Omaha, Neb. - Dominique Kelley tied a career high with 16 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 3:10 left to help carry the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 72-67 road victory over Creighton at the Civic Auditorium on Monday night.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 2-0 on the young season, while the Bluejays slipped to 0-2 after losing their home debut.
Kelley, a 5-7 guard out of Lincoln Northeast High School, hit big shots throughout the night, connecting on 7-of-11 shots from the field including both of her three-point attempts. She also dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes for the Huskers.
Kelley may have hit the biggest shot of the night to give NU the edge for good in a game that featured 14 lead changes. However, it was fellow Nebraska native Yvonne Turner who made a string of huge plays down the stretch to put the Huskers in position to win.
Turner, who was straddled with foul trouble that allowed her on the floor for just four minutes in the first half, scored 11 of her 13 points in the second stanza to bring Nebraska back from a six-point second-half deficit.
With Nebraska trailing 59-56 with 7:21 to play, the Omaha native out of Bellevue East High School scored seven consecutive points for NU, including back-to-back three-pointers in a 1:01 span to tie the score at 63 with 3:43 left in the game.
Turner then hit Kelley on the left wing for the go-ahead three on NU's next possesion to have a hand in 10 straight points for the Huskers. After Creighton pulled within one at 68-67, Kala Kuhlmann and Turner connected on four consecutive free throws to seal NU's second straight win in the series over the Jays in Omaha.
Kuhlmann finished with eight points on the night, including a crucial defensive rebound with 1:02 left to set up her clutch free throws. Fellow junior Cory Montgomery also played a major role in the game, finishing with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Montgomery hit all three of her field goals in the game's final 7:21 to help NU outscore the Jays 18-8 down the stretch.
The Huskers also got a major contribution for the second straight game from sophomore Monique Whittaker. The Onalaska, Texas, native came off the bench in the first half to score 10 consecutive points to help NU bounce back from a 23-19 deficit to take a 31-30 lead with two minutes left in the half. Fellow sophomore Kaitlyn Burke added six points, including a pair of three-pointers, and three assists.
For the game, Nebraska hit 38.6 percent (22-57) of its shots from the field, including 9-of-21 from three-point range. Through NU's first two contests, the Huskers are averaging 10.5 made three-pointers per game on nearly 46 percent shooting. NU also connected on 19-of-30 free throws on the night, attempting 16 more shots than CU. The Huskers also outrebounded CU, 40-39, and both teams committed 16 turnovers.
Creighton hit 40.6 percent (24-64) of its attempts, including 6-of-16 three-pointers. The Jays also connected on 9-of-14 free throws.
Chevelle Herring, Turner's high school teammate at Bellevue East, led Creighton with a career-high 19 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field. Herring had 13 points in the second half to help CU build a six-point second-half lead at 58-52 with 10:36 left. Herring's hot hand allowed the Jays to bounce back from a seven-point deficit after NU's Kelley drove for a short jumper on NU's opening possession of the second half.
Herring was also the only Jay to hit a field goal in the game's final 11 minutes. The Jays' offense was firing on all cylinders until an injury to senior guard Michelle Kaus with 9:36 left in the game. Kaus, who finished with nine points, including a trio of three-pointers, suffered an apparent injury to her left knee, which was heavily braced after suffering an ACL tear on March 15 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals.
Kristina Voss added 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks to help the Jays, while Megan Neuvirth pitched in 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Nebraska returns to home action at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday when the Huskers play host to Southern Utah. Tip-off is set for 5:05 p.m. All men's basketball ticket holders for the 1 p.m. tip against Arkansas-Pine Bluff will be admitted to Saturday's women's game for free. Saturday's game will also be the annual Toys for Tots collection at the Devaney Center. Fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy or cash donation to the game.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Creighton 11-17-08 7:05 p.m. at Omaha, Neb. (Omaha Civic Auditorium)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 2-0 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 2-5 0-0 1-5 1 4 5 4 5 2 2 0 1 18 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 3-10 0-0 5-6 4 5 9 2 11 1 1 0 2 32 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 2-4 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 3 6 3 0 0 1 27 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 3-8 2-7 5-9 0 3 3 4 13 2 1 0 2 17 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 7-11 2-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 16 4 5 0 0 31 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 19 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 2-4 1-2 3-4 1 3 4 0 8 0 1 0 0 26 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 2-9 1-3 5-6 2 4 6 2 10 0 4 0 0 16 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 6 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 5 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 TEAM................ 4 3 7 Totals.............. 22-57 9-21 19-30 14 26 40 22 72 13 16 0 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 12-29 41.4% Game: 38.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 13-16 81.3% 2nd Half: 6-14 42.9% Game: 63.3% 7
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Creighton 0-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 21 Neuvirth, Megan..... f 5-15 1-5 0-0 3 5 8 4 11 2 4 3 1 33 54 Voss, Kristina...... c 4-8 0-0 4-6 5 3 8 2 12 1 1 3 0 30 03 Woodard, Kelsey..... g 2-10 1-3 4-4 0 5 5 4 9 1 2 0 0 38 05 Herring, Chevelle... g 9-22 1-3 0-0 0 5 5 2 19 2 2 0 0 36 22 Kaus, Michelle...... g 3-5 3-4 0-0 0 3 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 18 04 Rhoten, Stephani.... 0-1 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 4 12 Moore, DaNae........ 0-0 0-0 0-1 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 13 15 Crites, Kelsey...... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 1 2 3 6 0 0 11 33 Frank, Katie........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 1 7 44 Nelson, Kellie...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 10 TEAM................ 4 1 5 1 Totals.............. 26-64 6-16 9-14 15 24 39 23 67 10 16 6 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 14-32 43.8% Game: 40.6% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 37.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 64.3% 2,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Gina Cross, Randy Campbell, Debbie Adams Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Creighton-TEAM. Attendance: 1537 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 37 35 - 72 Creighton..................... 32 35 - 67 2008-09 home opener for Creighton Michelle Kaus becomes 12th player in CU history with 100 career 3FG made Chevelle Herring career-high 19 points
Points in the paint-NU 22,CU 36. Points off turnovers-NU 8,CU 12. 2nd chance points-NU 9,CU 19. Fast break points-NU 11,CU 12. Bench points-NU 21,CU 7. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-14 times. Last FG-NU 2nd-02:24, CU 2nd-01:26. Largest lead-NU by 7 2nd-19:48, CU by 6 1st-05:35.