Albuquerque, N.M. - Cory Montgomery scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Nebraska women's basketball team fell to New Mexico, 62-51, at The Pit on Saturday night.
New Mexico used a 15-0 run midway through the second half to outscore NU, 40-25, after halftime to hand the Huskers their first loss of the season. NU slipped to 5-1 on the year, while the Lobos improved to 6-1 with their sixth home win of the year.
After opening the game just 1-of-17 from the field through the first 18:30 in the game, New Mexico hit seven consecutive field goals including a pair of three-pointers to turn an eight-point deficit into a three-point lead at 34-31 with 17:30 left in the game.
Nebraska continued to hang with the Lobos, trimming UNM's lead to 38-36 on a Nicole Neals three-pointer with 13:21 remaining. But New Mexico used an 8-0 surge that took just 45 seconds and included back-to-back three-pointers on the same possession after Tay Hester was whistled for a foul away from the ball on an Amanda Best three-pointer. After the foul, Angela Hartill connected on a three to give UNM its first double-digit lead of the night.
Yvonne Turner, who joined Montgomery as Nebraska's representatives on the all-tournament team, then connected on a three-pointer with 10:37 left to stop the UNM run and trim the lead to 46-39. The Lobos responded with a 15-0 run to claim their biggest lead of the night at 61-39. The Huskers continued to battle to the wire, outscoring UNM 12-1 in the final four minutes to produce the final margin.
Turner joined Montgomery as the only Huskers in double figures, as the junior from Omaha finished with 11 points, but was just 4-of-16 from the field, including a 3-for-12 from three-point range.
Hester added six points and seven rebounds, while Kaitlyn Burke added six points of her own on a pair of three-pointers.
The Huskers struggled from the field from start-to-finish, hitting just 18-of-61 field goal attempts for a season-low 29.5 percent. The Huskers hit just nine field goals in each half, while hitting 7-of-24 three-pointers. NU also hit 8-of-12 free throws. Nebraska forced 17 turnovers by UNM, while committing just 11 of its own, but the Huskers were outrebounded, 39-37. The Lobos were plus-seven on the glass in the second half, but NU still outscored UNM, 12-2, on second-chance points for the game.
New Mexico finished 19-for-47 (40.4 percent) from the field on the night, including 55.6 percent (15-27) shooting in the second half. The Lobos also connected on 6-of-11 three-pointers and 18-of-24 free throws.
Junior guard Amy Beggin was named the MVP of the all-tourament team after leading the Lobos with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists. She was 10-of-10 at the free throw line with most of those coming in the first half to keep New Mexico in the game. Angela Hartill added 14 points, while Amanda Adamson pitched in 10 points.
In a defense-dominated first half, Nebraska carried a 26-22 lead to the locker room. The Huskers held New Mexico without a field goal for more than 17 consecutive minutes to lead by as many as eight points twice in the first half. After Adamson gave the Lobos a 2-0 lead with 18:40 left in the half, New Mexico did not hit another shot from the floor until Valerie Kast hit a jumper with 1:27 remaining.
Kast's jumper sparked the Lobos to hit their final three field goal attempts of the half, including a three-pointer by Nikki Nelson, to finish the half 4-for-20 from the field. Burke stopped New Mexico's 7-0 run with a three-pointer from the corner with three seconds left.
In addition to holding New Mexico to just 20 percent shooting, the Huskers also forced 10 turnovers and outrebounded the Lobos, 24-19, in the first half.
New Mexico's defense kept the Lobos in it by holding NU to just 9-for-32 shooting, including 2-of-9 three-point attempts. The Huskers also hit 6-of-8 free throws, but the Lobos were able to hang tough with NU by going 13-for-18 at the free throw line.
Montgomery carried the Huskers in the first half by scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds. During an eight-minute stretch late in the first half, Montgomery scored 10 straight points to shoot the Huskers to an eight-point edge.
Nebraska returns home to the Bob Devaney Sports Center to begin a four-game home stand by battling Oral Roberts on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Tip-off between the Huskers and Golden Eagles is set for 7:05 p.m. with free live audio on Huskers.com provided by the Husker Sports Network.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs New Mexico 11/29/08 7:20 PM MST at The Pit/Albuquerque, N.M.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 5-1 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 3-7 0-0 0-0 1 6 7 3 6 1 2 0 0 23 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 6-17 1-3 4-6 5 3 8 1 17 1 2 1 1 30 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... g 2-7 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 1 1 0 2 32 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-16 3-12 0-2 1 4 5 3 11 0 1 0 2 25 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 0-3 0-1 2-2 1 3 4 2 2 4 2 0 0 30 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 13 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 20 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 0-4 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 2 2 0 1 0 0 11 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+ 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 9 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 0 1 1 0 7 TEAM................ 5 5 Totals.............. 18-61 7-24 8-12 11 26 37 19 51 9 11 2 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-32 28.1% 2nd Half: 9-29 31.0% Game: 29.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 5-15 33.3% Game: 29.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 66.7% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: New Mexico 6-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 WEISSMANN, Eileen... f 3-3 1-1 1-2 0 4 4 1 8 1 3 1 0 26 15 ADAMSON, Amanda..... f 3-6 1-1 3-6 0 5 5 2 10 0 1 2 2 30 44 HARTILL, Angela..... c 5-14 1-3 3-4 1 3 4 3 14 2 1 1 1 35 10 BEGGIN, Amy......... g 4-9 1-3 10-10 0 6 6 3 19 6 5 0 0 34 32 BEST, Amanda........ g 2-4 1-1 0-0 2 7 9 0 5 3 1 0 0 33 11 TAYLOR, Lauren...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 4 0 0 6 12 NELSON, Nikki....... 1-2 1-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 6 20 HALASZ, Sara........ 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 22 JACKSON, Georonika.. 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 34 KAST, Valerie....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 5 52 KIELPINSKI, Jessica. 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 13 TEAM................ 2 4 6 1 Totals.............. 19-47 6-11 18-24 7 32 39 13 62 14 17 6 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 4-20 20.0% 2nd Half: 15-27 55.6% Game: 40.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 54.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 13-18 72.2% 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 75.0% 1,2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Peter Contreras, Scotty Hermann, Rick Ruybalid Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. New Mexico-None. Attendance: 7773 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 26 25 - 51 New Mexico.................... 22 40 - 62 Championship game: Holiday Inn & Suites Express Midtown Tournament Consolation: William & Mary 53 Butler 50