Lincoln - Yvonne Turner led four Huskers in double figures with 13 points, as the Nebraska women's basketball team battled back from a 16-point first-half deficit to defeat No. 24 Arizona State in front of a season-high crowd of 4,652 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and an FSN national television audience on Sunday afternoon.
Nebraska, which trailed 18-2 after opening the game 0-for-13 from the field, improved to 9-3 on the season with its first victory over a top-25 opponent since knocking off then-No. 21 Texas A&M, 73-60, at the Devaney Center on Jan. 23, 2008. Arizona State, which has advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past four years, slipped to 8-4 with its third loss to a Big 12 foe this season, including setbacks to current No. 4 Texas and current No. 5 Oklahoma.
"It is a great example of playing the game for 40 minutes," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I thought we played with great energy from start to finish. I thought we came out and played hard, we just didn't hit any shots early. After we finally hit a shot, we just kept battling and found a way to win."
Turner, a 5-8 junior guard from Omaha, Neb., helped complete NU's impressive comeback with 10 second-half points. She hit a pair of second-half three-pointers before icing the game with a pair of free throws with 18.9 seconds left to give NU a 61-58 edge. Turner's performance came in just 15 minutes while battling foul trouble going head-to-head with Arizona State guards Briann January and Dymond Simon.
Fellow starting guard Dominique Kelley added 11 points and three assists, while helping shut down January at the defensive end. January, who entered the game as ASU's top gun averaging 14 points per game, managed just five points and five assists before fouling out in frustration in the final minute.
Kelley, a 5-7 sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., scored seven of her 11 points at the line, including NU's final point with eight seconds left to put the game out of reach at 62-58.
Reserve guard Kaitlyn Burke also had a big day against the talented Sun Devil backcourt. The 5-7 sophomore from North Vancouver, British Columbia, matched her season high with 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers, while tying a career-best with three steals.
In addition to the big efforts from the NU guards, sophomore center Catheryn Redmon continued her emergence in her fifth straight start. Redmon finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Redmon scored eight points in the final nine minutes, including a pair of huge putbacks, before fouling out in the closing minutes.
Junior forward Cory Montgomery added eight points and four boards, including a clutch baseline jumper from 15 feet to give NU the lead for good at 59-58 with 1:35 left. Junior Nikki Bober added two points, five rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots off the bench for NU.
Arizona State opened the game on an 18-2 surge, as Nebraska went the opening 9:45 without hitting a field goal against a suffocating Sun Devil defense. NU missed its first 13 shots from the field before Montgomery's hook shot in the lane gave the Huskers life.
Despite the slow start from the field, Nebraska was able to pull within single digits by halftime, as Burke knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing with 38 seconds left to send NU to the locker room down 28-19. ASU's 16-point edge at 10:27 was its largest of the half, and over the final 10:15, the Huskers actually outscored the 24th-ranked Sun Devils, 17-10.
Nebraska's comeback from the nine-point halftime deficit matched its largest second-half comeback in seven seasons under Coach Yori. The Huskers overcame a 43-34 halftime deficit for an 81-74 victory at Missouri on Jan. 8, 2005.
Burke led the Huskers with five first-half points, while Montgomery added four points, as seven Huskers found the scoring column in the opening period. Dosty led the Sun Devils in the first half with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Orsillo contributed nine first-half points.
NU hit just 7-of-25 shots (28 percent) in the first half, while ASU connected on 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) field goal attempts. ASU outrebounded NU, 20-15, in the first half and forced 10 turnovers. The Huskers outscored Arizona State at the line, 4-3, in the first half and forced nine ASU turnovers.
The Huskers opened the second half in attack mode, as Turner drained a three-pointer just 12 seconds into the half to cut the ASU margin to 28-22 and ignite NU's biggest non-conference crowd of the year. On the ensuing inbounds pass, January committed her third foul and Montgomery knocked down a jumper to pull NU with four. A minute later, Kelley connected on a free throw to pull the Huskers within 28-25 with 18:31 to play to complete an 11-0 NU run.
