Lincoln - Tay Hester scored a career-high 17 points and Catheryn Redmon added her first career double-double with career highs of 13 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 70-57 victory over Cal State Bakersfield at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Tuesday night.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 7-2, while Cal State Bakersfield slipped to 4-4 on the year. Hester, a 5-10 senior from Moreno Valley, Calif., scored 10 straight points in the first half to help the Huskers surge to a lead. While Hester gave the Huskers a solid start, sophomore Dominique Kelley provided a major lift throughout the second half. The 5-7 guard from Lincoln finished with 16 points, including 9-of-10 shooting at the line and 10 points in the second half.
Redmon, a 6-3 sophomore center who made her second straight start, helped the Huskers seal the victory by scoring seven points in the final 1:46 to finish with career bests of 13 points and 15 rebounds. The Grand Prairie, Texas, native added a career-best three blocks along with a career-high two steals in a career-best 28 minutes.
Redmon's production helped offset season-lows of two points and four rebounds for junior forward Cory Montgomery, who scored NU's first two points of the game in the opening 10 seconds. Montgomery missed her final seven shots of the game against a swarming Roadrunner defense.
Although Hester, Redmon and Kelley put up NU's most impressive individual numbers, the Huskers may have received the biggest contributions from the smallest player on their roster. Nicole Neals, a 5-6 guard from Chandler, Ariz., scored all seven of her points in the final four minutes, including a three-pointer with four minutes left to give NU a 57-52 lead.
After Hester scored her final points of the night to put NU up seven, Neals went to the line and buried two free throws to give the Huskers their biggest lead of the game at 61-52 with 2:36 left. They were the first made free throws for Neals since hitting a free throw against Creighton on Nov. 30, 2007.
She followed with a running one-hander in the lane as the shot clock wound down with 1:46 left to give the Huskers' their first double-digit lead of the night at 63-52 and seal the victory.
Yvonne Turner added nine points, including a pair of three-pointers, to go along with three steals in a solid effort, and nine of the 10 Huskers who saw action found the scoring column in a true team effort.
Nebraska won despite hitting just 37.9 percent (22-58) of its shots from the field, including 5-of-17 three-pointers. The Huskers' largest advantage came at the free throw line, where they outscored CSUB, 21-9. NU went 21-for-28 (75 percent) at the line, while the Roadrunners hit 9-of-12 attempts. The Huskers also won the turnover battle, forcing 19 CSUB miscues while committing just 12 turnovers of their own. NU also outrebounded Cal State Bakersfield, 41-40.
The Roadrunners finished the night 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the field, including 6-of-17 from three-point range. Christine Kepenekian led CSUB with a double-double of her own with 19 points and 10 rebounds, including four long three-pointers on the night. Kelley Tarver and Nicole Leon each pitched in 11 points in a losing effort.
Kepenekian kept the Roadrunners close in the first half with a pair of long threes in the final 2:05. Her second one tied the score at 23 with 1:24 left in the first half, before Hester, Redmon and Kelley scored the final six points of the half to send NU to the locker room with the lead.
Hester, who matched her career high by erupting for 14 points in the first half, scored 10 straight points to help Nebraska turn a 13-11 deficit into a 21-15 lead with 5:45 left in the opening period.
Hester's offensive explosion included her first three-pointer of the season and allowed NU to carry a 29-23 lead into the locker room at the half. Although NU led at the break, the Huskers shot just 37.5 percent (12-32) in the first half, including 2-for-8 shooting from three-point range. NU was also outrebounded by CSUB, 18-16, in the opening period.
Nebraska's first-half success started on the defensive end, where the Huskers forced 14 turnovers in the final 16 minutes of the opening period. NU committed just six turnovers in the first half to enjoy a plus-10 turnover margin at halftime.
Nebraska concludes its four-game home stand by playing host to Long Beach State on Friday at the Devaney Center. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. with free live audio and video on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Cal State Bakersfield vs Nebraska 12/9/08 7:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Cal State Bakersfield 4-4 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Williams, Katie..... f 2-5 1-2 3-4 1 3 4 5 8 1 3 1 0 14 32 Leon, Nicole........ f 4-7 1-1 2-2 0 3 3 4 11 1 0 1 1 30 00 Saso, Morgan........ c 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 4 0 1 0 0 28 23 Kepenekian, Christin g 7-16 4-6 1-1 1 9 10 4 19 2 3 0 1 32 25 Arase, Krista....... g 1-8 0-4 0-0 1 3 4 4 2 5 2 0 1 40 05 Smith, Jana......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 3 1 0 11 13 Tarver, Kelley...... 4-17 0-4 3-5 1 3 4 3 11 4 6 0 1 36 15 West, Nikhol........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 2 0 0 1 1 0 9 TEAM................ 3 3 6 Totals.............. 21-58 6-17 9-12 9 31 40 22 57 13 19 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-22 45.5% 2nd Half: 11-36 30.6% Game: 36.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 35.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 7-2 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 1-8 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 2 2 0 2 0 0 26 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... f 3-4 0-0 7-10 3 12 15 0 13 0 3 3 2 28 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 3-9 2-6 1-2 0 1 1 1 9 0 2 0 3 26 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-9 1-3 9-10 1 1 2 1 16 1 1 0 1 26 32 Hester, Tay......... g 7-12 1-3 2-4 3 3 6 4 17 1 2 0 1 24 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 11 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-5 1-2 2-2 0 1 1 2 7 2 0 0 0 18 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-6 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 21 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 10 42 Bober, Nikki........ 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 10 TEAM................ 2 2 4 1 Totals.............. 22-58 5-17 21-28 11 30 41 13 70 7 12 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 37.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 29.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 18-24 75.0% Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Mary Day, Doug Miller, Phil Streit Technical fouls: Cal State Bakersfield-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2101 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Cal State Bakersfield......... 23 34 - 57 Nebraska...................... 29 41 - 70