El Paso, Texas - Catheryn Redmon and Cory Montgomery produced double-doubles, but the Nebraska women's basketball team struggled offensively in a 63-53 loss at 2008 Conference USA champion UTEP on Saturday at the Don Haskins.
Nebraska slipped to 8-3 on the season, while UTEP improved to 6-5 on the year.
Redmon, a 6-3 sophomore from Grand Prairie, Texas, led four Huskers in double figures with her second career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Montgomery, a 6-2 junior from Cannon Falls, Minn., added her third double-double of the year and fourth of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Dominique Kelley added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while senior Tay Hester pitched in 11 points and four boards in a losing effort against her former UTEP teammates.
Yvonne Turner added eight points and Kaitlyn Burke pitched in two to complete NU's scoring, as the Huskers failed to get at least eight players in the scoring column for the first time this season. In fact, UTEP's bench outscored the Huskers, 22-2, on the day.
The Huskers hit 41.5 percent of their shots from the field, but were 0-for-9 from three-point range, matching a season-low 0-for-9 performance in a win over Butler on Nov. 28. NU was also a season-low 9-for-19 from the free throw line. NU also committed 22 turnovers, while forcing just 12 miscues by the Miners.
UTEP hit just 41.3 percent of its shots on the afternoon, but connected on 7-of-18 three-pointers, including 5-of-6 shooting from reserve Sviatlana Trukshanina, who finished with a game-high 17 points.
Nebraska outrebounded UTEP 43-31, including 16-11 on the offensive glass, but the Miners outscored NU 13-9 on second-chance points in a frustrating offensive day for the Huskers.
"I thought we lacked focus," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We struggled in basically every area."
The Huskers struggled with foul trouble in the backcourt in the first half and it helped hold NU to a season-low 22 first-half points. Kelley was whistled for her second offensive foul just three minutes into the game and did not return in the opening half.
Jareica Hughes, the 2008 Conference USA Player of the Year, took advantage of Kelley's early exit to score 10 points in the first five minutes to shoot the Miners to a 14-9 lead. Hughes finished with 14 points and eight assists, scoring 12 points in the first half.
Five minutes later, Turner was called for her second foul, taking two of NU's top three scorers off the floor for the remainder of the first half.
Despite being handcuffed by foul trouble, the Huskers hung tough with UTEP and had a wide open three-point attempt by Montgomery from the right wing with one minute left in the half for a chance at the lead. Montgomery's shot was long and the Miners got a layup from Brittnay Jones at the other end. Jones was fouled on the shot, but missed the free throw, which was rebounded by Marta Micula. Trukshanina then drained a long three-pointer from the left wing to complete a five-point play and give UTEP a 28-21 edge.
Redmon, who finished the first half with five points and six rebounds, hit a free throw with 19 seconds left to send NU to the locker room with a halftime deficit for the first time this season at 28-22.
Nebraska played at full strength and did not get in further foul trouble in the second half, but hit just 12-of-30 field goal attempts, including an 0-for-7 effort from beyond the arc. NU was also just 7-of-13 at the line after halftime.
UTEP built its lead to as large as 14 points, but NU trimmed the edge to seven on a pair of Kelley free throws with 2:56 left. NU could get no closer, as Trukshanina followed with a three-pointer after NU missed a pair of point-blank attempts from inside five feet that could have cut the margin to five.
Nebraska will take five days off for the holidays before returning to practice on Dec. 26. The Huskers play host to No. 21 Arizona State at the Devaney Center on Sunday, Dec. 28. Tip-off with the Sun Devils is set for noon, and will feature a Pepsi Pack the House promotion with $1 admission and $1 Pepsi products. The game will also be nationally televised by Fox Sports Net.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs UTEP 12/20/08 1:05 p.m. at El Paso, Texas (Don Haskins Center)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 8-3 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 5-11 0-1 1-2 3 7 10 0 11 1 0 1 0 36 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... c 4-9 0-0 2-4 4 7 11 1 10 1 5 0 1 27 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-7 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 2 8 1 1 0 1 19 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-7 0-2 5-7 4 3 7 3 11 4 5 0 0 20 32 Hester, Tay......... g 5-9 0-1 1-6 2 2 4 3 11 2 4 0 0 30 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 1-5 0-3 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 33 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 14 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 12 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 4 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 TEAM................ 2 1 3 1 Totals.............. 22-53 0-9 9-19 16 27 43 11 53 13 22 1 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-23 43.5% 2nd Half: 12-30 40.0% Game: 41.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-7 0.0% Game: 0.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 7-13 53.8% Game: 47.4% 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: UTEP 6-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 30 WILLIAMS, Timika.... f 3-6 0-1 1-2 2 4 6 0 7 0 1 0 1 28 45 MICULA, Marta....... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 3 2 2 1 1 0 22 03 HUGHES, Jareica..... g 6-20 0-4 2-2 2 3 5 3 14 8 2 0 2 36 11 GREEN, Briana....... g 5-11 1-3 0-0 1 5 6 3 11 2 2 1 1 35 33 JONES, Brittnay..... g 3-10 0-1 1-3 3 2 5 1 7 3 2 1 0 38 14 CALDWELL, Dietra.... 2-5 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 5 1 2 0 1 21 20 TRUKSHANINA, S...... 6-9 5-6 0-0 0 0 0 2 17 2 1 0 2 19 23 CHAMBE, Ilda........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 TM.................. 1 2 3 1 Totals.............. 26-63 7-18 4-7 11 20 31 15 63 18 12 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0% 2nd Half: 14-38 36.8% Game: 41.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-12 41.7% Game: 38.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 57.1% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Felicia Grinter, Julie Shure, Barry Roberts Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. UTEP-None. Attendance: 812 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 22 31 - 53 UTEP.......................... 28 35 - 63