Lincoln - Nebraska led No. 18 Ohio State by 10 at the half, but the Buckeyes used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to take the lead and hold on for a 69-65 women's basketball victory at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 6-2 while Ohio State improved to 7-2 on the season. In a matchup between premier post players, Ohio State's Jantel Lavender produced 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Nebraska's Cory Montgomery, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, answered with 17 points and nine rebounds.
The Huskers also got a major lift inside from Catheryn Redmon. Making her first career start, the 6-3 sophomore center from Grand Prairie, Texas, erupted for a career-high 10 points, while adding two rebounds and two blocked shots. Redmon scored eight first-half points to help the Huskers to a 36-26 halftime lead over the four-time defending Big Ten champions.
Redmon helped the Huskers extend the lead to 12 points after the first possession of the second half, but picked up her fourth foul early in the second half. With Redmon off the floor, Ohio State orchestrated a 13-0 run to turn a 40-28 deficit into a 41-40 lead with 13:09 left.
After the Buckeye run, the Huskers found an answer and the next 13 minutes featured a possession-for-possession battle down to the wire. Montgomery scored seven points in a 9-3 NU surge to regain control at 51-46 with 7:53 left.
Andrea Walker stopped a 5:55 field goal drought with a shot with six minutes left, before Nicole Neals answered with a three-pointer to put NU up 54-48 with 5:40 remaining.
Star Allen then hit back-to-back field goals for the Buckeyes, and after a pair of Montgomery free throws, Ashlee Trebilcock hit her fourth three-pointer of the game to pull OSU within 56-55 with 4:24 left. Trebilcock finished with 14 points.
Brittany Johnson then hit a pair of free throws to give the Buckeyes a 57-56 lead with 3:59 left. Turner answered with two free throws for the Huskers before Johnson drained her second three of the game to give OSU a 60-58 edge. Johnson finished with 11 points for the Buckeyes.
Turner, who finished with 13 points despite 2-of-11 shooting from the field, then connected on two more free throws to tie the game with 2:41 left, before Ohio State went to Lavender the rest of the way. Lavender scored eight of the Buckeyes' final nine points, including two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to seal the win.
Nebraska hit just 36.4 percent (20-55) of its shots from the field, including just 5-of-20 shooting from three-point range. NU did connect on 20-of-27 free throws, while matching Ohio State on the glass with 39 rebounds. The two teams were also close in the turnover column, with the Buckeyes committing 16 turnovers and NU had 17 miscues.
Ohio State hit 41.4 percent (24-58) of its shots from the field, including 7-of-15 shooting from three-point range. The Buckeyes also hit 14-of-19 free throws. The Buckeyes hit 50 percent of their shots in the second half, while Nebraska hit just 24.1 percent of its shots after halftime.
Lavender managed six points and five boards in the first half, but hit just 3-of-11 shots from the field. Montgomery managed four points and five rebounds in the first half, while junior center Nikki Bober pitched in two points and a rebound and Nebraska's post players outscored the Buckeye inside game 14-8 in the first half.
Turner added seven first-half points for NU, while holding Ohio State point guard Samantha Prahalis without a field goal in the first half. Tay Hester added six points, three rebounds and three assists for NU, as eight Huskers found the scoring column in the first half. Hester finished with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists in a strong effort.
Nebraska hit 50 percent (13-26) of their first-half field goal attempts, including 3-of-7 three-pointers, while outscoring Ohio State 7-2 at the free throw line. The Huskers also forced 10 Buckeye turnovers while committing just seven of their own, while trailing OSU on the glass, 20-19.
Trebilcock kept Ohio State close in the first half with 11 points, including 3-for-3 shooting from three-point range. No other Buckeye hit more than one field goal in the opening period, as OSU hit just 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) shots from the field, but did connect on 4-of-7 three-pointers.
Nebraska continues its four-game home stand by battling Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday, Dec. 9. Tip-off between the Huskers and Roadrunners at the Devaney Center is set for 7:05 p.m., with free live audio provided by the Husker Sports Network on Huskers.com, and premium video for HuskersNside subscribers.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Ohio State vs Nebraska 12/6/08 12:00pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Ohio State 7-2, 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 42 Lavender, Jantel.... f 8-20 0-0 4-7 4 6 10 1 20 1 3 1 1 36 55 Allen, Star......... f 2-4 0-0 4-4 2 1 3 5 8 1 0 0 0 22 00 Trebilcock, Ashlee.. g 5-8 4-5 0-0 1 1 2 2 14 0 2 0 2 32 20 Little, Shavelle.... g 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 9 21 Prahalis, Samantha.. g 2-8 0-2 2-2 1 2 3 5 6 8 7 0 5 34 12 Jackson, Alison..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 14 Moeller, Maria...... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 9 40 Johnson, Brittany... 3-8 2-6 3-4 0 4 4 1 11 0 1 0 2 22 43 Schulze, Sarah...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 9 51 Walker, Andrea...... 2-6 0-0 1-2 3 8 11 5 5 2 1 2 0 23 TEAM................ 2 2 Totals.............. 24-58 7-15 14-19 12 27 39 22 69 13 16 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 33.3% 2nd Half: 14-28 50.0% Game: 41.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 46.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 12-15 80.0% Game: 73.7% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 6-2, 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 6-13 1-2 4-4 5 4 9 3 17 2 3 0 0 35 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... f 3-4 0-0 4-6 1 1 2 5 10 0 2 2 1 21 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 18 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 2-11 2-10 7-8 1 3 4 3 13 0 3 0 2 27 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 1-4 0-1 2-2 1 2 3 0 4 2 2 0 2 19 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-6 2-6 0-0 0 0 0 2 6 1 0 0 1 21 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 2 2 1 0 1 10 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 32 Hester, Tay......... 3-7 0-0 3-6 2 6 8 2 9 4 2 0 0 25 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 5 42 Bober, Nikki........ 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 5 2 0 1 1 1 15 TEAM................ 2 1 3 1 Totals.............. 20-55 5-20 20-27 14 25 39 21 65 13 17 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 7-29 24.1% Game: 36.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 2-13 15.4% Game: 25.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 13-15 86.7% Game: 74.1% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tina Napier, Teresa Dahlem, Barry Roberts Technical fouls: Ohio State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2506 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Ohio State.................... 26 43 - 69 Nebraska...................... 36 29 - 65