throughout the game was the difference.
"We hit some big shots, and it wasn't just one player, it was everybody," Yori said. "Kaitlyn Burke hit some huge shots - that three she hit from the win with two minutes left was big. Vonnie Turner also had some big shots - so did Cory (Montgomery) and Danielle Page and Kelsey Griffin. It was a great team win."
Along with having five players post double figures, 10 Huskers played double-figure minutes in the game. In contrast, the Cyclones' five starters all played 35 or more minutes.
Despite being short-handed, Iowa State refused to go quietly. The Cyclones hit 50 percent of their shots from the field, including 7-of-17 three-pointers. ISU also outscored NU 15-7 at the free throw line by attempting 13 more shots (22-9) than the Huskers at the stripe.
Freshman Kelsey Bolte led four Cyclones in double figures with 20 points and six rebounds in her second career start, while junior Heather Ezell added 19 points. Alison Lacey managed 12 points, while Denae Stuckey pitched in 10 points. Jocelyn Anderson rounded out ISU's starting five with eight points and a game-high 10 boards.
The Huskers shot out to a tremendous start, hitting 8-of-9 field goal attempts, including each of their first four three-pointers to jump out to a 20-5 lead in the first six minutes.
Freshman guard Kaitlyn Burke provided a major lift off the bench in the opening minutes, burying her first three three-pointers in the first eight minutes. Dominique Kelley, Danielle Page and Yvonne Turner added first-half three-pointers for the Huskers.
NU maintained a 13-point lead at 25-12 after a Page jumper with 11:20 left, before Iowa State answered with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes.
But Montgomery, who had 12 points and seven rebounds in the first half, hit back-to-back jumpers , before Griffin scored four straight points to push NU's lead back to nine points at 36-27 with 4:06 left.
The Huskers went to the locker room with that nine-point advantage at 43-34, despite Griffin, Page, Montgomery, Nikki Bober and Tay Hester being whistled for two first-half fouls.
The Huskers hit 17-of-34 shots in the first half, including 7-of-13 three-pointers. Iowa State was able to stay in the game by outscoring NU, 11-2, at the free throw line, as Nebraska was whistled for 12 first-half fouls, compared to just two fouls on the Cyclones. The Huskers did dominate the first-half glass, outrebounding ISU, 21-11.
Iowa State matched NU's 50 percent field goal shooting in the opening half, knocking down 10-of-20 shots, including 3-of-8 three-pointers.
The Cyclones started quick in the second half by scoring the first five points to trim NU's edge to just 43-39, the closest it had been since the opening minute of the game. But Nebraska answered with a basket from Hester, back-to-back shots from Griffin, a free throw from Turner and five straight points from Montgomery to cap a 12-3 surge and take a 55-42 lead with 14 minutes left.
Iowa State answered again with 11 straight points over the next three minutes to surge within 55-53, before Turner buried a three-pointer with 11:08 left.
Turner's three sparked a 10-0 NU run that included another triple by Turner with 8:45 left. Nebraska maintained a 10-point lead after a Montgomery jumper with 6:38 left, but ISU rallied again to cut NU's edge to 69-64 with 5:02 left on a pair of Ezell free throws.
An Ezell jumper with 2:09 left kept the Cyclones within striking distance at 75-68, before Burke connected on a three-pointer from the left wing with two minutes left to give the Huskers a 10-point cushion and their school-record 11th three-pointer of the night.
The Huskers continue Big 12 action on Wednesday, Jan. 23, when they return home to battle No. 19 Texas A&M at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Tip-off against the defending Big 12 co-champion Aggies is set for 7:05 p.m. with a live television broadcast on FSN Midwest (Channel 37 in Lincoln). Tickets can be purchased on Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8BIGRED.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Iowa State 01/19/08 7 PM at Hilton Coliseum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 14-4; 3-1 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...... * 3-5 3-4 1-2 1 6 7 2 10 5 5 0 2 25 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... * 6-7 0-0 4-5 0 4 4 2 16 2 1 0 0 18 24 KELLEY, Dominique... * 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 3 0 0 1 20 32 HESTER, Tay......... * 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 2 1 3 0 1 24 52 PAGE, Danielle...... * 5-7 1-1 2-2 0 3 3 3 13 3 0 3 0 27 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 11 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 1-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 19 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 10-18 1-2 0-0 4 4 8 2 21 1 1 1 0 23 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 10 5 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 4-8 4-7 0-0 0 0 0 1 12 6 4 0 0 23 TEAM................ 2 2 Totals.............. 32-56 11-19 7-9 11 21 32 19 82 25 14 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-34 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-22 68.2% Game: 57.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-13 53.8% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 57.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 77.8% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Iowa State 12-5; 1-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 10 Stuckey,Denae....... * 3-5 0-0 5-8 0 3 3 4 11 2 3 0 1 38 11 Bolte,Kelsey........ * 7-12 4-6 2-2 3 3 6 1 20 1 1 0 2 37 15 Ezell,Heather....... * 7-13 1-5 4-6 0 1 1 1 19 4 3 0 3 35 4 Lacey,Alison........ * 5-9 2-5 0-0 0 2 2 2 12 5 2 0 1 40 44 Anderson,Jocelyn.... * 3-10 0-0 2-4 4 6 10 2 8 1 2 3 1 35 22 Lightbourne,Genesis. 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 5 30 Mosman,Shellie...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 32 Nisleit,Amanda...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 TEAM................ 1 1 1 Totals.............. 25-50 7-17 15-22 10 15 25 11 72 13 15 4 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-20 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-30 50.0% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 41.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 11-16 68.8% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 68.2% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Wesley Dean, Teresa Dahlem, Nick Marshall Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Iowa State-None. Attendance: 11066 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 43 39 - 82 Iowa State.................... 34 38 - 72