Lincoln - The Nebraska women's basketball team opened the game on a 21-8 spurt in the first nine minutes and never looked back, blowing past visiting Long Beach State, 76-44, on Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Yvonne Turner scored a season-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, including a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range. Dominique Kelley added 11 points, while Kala Kuhlmann pitched in her third double-figure scoring effort of the season off the bench with 12 points. Kuhlmann scored 10 of her points, including a pair of three-pointers, early in the first half to help shoot NU to a 29-point halftime lead.
Junior center Nikki Bober tied her season high with eight points to go along with four rebounds, while sophomore center Catheryn Redmon added six points and 10 boards in her third straight start. Junior guard Nicole Neals added six points and a season-high three rebounds, as 11 Huskers found the scoring column against the 49ers. Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Burke did not score but dished out a career-high eight assists in the win.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 8-2 on the season, while the 49ers slipped to 2-5. Whitney Fields was the lone 49er to produce double figures with 12 points.
"I was really happy with the energy we brought to the court tonight," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I thought we really came out strong and it is always nice when you hit some shots. I think we are starting to get more adjusted to playing without Kelsey Griffin. We have played 10 games now without Kelsey and you can see our players moving better on offense and not looking for Kelsey as much out there."
Last season in Long Beach, the Huskers burst out to a 21-2 lead in the first nine minutes at the Walter Pyramid and nearly matched the opening burst on their homecourt.
The difference between the 2008 version of the game and the 2007 contest was that the Huskers continued to surge throughout the first half. NU led 38-16 at the half in Long Beach, but carried a whopping 45-16 edge into the locker room on Friday in Lincoln.
The 16 points allowed tied for the sixth-fewest points surrendered by the Huskers in school history. NU hit 59.4 percent (19-31) of their shots in the first half, including 5-of-11 shooting from long range. The Huskers also outrebounded Long Beach State, 23-18, in the opening half. The 49ers hit just 8-of-35 first-half shots, including 0-for-7 shooting from three-point range. LBSU also committed 12 first-half turnovers.
Nebraska finished the game at 49.2 percent from the field, including 43.8 percent (7-16) from three-point range. NU outrebounded the Beach, 46-39, and forced 23 turnovers. Long Beach State hit just 30 percent (21-70) of its shots from the field, including just 1-of-17 three-point attempts. The 49ers also made their only free throw attempt on the night.
The Huskers will take seven days off from competition for Finals Week at the University of Nebraska before returning to action at UTEP on Dec. 20. Nebraska will face the defending Conference USA champion Miners on Saturday at 2 p.m. in El Paso, Texas, with free live audio on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Long Beach State vs Nebraska 12/12/08 7:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Long Beach State 2-5, 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 24 Fields,Whitney...... f 6-15 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 2 12 1 7 1 2 23 25 Timmons,Brett....... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 7 05 Williams,Lynea...... g 3-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 0 2 0 0 20 11 Walton,Adelle....... g 2-11 0-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 4 2 1 0 3 32 21 Jacob,Courtney...... g 0-9 0-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 19 03 Sims,Lauren......... 3-6 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 7 2 1 0 0 22 12 Bookman,Ashley...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 22 Wade,Ally........... 0-7 0-6 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 2 12 23 O'Brien,Kaiti....... 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 3 4 0 2 1 2 23 33 Moorer,Tipesa....... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 4 0 1 0 0 6 44 Lisnock,Melanie..... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 8 52 Beckner,Lindsey..... 2-5 0-0 1-1 5 8 13 2 5 1 4 3 3 23 TEAM................ 3 1 4 2 Totals.............. 21-70 1-17 1-1 13 26 39 17 44 11 23 5 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-35 22.9% 2nd Half: 13-35 37.1% Game: 30.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-7 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 5.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-1 100 % Game: 100 % 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 8-2, 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 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 7 7 0 4 0 0 0 1 14 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... f 3-5 0-0 0-2 4 6 10 2 6 1 5 2 1 25 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 8-10 2-4 1-2 1 0 1 1 19 0 6 0 2 19 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 4-8 2-3 1-1 0 1 1 0 11 3 0 0 0 19 32 Hester, Tay......... g 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 11 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 4 4 1 0 8 0 0 0 22 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 3 1 6 2 2 0 1 19 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 5-9 2-3 0-0 1 2 3 0 12 2 1 0 0 18 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 2 0 0 11 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-8 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 18 35 Periago, Jessica.... 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 1 1 0 1 9 42 Bober, Nikki........ 2-4 0-0 4-6 1 3 4 0 8 2 2 1 0 15 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 31-63 7-16 7-14 10 36 46 9 76 20 20 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-32 59.4% 2nd Half: 12-31 38.7% Game: 49.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-11 45.5% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 43.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 50.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Beverly Roberts, Lisa Jones, Brenda Pantoja Technical fouls: Long Beach State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2620 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Long Beach State.............. 16 28 - 44 Nebraska...................... 45 31 - 76