A pair of Simon free throws and January's lone three-pointer of the game put the Sun Devil lead back to eight points at 33-25 with 18:03 left. A Kayli Murphy jumper pushed ASU's edge back to 10 at 39-29 with 15:41 left, but the Huskers refused to quit. Turner sparked a 9-2 NU surge by hitting her second three, before Burke added a three and Kelley scored three straight points capped by a driving layup to pull the Huskers back to 41-38 with 10:06 left.
Tay Hester hit a jumper with 6:18 left to draw NU within 45-44, but the Sun Devils answered again, pushing the margin back to six at 52-46 with 4:41 left.
Turner gave the Huskers their first lead of the game at 57-56 with her layup at 2:48, following a Redmon blocked shot. January hit two free throws and fouled out Redmon in the process with 1:46 remaining before Montgomery's jumper with 1:35 left gave NU the lead for good.
Nebraska finished the game shooting 41.5 percent (22-53), including 53.6 percent (15-28) in the second half. The Huskers hit 4-of-8 three-pointers and 14-of-20 free throws. NU matched ASU on the glass with 36 rebounds, including a plus-five rebound margin in the second half. NU committed 17 turnovers, while forcing 16 by the Sun Devils.
Arizona State shot just 38.7 percent (24-62), including 35.3 percent (12-34) in the second half. The Sun Devils were just 3-for-10 from three-point range and 7-for-8 at the line.
Nebraska concludes non-conference action on Thursday, Jan. 1, when the Huskers travel to Baton Rouge, La., to battle defending Southeastern Conference champion LSU. Tip-off between the Huskers and Lady Tigers is set for 1 p.m. central time with free live audio on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Arizona State vs Nebraska 12/28/08 12:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Arizona State 8-4, 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 Murphy, Kayli....... f 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 5 8 2 2 0 2 1 2 27 33 Dosty, Sybil........ c 6-11 0-0 2-2 3 8 11 3 14 0 3 1 0 25 01 Simon, Dymond....... g 5-14 0-2 2-2 1 2 3 3 12 5 1 0 0 27 13 Orsillo, Danielle... g 7-11 2-4 0-0 2 2 4 1 16 0 2 0 2 24 20 January, Briann..... g 1-10 1-4 2-2 1 3 4 5 5 5 2 0 1 26 10 Fanaika, Nia........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 4 17 11 Engelbrecht, Kate... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 0 3 0 1 25 23 Thompson, Kirsten... 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 0 0 0 7 30 Fage, Gabby......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 32 Tobin, Becca........ 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 2 1 0 1 0 1 14 34 Lacey, Lauren....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 7 TEAM................ Totals.............. 24-62 3-10 7-8 11 25 36 17 58 11 16 3 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 12-34 35.3% Game: 38.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 30.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 4-4 100 % Game: 87.5% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 9-3, 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 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 4-10 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 2 8 1 2 0 0 32 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... f 6-9 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 5 12 0 1 3 1 20 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-7 2-2 3-4 0 3 3 4 13 1 3 1 1 15 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 2-7 0-0 7-12 2 0 2 3 11 3 5 0 0 24 32 Hester, Tay......... g 1-3 0-0 2-2 1 3 4 2 4 1 3 0 1 16 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 4-7 2-3 2-2 0 3 3 0 12 1 1 0 3 31 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 17 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 17 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 42 Bober, Nikki........ 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 0 2 1 0 4 0 25 TEAM................ 3 3 6 Totals.............. 22-53 4-8 14-20 9 27 36 16 62 10 17 8 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-25 28.0% 2nd Half: 15-28 53.6% Game: 41.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 50.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 70.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Mary Day, Cameron Inouye, Jesse Dickerson Technical fouls: Arizona State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 4652 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Arizona State................. 28 30 - 58 Nebraska...................... 19 43 - 62