Lincoln - Cory Montgomery tied her career high with 21 points while adding seven rebounds to help the Nebraska women's basketball team improve to 3-0 on the season with a 65-57 win over Southern Utah at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday.
Playing in front of the 10th-largest regular-season non-conference crowd in school history with 3,483 in attendance, the Huskers led from start to finish against the Thunderbirds, who slipped to 0-3 on the year.
In addition to the team season-high 21 points from Montgomery, the Huskers received 14 points, a career-high six assists and four rebounds from sophomore guard Dominique Kelley to post their fifth straight home victory at the Devaney Center.
The Huskers earned the victory despite hitting just 5-of-22 three-pointers (22.7 percent) on the night and connecting on just 35.2 percent (25-71) of their field goal attempts. NU also hit just 52.6 percent (10-19) from the free throw line, while committing a season-high 18 turnovers, including 11 in the second half. Nebraska survived Southern Utah despite going just 8-for-30 from the field, including 2-for-8 from long range in the second half, while hitting just 6-of-12 free throws.
On the night, Nebraska forced 25 SUU turnovers and converted them into 23 points. The Huskers also outrebounded the Thunderbird 17-11 on the offensive glass to outscore them 20-6 in second-chance points.
Junior center Nikki Bober supplied a solid complement to Montgomery by scoring eight points and pulling down seven boards on the night, while adding a pair of blocked shots. Sophomores Catheryn Redmon and Monique Whittaker each added six points in six minutes off the bench.
Cassie Platt and Kaila Goff led the Thunderbirds with 10 points apiece, while Caitlyn Sears added nine points. Cassi Jones pitched in seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds for SUU.
Southern Utah outshot Nebraska in all three areas, hitting 36.8 percent (21-57) from the field, including 33.3 percent (4-12) from three-point range. The Thunderbirds also hit 68.8 percent (11-16) of their free throw attempts.
Nebraska jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead in the opening four minutes, before Platt caught fire with 10 consecutive points to pull Southern Utah within 17-15 with just over 12 minutes left in the half.
The Huskers then went inside to regain control, as Montgomery finished the first half with 14 points and five rebounds. In addition to the big half from Montgomery, Bober went 3-for-3 from the field and finished the opening half with six points, three rebounds and a blocked shot. Redmon also gave the Huskers a spark late in the half, scoring six straight points in the final 2:45 to send NU to the locker room with a 41-30 lead.
After hitting 46.7 percent of their three-pointers in their first two victories, the Huskers went just 3-of-14 from long range in the opening half. NU hit 41.5 percent (17-41) of its shots from the field and 4-of-7 free throws in the opening stanza. Southern Utah connected on 3-of-7 three-pointers in the opening half, after entering the game 4-of-29 from three-point range on the year. SUU hit 41.4 percent (12-29) of its attempts from the floor, but just 3-of-8 free throws.
Nebraska forced 12 first-half turnovers while committing just six of its own, while outrebounding SUU, 24-21, in the opening half.
After building the 11-point halftime edge, Nebraska's lead grew to 17 points after a 7-0 run capped by a Kelley jumper with 12:21 left in the game, and SUU got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
The Huskers embark on their longest road trip of the season when the open a three-game, eight-day road trip by taking on Denver at the Magness Arena in Colorado on Monday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. central with a live radio broadcast provided by the Husker Sports Network, including free live audio on Huskers.com. Live video of the game will also be available to premium subscribers of HuskersNside.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Southern Utah vs Nebraska 11/22/08 5:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center - Lincoln, Neb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Southern Utah 0-3,0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 21 Westwood-Higbee, Ann f 1-3 0-0 2-2 2 0 2 5 4 2 2 0 1 16 42 Jones, Cassi........ f 2-6 0-0 3-4 2 12 14 2 7 1 2 2 0 30 13 Goff, Kaila......... g 4-7 0-2 2-3 0 4 4 1 10 2 5 0 2 25 23 Platt, Cassie....... g 4-12 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 1 10 2 3 0 1 34 32 Sears, Caitlyn...... g 4-11 1-2 0-0 1 3 4 4 9 1 3 0 0 27 05 NeVille, Lyndie..... 1-2 1-2 2-4 1 4 5 0 5 0 3 0 1 10 12 Snyder, Kellie...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 14 Hosking, Dani....... 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 11 20 Sagers, Jamie....... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 10 22 Dancer, Taylor...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+ 24 Pascucci, Challis... 2-9 0-0 2-2 1 4 5 4 6 0 2 0 1 21 44 Farish, Amanda...... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 2 2 0 1 13 TEAM................ 4 4 Totals.............. 21-57 4-12 11-16 11 33 44 20 57 10 25 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-29 41.4% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 36.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 8-8 100 % Game: 68.8% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 3-0,0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Turner, Yvonne...... f 2-10 0-4 0-2 1 5 6 3 4 2 4 0 3 29 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 7-15 0-1 7-8 2 5 7 0 21 2 0 0 0 31 42 Bober, Nikki........ c 3-5 0-0 2-5 5 2 7 3 8 1 4 2 0 20 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 0-5 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 24 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 6-15 2-6 0-0 2 2 4 1 14 6 1 0 2 30 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-2 1-2 0-2 0 2 2 3 3 1 1 0 1 15 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-3 0-1 0-0 3 3 6 0 0 1 2 0 2 22 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 2-6 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 0 1 0 0 6 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 32 Hester, Tay......... 1-5 0-0 1-2 0 4 4 4 3 0 2 0 1 14 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 6 0 1 0 0 6 TEAM................ 1 2 3 1 Totals.............. 25-71 5-22 10-19 17 28 45 19 65 13 18 2 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-41 41.5% 2nd Half: 8-30 26.7% Game: 35.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-14 21.4% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 22.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 6-12 50.0% Game: 52.6% 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Scott Yarbrough, Scotty Hermann, Jeff Caudle Technical fouls: Southern Utah-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 3483 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Southern Utah................. 30 27 - 57 Nebraska...................... 41 24 - 65