Grand Island, Neb. - Yvonne Turner scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team back from an 11-point second-half deficit to an 80-69 win over NCAA Division II No. 25 Nebraska-Kearney at the Heartland Events Center on Wednesday night.
Turner, who scored 21 points in the second half including all four of her three-pointers, allowed the Huskers to defeat the Lopers for the eighth straight time in exhibition play, while completing the exhibition season with a pair of victories.
Playing in front of a Nebraska exhibition-game record crowd of 3,180 fans in the Huskers' first game in Grand Island since 1982, NU trailed 54-43 with 15:48 left. UNK, which earned the No. 25 spot in the USA Today Top 25 poll released today, led for much of the first half before Nebraska bounced back for a 41-40 halftime lead.
But the Lopers exploded out of the locker room on a 14-2 run to claim control. The Huskers' defense stiffened and foul trouble ultimately foiled UNK's upset hopes.
Jonni Mildenberger, who scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the game's first 32 minutes, fouled out by committing a charge in a collision with Dominique Kelley with 7:53 left. Minutes later, honorable-mention All-American Jade Meads picked up her fifth on an offensive foul trying to score over Kala Kuhlmann, handcuffing the Lopers at both ends. Meads finished her night with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Meads also hit all four of her three-point attempts on the night, as UNK connected on 8-of-15 threes for the game.
Things got worse for the Lopers when Kassi Schuppe fouled Turner on a transition layup attempt with 5:02 left and the Huskers clinging to a 65-63 lead. Schuppe finished with 13 points in just 21 minutes on the night, after sitting out much of the first half with three fouls.
Turner made both free throws, then buried her third three of the night with 4:39 left to push NU's lead to 70-65. A minute later, Turner connected on another three-pointer to extend the Husker lead to 73-65 with 3:44 remaining. After a jumper and free throw from junior forward Cory Montgomery, who finished with 17 points and 11 boards for the Huskers, Turner stretched the NU lead to double digits for the first time with a steal and layup to make it 78-67 with 2:39 left.
"If Vonnie doesn't hit the shots and play well in the second half, we probably don't win the game," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I hope this is a wakeup call for our team. We have not practiced well, and I think that showed tonight. We need to be a team that is committed to getting better every day in practice. Kearney is a pretty good Division II team, and they are well-coached. I also thought they outhustled and outscrapped us tonight."
Early in the second half, not only did the Lopers own a double-digit edge on the scoreboard, they also maintained a double-figure lead in the rebound column. UNK finished the night with a 49-44 edge on the glass.
However, the Huskers claimed victory by hitting 27-of-63 shots from the field, including 6-of-16 three-pointers, while forcing 24 UNK turnovers. Along with a plus-six turnover margin, the Huskers outscored UNK at the free throw line, 20-7.
Turner led NU's free throw parade by hitting 10-of-13 shots on the night, many after being fouled in transition. Turner also led the Huskers with four steals, while adding four rebounds and two assists.
Kaitlyn Burke added 12 points, four assists and two steals, while Tay Hester rounded out four Huskers in double figures with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Nebraska opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 14, when the Huskers play host to Weber State at the Devaney Center in Lincoln. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. For tickets, visit Huskers.com or call 1-800-8BIGRED.
Official Basketball Box Score<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
Kearney vs Nebraska
11/5/08 7:06 pm at Heartland Events Center-Grand Island, NE
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VISITORS: Kearney
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
31 Megan Becker........ f 4-16 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 4 8 2 3 1 2 37
35 Jonni Mildenberger.. f 6-15 1-3 3-4 6 9 15 5 16 1 5 0 3 28
11 Kassi Schuppe....... g 4-10 3-4 2-2 0 3 3 5 13 1 2 0 1 21
25 Kaitlin Petri....... g 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 3 2 1 3 0 0 31
30 Jade Meads.......... g 9-17 4-4 0-2 4 7 11 5 22 5 6 2 4 33
10 Debi Johnson........ 1-4 0-2 2-2 1 0 1 2 4 0 3 0 1 15
23 Vanessa Leeper...... 1-4 0-1 0-1 1 3 4 2 2 2 2 0 0 19
32 Tana Nelsen......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 1 0 0 1 8
44 Katie Hall.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 27-74 8-15 7-12 20 29 49 27 69 13 24 3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-41 39.0% 2nd Half: 11-33 33.3% Game: 36.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 53.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 58.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: Nebraska
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 7-14 0-1 3-4 4 7 11 1 17 0 5 0 1 32
42 Bober, Nikki........ c 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 9
05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 5-10 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 2 12 4 4 0 2 28
24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-5 0-0 3-4 0 5 5 2 9 3 0 0 3 25
32 Hester, Tay......... g 4-11 0-0 2-5 4 6 10 4 10 1 3 0 2 26
11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 5
13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-3 0-2 2-2 0 1 1 1 4 2 1 0 1 17
21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-5 0-0 0-1 1 4 5 0 0 1 0 4 1 19
22 Turner, Yvonne...... 7-13 4-8 10-13 2 2 4 3 28 2 1 0 4 33
44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 6
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 27-63 6-16 20-29 13 31 44 17 80 14 18 5 15 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-33 48.5% 2nd Half: 11-30 36.7% Game: 42.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 37.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-13 61.5% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 69.0% 3
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Officials: Jeff Stromgren, Dave Rittman, Doug Miller
Technical fouls: Kearney-None. Nebraska-None.
Attendance: 3180
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Kearney....................... 40 29 - 69
Nebraska...................... 41 39 - 80