Kansas City, Mo. - Kelsey Griffin produced her seventh double-double of the season and 20th of her career with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the sixth-seeded Nebraska women's basketball team from falling 73-67, to 11th-seeded Kansas, 73-67, in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Municipal Auditorium on Tuesday night.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 20-11 on the season after finishing Big 12 play with a 9-7 mark, while Kansas improved to 16-14 on the year.
Sophomore guard Yvonne Turner added 14 points for the Huskers, while Danielle Page pitched in eight points and four boards. Taylor McIntosh led Kansas with a double-double of her own with 13 points and 11 boards, while Sade Morris pitched in 13 points and Kelly Kohn contributed 11 points off the bench.
"I don't think this result is too surprising based on the kind of year it has been in the Big 12 this season," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I think Kansas is one of the best, if not the best, defensive teams in our conference. Our league is the No. 1 RPI league in the country, and for the 11th- and 12th-seeded teams to beat the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds in the conference tournament today illustrates how strong the Big 12 is from top to bottom."
Nebraska hit just 33.9 percent (20-59) of its field goals on the night, including 5-of-16 three-pointers. The Huskers also hit 22-of-28 free throws (78.6 percent).
While the Huskers struggled with their shooting strokes, Kansas was connecting across the board, hitting 53.7 percent (29-54) of its shots from the floor - the best shooting night by a Big 12 opponent against NU this season. KU added 4-of-17 shooting from three-point range and an 11-for-17 night (68.8 percent) from the free throw line.
Kansas also won the battle of the boards, 38-35, but Nebraska dominated the offensive glass 14-8 and outscored KU 15-7 in second-chance points.
On the flip side Nebraska was plus seven in the turnover department, forcing 24 turnovers by KU while committing 17 of its own, but the Jayhawks outscored the Huskers by a remarkable 20 points (33-13) off those turnovers.
Kansas led from start to finish, but the Huskers did not trail by double digits until a 16-5 KU surge over a 3:09 span midway through the second half. The Jayhawks used the run to build a 17-point lead at 52-35 with 11:26 left after Kohn's three-point play. Nebraska responded with a 15-5 push over the next five minutes to cut KU's lead back to 57-50 with 6:22 left.
The Jayhawks appeared to assert their hold on the game on Kohn's three-pointer from the left wing with 4:35 left to extend the Jayhawk lead back to 12 points. KU maintained the 12-point edge after Danielle McCray's layup with 2:42 left, but Nebraska surged again.
Turner knocked down a three-pointer and was fouled. She missed the free throw, but Griffin got the rebound and Tay Hester was fouled. After Hester made both free throws to cut it to nine points, Dominique Kelley hit a runner to cut it to seven points at 68-61 with 1:49 left. Turner then gave Nebraska even more hope with another three-pointer after her own offensive rebound cut it to four points at 68-64.
KU answered with three straight points before Kaitlyn Burke added another three-pointer with 20 seconds left to trim it back to 71-67.
LaChelda Jacobs then missed the second of two free throws with 17.4 left, but a three-pointer by Turner missed the mark with eight seconds left and KU held on for the win.
NU hit just 9-of-30 shots from the field, including 0-for-5 shooting from three-point range. Griffin hit 4-of-7 first-half shots and knocked down 6-of-7 free throws to finish with 14 points in the opening period. She also put Kansas in heavy foul trouble, helping to send Krysten Boogaard, McIntosh and McCray to the bench with two first-half fouls.
KU jumped out to an early nine-point lead on the strength of seven points and seven rebounds from McIntosh, along with six points from Morris and five points from Boogaard. The Jayhawks hit 42.9 percent (12-28) of their attempts from the field, including 2-of-12 three-pointers. KU also connected on 4-of-5 free throws and outrebounded NU 23-16 in the first half. Despite the rebounding discrepancy, NU was plus-six in the turnover column, committing just eight first-half turnovers while forcing 14 KU miscues.
Nebraska will return to Lincoln to await its NCAA Tournament fate when the 64-team is announced on ESPN's NCAA Selection Show on Monday, March 17, at 6 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Kansas vs Nebraska 03-11-08 8:30 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium - Kansas City, Mo.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Kansas 16-14, 4-12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 00 Jacobs, LaChelda.... * 4-6 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 9 5 6 0 4 36 13 McIntosh, Taylor.... * 5-5 0-0 3-3 3 8 11 5 13 2 3 2 1 26 14 Boogaard, Krysten... * 2-2 0-0 3-3 0 2 2 3 7 0 2 1 0 8 20 Morris, Sade........ * 6-12 1-3 0-1 2 1 3 4 13 6 4 2 3 36 4 McCray, Danielle.... * 3-12 0-6 3-6 0 4 4 4 9 3 1 1 1 28 2 Kohn, Kelly......... 4-6 2-4 1-1 0 1 1 1 11 2 2 0 0 16 24 Smith, Nicollette... 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 9 9 2 5 1 1 0 3 30 3 Catic, Ivana........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 6 34 Weddington, Porscha. 3-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 6 0 2 0 0 14 TEAM................ 2 2 4 1 Totals.............. 29-54 4-17 11-16 8 30 38 23 73 20 24 6 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 17-26 65.4% Game: 53.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-12 16.7% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 23.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 68.8% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 20-11, 9-7 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...... * 5-13 2-7 2-3 1 1 2 4 14 1 2 0 2 28 23 Griffin, Kelsey..... * 6-13 0-0 9-11 3 7 10 3 21 0 6 1 2 30 24 Kelley, Dominique... * 1-4 0-2 3-4 0 2 2 3 5 1 2 0 2 24 32 Hester, Tay......... * 1-4 0-0 4-5 2 1 3 4 6 2 1 0 1 22 52 Page, Danielle...... * 3-12 0-1 2-2 1 3 4 1 8 0 1 2 1 27 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-4 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 3 0 2 0 1 18 40 Montgomery, Cory.... 1-6 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 19 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 2-2 2-2 0-1 0 0 0 0 6 2 3 0 2 15 TEAM................ 4 3 7 Totals.............. 20-59 5-16 22-28 14 21 35 19 67 7 17 3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-30 30.0% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 33.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-5 0.0% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 31.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 8-10 80.0% 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 78.6% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: June Courteau, Clarke Stevens, Greg Small Technical fouls: Kansas-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 3974 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Kansas........................ 30 43 - 73 Nebraska...................... 26 41 - 67 Fouled out: KU- #13 McIntosh @ 4:25
Points in the paint-KU 44,NU 28. Points off turnovers-KU 33,NU 13. 2nd chance points-KU 7,NU 15. Fast break points-KU 6,NU 2. Bench points-KU 22,NU 13. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times. Last FG-KU 2nd-00:57, NU 2nd-00:18. Largest lead-KU by 17 2nd-11:26, NU None.