College Park, Md. - Kelsey Griffin scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1998 with a 61-58 win over Xavier on Sunday at the Comcast Center.
Griffin, a two-time first-team All-Big 12 forward from Eagle River, Alaska, hit 10-of-17 shots from the field and 6-of-8 free throws while adding four rebounds and three steals.
"Kelsey Griffin had a great game for us, and she is one of the most underrated players in the country," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "She doesn't get a lot of notoriety, but the Big 12 people know who she is. Her name may not be one you know across the country, but you can see how great of a player she is. We're glad she's on our team. She made a lot of plays when we needed her to make them."
Griffin's effort, which tied her season-high point total for the third time, also matched the second-most points ever scored by a Husker in an NCAA Tournament game, trailing only Nicole Kubik's 32 points against Kentucky in 1999.
With the victory, the eighth-seeded Huskers improved to 21-11 on the season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since battling Old Dominion at Norfolk, Va., in 1998. The ninth-seeded Musketeers finished their season with a 24-9 record after winning the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament title.
The Huskers' win also allowed the Big 12 to improve to 7-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, with only No. 8 Texas facing No. 9 Minnesota in Bridgeport, Conn., tonight.
Along with Griffin's monstrous performance, Tay Hester pumped in 13 points, including two free throws with 35 seconds left to help Nebraska seal the victory. Hester's effort matched her second-highest point total of the season and put her in double figures for the first time since scoring 10 points at No. 6 Baylor on Jan. 26.
"The pace of the game helped me because it's the type that I like," Hester said. "I attacked the basket and they were having trouble with transition defense. We knew that if we kept up our pace we would get easy layups. I just attacked the basket."
Sophomore forward Cory Montgomery also gave the Huskers a major lift off the bench by scoring 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers and six straight points during a two-minute stretch in the second half. The 6-2 forward from Cannon Falls, Minn., added five rebounds and a steal in a strong effort.
"When I come in, I try to give my team a needed spark and do my part," Montgomery said. "My shot was on tonight. I came in and worked hard. I wanted to be aggressive and help my team by making the open shot."
In addition to the offensive exploits of the Huskers, Nebraska defense was tremendous led by the inside play of senior forward Danielle Page. The 6-2 native out of Monument, Colo., pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds while tying her own NU NCAA Tournament record with five blocked shots. She added five points and two assists.
Griffin and Hester both had big first halves to help the Huskers build a 14-point lead with three minutes left in the opening period. Griffin hit 6-of-8 shots from the field to lead NU with 13 first-half points, while Hester hit 4-of-6 shots from the field in the opening period to finish with nine points while adding an assist and a steal.
"I thought the pace of the game was in our favor," Yori said. "We wanted to run up and down and the fact that Ta'Shia Phillips got in foul trouble in the first half, I thought was important. Xavier didn't have the play to run with us, so at that point, I thought that favored us through a good portion of the game."
Nebraska led by double figures for more than 30 minutes in the game, after opening the contest on a 13-2 run in the first three minutes. The Huskers maintained their double-digit lead for nearly the entire first half and led by 12 points at 56-44 with 4:39 left.
However, a three-pointer by XU's Jerri Taylor sparked an 8-0 Musketeer run over the next four minutes that cut the NU lead to 56-52 with 58 seconds left.
Griffin hit one of two free throws with 47 seconds left to end XU's run, before Hester grabbed a big defensive rebound and was fouled with 35 seconds left. Hester, who was shooting just over 50 percent from the line on the season, then connected on a pair of free throws to push NU's lead back to seven points at 59-52.
Taylor hit her fifth three-pointer of the game to cut NU's lead back to 59-55, before Dominique Kelley sprinted to the basket for a breakaway layup with 16 seconds left to seal the Husker win. Taylor finished with a team-high 19 points for Xavier, while Kelley finished with five points, five rebounds and an assist for NU.
Amber Harris, who hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds to provide the final margin, added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Xavier, while Ta'Shia Phillips finished with nine points and 16 boards for the Musketeers.
Nebraska shot just 38.1 percent (24-63) from the field for the game, including just 4-of-18 shooting from three-point range. But NU outscored XU, 9-5, at the free throw line. The Huskers also won the turnover battle (16-14). Xavier, which came into the game as one of the nation's top rebounding teams with a plus-8.6 margin, won the battle of the boards, 48-41.
NU held Xavier to just 33.3 percent (23-69) from the field, including 7-of-22 shooting from three-point range. The Musketeers managed just 25.7 percent (9-35) shooting in the first half to finish with just 20 points. It was the fifth time this season that Nebraska held an opponent to 20 first-half points.
