Lincoln - Nebraska connected a school-record 12 three-pointers to shoot the Husker women's basketball team to a 96-47 season-opening victory over Weber State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday night.
The Huskers, who improved to 33-2 all-time in home season-openers, had five players score in double figures while 12 Huskers played double-figure minutes. Junior forward Cory Montgomery led NU with 13 points, while sophomore guard Kaitlyn Burke added 12 points including a team-best four three-pointers. Burke also pitched in four assists and three steals, as the Huskers improved to 6-0 all-time against Weber State.
"It's a good start for us," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I liked our intensity and I liked our defensive pressure for a majority of the game. It's always nice when you hit some shots, which we did tonight, but I thought our ball movement was pretty good, too."
Junior guard Kala Kuhlmann added a career high with 13 points, while pitching in four assists. Sophomore guard Monique Whittaker added a career-high 13 points off the bench in the second half to help the Huskers pull away. Whittaker hit 3-of-6 shots from the field, including 2-of-4 three-point attempts, while connecting on 5-of-6 free throw attempts. Whittaker added a rebound, an assist and a steal in the best all-around effort of her young career.
Junior guard Yvonne Turner also had a big game for the Big Red. Turner scored all 11 of her points in the first half, while leading NU with four steals on the night.
In all, 11 of the 12 Huskers who saw action in the game found the scoring column, including nine points and five rebounds from senior starter Tay Hester and eight points and a team-high seven rebounds from sophomore starter Dominique Kelley.
Nebraska hit 55.3 percent (36-65) of its shots from the field, including 12-of-25 three-pointer attempts. NU also connected on 12-of-15 free throw attempts. NU committed 10 turnovers on the night, with five in each half.
As good as the Husker offense appeared, it all started with defense for Nebraska. NU held Weber State to just 3-of-21 shooting from the field in the first half, with all three field goals coming from junior guard Tonya Schnibbe, who led WSU with 12 points on the night. Nebraska, which bolted to a 51-19 lead at the half, allowed the Wildcats to hit 13-of-14 free throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes, or the score may have been even more lopsided at the break. The Huskers forced 13 of Weber State's 17 turnovers for the game in the opening half.
Nebraska continued to build on its 32-point halftime lead in the first 12 minutes of the second half, posting its biggest advantage of the night at 89-30 on a Nicole Neals three-pointer with 8:30 left in the game. Neals, who hit 2-of-4 three-point attempts, was one of seven Huskers to connect from long range on the evening.
Nebraska raced to an 8-0 lead in the game's first 3:12, but Weber State trailed by just nine at 23-14 with 9:34 left in the first half. Montgomery then ignited a 15-0 NU run over the next 5:09, by hitting a pair of field goals before sophomore center Jessica Periago buried a three-pointer from the top of the key. The Huskers then got consecutive baskets from Catheryn Redmon, Turner, Kuhlmann and Kelley to put the Wildcats away.
After a pair of free throws by Caitlin Anderson, who joined Schnibbe in double figures with 10 points, stopped the avalanche of Husker points, Burke and Neals hit back-to-back threes to push NU's edge to 28 at 44-16 with 2:08 left. Burke hit another three-pointer with 25 seconds left in the half to give the Huskers a 30-point margin.
Nebraska returns to action on Monday night when the Huskers travel to the Civic Auditorium in Omaha to battle the Creighton Bluejays. Tip-off between NU and CU is set for 7:05 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Weber State vs Nebraska 11/14/08 7:05 pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Weber State 0-1, 0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 05 DEANE, Lauren....... f 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 8 20 THORDERSON, Ali..... f 0-8 0-4 6-8 0 7 7 2 6 2 2 0 0 29 12 THORDERSON, Abby.... g 1-7 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 1 3 0 2 0 0 23 15 ANDERSON, Caitlin... g 3-9 0-2 4-4 2 3 5 1 10 1 6 0 1 29 24 SCHNIBBE, Tonya..... g 3-16 0-0 6-8 1 3 4 3 12 2 1 0 1 34 03 O'NEILL, Joey....... 1-4 0-0 2-4 3 2 5 1 4 0 0 1 0 27 10 CONNER, Sarah....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 11 14 MOHRE, Caela........ 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 8 21 SMITH, Jessica...... 1-2 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 12 30 BARNES, Lacie....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 34 WEIGHT, Karlee...... 2-3 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 1 0 6 35 ROBERSON, Michelle.. 0-3 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 12 TEAM................ 5 1 6 Totals.............. 11-56 1-10 24-30 14 22 36 14 47 5 17 3 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 3-21 14.3% 2nd Half: 8-35 22.9% Game: 19.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 10.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 13-14 92.9% 2nd Half: 11-16 68.8% Game: 80.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 1-0, 0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 Hester, Tay......... f 4-5 0-0 1-2 0 5 5 2 9 0 0 0 0 10 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-8 1-1 2-2 2 3 5 1 13 1 2 0 0 16 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 4-7 4-7 0-0 0 3 3 2 12 4 1 0 3 23 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 5-8 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 2 11 0 2 0 4 18 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-6 0-1 2-3 2 5 7 4 8 1 0 0 1 16 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-6 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 6 5 1 0 0 22 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 5-8 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 1 13 4 1 0 0 18 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 3-6 2-4 5-6 1 0 1 1 13 1 2 0 1 15 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 4 0 0 1 1 19 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-2 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 17 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 3 0 1 0 0 0 12 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 4 1 0 1 0 14 TEAM................ 3 3 Totals.............. 36-65 12-25 12-15 8 34 42 23 96 18 10 2 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 21-38 55.3% 2nd Half: 15-27 55.6% Game: 55.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-15 33.3% 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 48.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 8-10 80.0% Game: 80.0% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: June Courteau, Amy Bonner, Ann Schroeder Technical fouls: Weber State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2302 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Weber State................... 19 28 - 47 Nebraska...................... 51 45 - 96