Lincoln - Senior forward Danielle Page led three Huskers in double figures with 11 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in her final home game as a Husker, powering the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 55-45 win over Iowa State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night.
With the victory, Nebraska closed the regular season with a 20-10 overall record and a 9-7 mark in Big 12 action. The Huskers secured the No. 6 seed in next week's Big 12 Conference Championship in Kansas City, Mo., where they will play the final game of the tournament's opening day against 11th-seeded Kansas on Tuesday, March 11, at 8:30 p.m.
Iowa State finished the regular season with 18-11 overall mark, including a 7-9 Big 12 record. The Huskers, who defeated ISU 82-72 in Ames, Iowa, on Jan. 19, completed their first regular-season sweep of the Cyclones since 1995.
The win gave Nebraska its second straight 20-win season under Coach Connie Yori, while also giving the Huskers a winning record in Big 12 Conference action for the second consecutive year.
"That was a good win," Yori said. "We played solid basketball for 40 minutes, and this time of the year that is the most important thing. I thought we played tough and we made things happen. We also executed and we got pretty good shots against their defense. I think that solidifies our position in the NCAA Tournament, but we are looking forwarding to doing even more next week at the Big 12 Tournament."
Page, Nebraska's lone senior, was honored before the game with Senior Night festivities. With her parents and more than a dozen family members looking on, the 6-2 forward from Monument, Colo., got Nebraska rolling by burying a three-pointer to put the Huskers on the board. It was the first of eight three-pointers for the Huskers, who hit 47.1 percent (8-17) of their shots from beyond the arc.
Along with helping the Huskers on the offensive end, Page led a stifling defense with three rejections to push her season total to 69, tying the Nebraska single-season record set by Janet Smith in 1979-80. It also pushed Page's career block total to 198.
"It was a great way to go out, winning in my final game at the Devaney Center," said an emotional Page after the game. "I am going to miss this place. I have had some great memories in this building, but we have more games left to play this season, so we just need to keep building momentum."
Sophomore guard Yvonne Turner matched Page with 11 points on the night, including eight during the final seven minutes of the first half to help the Huskers take control of the game. Leading 17-16 with 6:47 left, Turner connected on her first three-pointer of the night to put NU up four, before nailing another triple with 4:58 left to push NU's edge to 23-16.
After an Amanda Nisleit basket for the Cyclones, Page hit a jumper to pump NU's lead back up to seven before Turner nabbed a steal and raced the other way for a strong finishing layup to give the Huskers a 27-18 advantage.
Kelsey Griffin, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds despite being the focus of ISU's defense, then drilled a jumper to give Nebraska its first double-digit lead of the night at 29-18 with 2:02 left. Griffin hit 5-of-7 shots from the field on the night, while adding an assist and two steals to help NU.
The Huskers took a 10-point lead to the locker room at the half, before Page extended NU's lead to 12 with her jumper to open the second-half scoring.
Iowa State used an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to trim the Husker lead to four at 33-29 with 15:01 left, before NU answered with an 11-2 run over the next eight minutes to take their biggest lead of the night on Nicole Neals' second three-pointer of the run with 7:45 left.
The Cyclones got no closer than nine points the rest of the way, as the Huskers held Iowa State to fewer than 50 points in Lincoln for the third consecutive season.
"I thought our guards were awesome tonight," Griffin said after the game. "Defensively, they hounded Iowa State's ball-handlers and shooters all night long, which really set the tone for us inside."
While Page, Turner and Griffin combined for 31 points, NU's other two starters, Tay Hester and Dominique Kelley, spear-headed the Husker defensive efforts, forcing 10 turnovers by ISU guards Alison Lacey, Heather Ezell and Kelsey Bolte and Denae Stuckey.
In addition to six points from Neals on a pair of big three-pointers during Nebraska's decisive run, the Huskers got six points and four rebounds off the bench from sophomore Nikki Bober, and six more points, two rebounds and two assists from freshman Kaitlyn Burke. Cory Montgomery added five points and another rebound for the NU reserves, who outscored the ISU bench, 23-7.
Lacey led the Cyclones with 14 points, including 4-of-6 shooting from long range, while Ezell added 11 points, but was just 4-of-13 from the field. No other Cyclone scored more than five points.
Nebraska hit 45.8 percent (22-48) of its shots from the field and went 3-of-4 from the free throw line on the night. Those were the only free throws of the game for either team, as the Huskers committed just nine fouls. It was the first time in school history that Nebraska prevented an opponent from attempting or making a free throw in a game. ISU was whistled for just 12 fouls on the night, as the four combined free throws by both teams was also a school record.
The Huskers held Iowa State to just 34.6 percent (18-52) shooting from the field, including 40.9 percent (9-22) accuracy from three-point range. ISU outrebounded Nebraska, 33-28, but the Huskers won the turnover battle, committing just nine turnovers on the night, while forcing 14 miscues by the Cyclones.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Iowa State vs Nebraska 03/05/08 7:06 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, NE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Iowa State 18-11, 7-9 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 Nisleit,Amanda...... f 2-6 0-2 0-0 6 2 8 1 4 2 1 0 1 35 44 Anderson,Jocelyn.... f 2-7 0-0 0-0 0 7 7 0 4 1 2 0 1 27 04 Lacey,Alison........ g 5-11 4-6 0-0 1 5 6 1 14 1 2 0 2 39 11 Bolte,Kelsey........ g 2-6 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 5 0 3 0 0 32 15 Ezell,Heather....... g 4-13 3-10 0-0 0 1 1 4 11 2 3 0 0 27 10 Stuckey,Denae....... 2-7 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 3 4 1 2 0 1 15 13 Florzak,Anna........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 3 0 0 1 0 14 22 Lightbourne,Genesis. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 8 30 Mosman,Shellie...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 TEAM................ 2 1 3 Totals.............. 18-52 9-22 0-0 10 23 33 12 45 7 14 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-25 32.0% 2nd Half: 10-27 37.0% Game: 34.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 40.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-0 0.0% Game: 0.0% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 20-10, 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 23 GRIFFIN, Kelsey..... f 5-7 0-0 0-0 1 6 7 1 10 1 2 0 2 29 52 PAGE, Danielle...... f 5-12 1-2 0-0 0 5 5 1 11 3 1 3 0 30 22 TURNER, Yvonne...... g 3-7 2-6 3-4 0 2 2 2 11 0 1 0 2 28 24 KELLEY, Dominique... g 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 2 1 0 2 20 32 HESTER, Tay......... g 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 6 0 0 0 24 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 6 2 1 0 0 23 11 NEALS, Nicole....... 2-4 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 6 0 1 0 0 10 13 KUHLMANN, Kala...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 15 40 MONTGOMERY, Cory.... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 12 42 BOBER, Nikki........ 3-7 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 0 6 0 1 0 0 9 TEAM................ 1 Totals.............. 22-48 8-17 3-4 4 24 28 9 55 16 9 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 9-23 39.1% Game: 45.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 47.1% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 75.0% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: June Courteau, Melissa Barlow, Clarke Stevens Technical fouls: Iowa State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 5773 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Iowa State.................... 21 24 - 45 Nebraska...................... 31 24 - 55