NU jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first five minutes, as Page and Hester hit back-to-back threes to open the game before Griffin ran out for a three-point play to give NU a 9-2 edge in the opening two minutes. Griffin scored again, before Kelley gave the Huskers their first double-figure lead on her layup with 16:15 left in the half. Nebraska added a 13-3 run later in the half to push its lead to 30-16 with 3:45 left in the opening period.
The Huskers continued to extend their lead early in the second half, as Montgomery's second three-pointer of the game pushed NU's lead to 39-24 with 17:14 left.
Nebraska will face No. 1 Maryland on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. Central time. The game will be televised live by ESPN2 and ESPNU, while radio coverage will be available on the Husker Sports Network, including a free audio broadcast on Huskers.com.
Postgame Notes
? Nebraska improves to 3-7 in NCAA Tournament play all time. Their last win came on March 13, 1998, when the #8 Huskers defeated #9 New Mexico, 76-59, in the first round of the East Regional in Norfolk, Va.
? Xavier drops to 4-7 all time in NCAA Tournament play. They have not won since March 24, 2001, when the #4 Musketeers upended #1 Tennessee, 80-65, in the Mideast Regional Semifinal in Birmingham, Ala.
? For Nebraska's head coach Connie Yori, the victory is her first in the NCAA Tournament since leading Creighton to an 84-73 victory over Bowling Green in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament.
? Nebraska is now 18-0 when they lead at halftime.
? Nebraska had 14 assists compared to eight for Xavier. Nebraska is now 19-1 when they have more assists than their opponents this season.
? With the win, it is the first time this season Nebraska has won in a game decided by three or less points. NU had lost the previous two games decided by three or less.
? Xavier dropped to 5-7 when they allow more than 60 points and 5-3 in games decided by four points or less.
? Nebraska junior Kelsey Griffin scored in double figures for her 15th straight game, 23rd this season, and the 72nd time of her career.
? Nebraska junior Tay Hester scored in double figures for the eighth time this season.
? Nebraska sophomore Cory Montgomery scored in double-figures for the 15th time this season, 20th of her career and first in eight games.
? Nebraska senior Danielle Page extends her single-season blocks record to 76 with five blocks today. It is the eighth time in career that she has five or more blocks and just the 23rd time in Nebraska history a player has reached five or more blocks.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score #9 Xavier vs #8 Nebraska 03/23/08 12:07 p.m. at College Park, MD (Comcast Center)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: #9 Xavier (24-9) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 HARRIS, Amber....... f 5-13 1-1 3-4 2 8 10 2 14 1 2 6 1 32 13 HESTER, Maureen..... f 3-9 1-5 0-0 3 0 3 3 7 2 0 0 0 29 53 PHILLIPS, Ta'Shia... c 4-9 0-0 1-2 6 10 16 4 9 0 5 0 0 27 01 JENNINGS, Special... g 0-4 0-4 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 12 24 TAYLOR, Jerri....... g 7-12 5-8 0-0 0 0 0 2 19 2 1 0 2 39 12 BARRINGER, Alesia... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 20 REED, Tudy.......... 2-12 0-3 0-0 3 2 5 1 4 2 1 1 0 33 23 ASKEW, Megan........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 6 42 PHILLIPS, April..... 1-7 0-0 1-2 2 5 7 2 3 1 3 1 1 18 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 23-69 7-22 5-8 19 29 48 15 58 8 16 8 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-35 25.7% 2nd Half: 14-34 41.2% Game: 33.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-10 10.0% 2nd Half: 6-12 50.0% Game: 31.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 62.5% 1,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: #8 Nebraska (21-11) 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 10-17 0-0 6-8 0 4 4 1 26 0 1 1 3 27 52 PAGE, Danielle...... f 2-13 1-3 0-0 2 8 10 2 5 2 0 5 0 29 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... g 0-3 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 2 0 3 4 1 0 28 24 KELLEY, Dominique... g 2-3 0-1 1-2 1 4 5 2 5 1 1 0 0 21 32 HESTER, Tay......... g 5-9 1-2 2-3 0 2 2 2 13 2 3 0 1 29 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 0-5 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 5 1 0 0 23 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 10 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 10 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 5-11 2-6 0-0 1 4 5 0 12 0 0 0 1 18 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 TEAM................ 5 1 6 1 Totals.............. 24-63 4-18 9-13 12 29 41 11 61 14 14 7 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-34 38.2% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 38.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 22.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-11 72.7% Game: 69.2% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Mary Day, Felicia Grinter, Barry Roberts Technical fouls: #9 Xavier-None. #8 Nebraska-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total #9 Xavier..................... 20 38 - 58 #8 Nebraska................... 30 31 - 61 FIRST ROUND OF THE SPOKANE REGIONAL Nebraska advances to the second round of the Spokane Regional