Baton Rouge, La. - The Nebraska women's basketball team overcame a nine-point first-half deficit to take a one-point lead early in the second half, but LSU responded with a 16-1 run to claim a 64-50 victory over the Huskers at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on New Year's Day.
With the loss, Nebraska closed non-conference play with a 9-4 mark, while defending SEC champion LSU improved to 6-4 on the year.
Yvonne Turner led the Huskers with 15 points, including four three-pointers, while All-SEC guard Allison Hightower led the Lady Tigers with a game-high 18 points. Cory Montgomery finished with eight points and six rebounds for the Huskers, while Catheryn Redmon and Kaitlyn Burke each added seven points.
Nebraska suffered its third non-conference road loss to a 2008 conference champion, despite hitting 10-of-22 three-pointers on the afternoon. Turner led the Huskers with four three-pointers, while Dominique Kelley and Montgomery each added a pair of threes for NU.
Unfortunately, NU hit just 7of-37 two-point field-goal attempts and was outscored 36-6 in the paint by the Lady Tigers. Nebraska, which was even on the glass against LSU in the first half, was outrebounded by 15 in the second half, as the Lady Tigers took control of the game late in the second half.
Nebraska finished the game shooting just 28.8 percent (17-59) against one of the nation's best scoring defenses. LSU shot a strong 50 percent (27-54) from the field, including a solid 4-for-7 from three-point range. The Lady Tigers won the battle of the boards, 44-29.
NU was handcuffed by a lack of post depth against the Lady Tigers, as the Huskers were without the services of junior Nikki Bober. The 6-4 center from Murdock, Neb., suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in practice on Tuesday morning in Lincoln. Bober will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2008-09 season. Bober was coming off one of her top games in NU's 62-58 victory over No. 24 Arizona State on Dec. 28, when she played a career-high 25 minutes and blocked a career-best four shots to go along with two points and five rebounds.
"We were suffering from a lack of post depth today with our injury situation," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "I thought we got some really good minutes from Catheryn Redmon, but she got in foul trouble and we had to play some other players more minutes. All of that had a cumulative effect on us, and obviously LSU took advantage inside."
Ayana Dunning led the Lady Tiger post game with 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while LaSondra Barrett added nine points and nine boards for LSU.
Nebraska trailed by as many as nine points midway through the first half, before tying the game at 25 on Turner's second three-pointer of the half. LSU responded to NU's surge to take a 31-28 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Huskers trailed by just one possession at the break despite hitting just 30.3 percent (10-33) of their shots from the field. NU did connect on 6-of-15 three-pointers and both of its three-point attempts, while matching LSU on the glass. The Lady Tigers hit 50 percent (13-26) of their first-half field goal attempts, but just 1-of-2 three-pointers. LSU was also 4-of-4 at the line.
LSU's halftime lead was short-lived, as Kelley hit her second three of the game to tie the game at 31. Three minutes later, Turner shot the Huskers to their first lead of the afternoon at 35-34 with her third triple of the game with 15:10 left.
LSU responded with its biggest surge of the game, erupting on a 16-1 run over the next seven minutes to give the Lady Tigers their biggest lead of the day at 50-36 with 7:40 left. Hightower scored six points during the run, while Dunning added five points.
Katherine Graham capped the LSU run with a three-pointer from the left wing, before Kala Kuhlmann answered immediately with a three-pointer from the right baseline for the Huskers to stop the Lady Tiger spurt.
Nebraska was able to cut the lead to eight points on two occasions in the closing minutes, before LSU pulled away for a 14-point margin with a pair of late three-pointers.
Nebraska will take nine days off from competition before tipping off the Big 12 Conference season against No. 5 Oklahoma on Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers will square off with the Sooners at 7:05 p.m., following an afternoon for the Nebraska men's basketball team against Missouri. All fans with men's basketball tickets for the men's game with the Tigers will be admitted to the women's game for free.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score NEBRASKA vs LSU 01/01/09 1 p.m. at Baton Rouge, La. (Maravich Center)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: NEBRASKA 9-4 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.... * 2-10 2-4 2-2 2 4 6 1 8 0 1 1 0 34 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... * 3-4 0-0 1-2 2 2 4 5 7 0 0 2 1 27 22 Turner, Yvonne...... * 4-11 4-8 3-4 0 2 2 2 15 0 1 0 2 28 24 Kelley, Dominique... * 2-12 2-5 0-0 2 2 4 1 6 5 2 0 0 29 32 Hester, Tay......... * 2-11 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 2 4 0 1 0 0 16 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 3-5 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 7 2 2 0 1 26 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 8 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 14 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 13 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 TEAM................ 2 2 4 Totals.............. 17-59 10-22 6-8 9 20 29 12 50 8 10 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-31 32.3% 2nd Half: 7-28 25.0% Game: 28.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-15 40.0% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 45.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 75.0% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: LSU 6-4 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 01 GRAHAM, Katherine... * 4-8 1-1 0-0 2 7 9 1 9 4 2 0 1 32 20 HUGHES, Destini..... * 3-4 2-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 8 1 0 0 0 21 22 JONES, Courtney..... * 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 4 0 2 0 0 16 23 HIGHTOWER, Allison.. * 8-13 0-1 2-2 0 5 5 0 18 3 2 3 0 36 41 TURNBOW, Taylor..... * 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 03 EASON, Latear....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 23 11 KELLY, Andrea....... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 8 24 DUNNING, Ayana...... 4-9 0-1 3-4 5 4 9 2 11 3 2 0 0 28 25 BLACK, Swayze....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 55 BARRETT, LaSondra... 4-9 0-0 1-3 1 8 9 1 9 1 2 0 0 24 TEAM................ 3 3 2 Totals.............. 27-54 4-7 6-9 9 35 44 6 64 15 15 4 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 14-28 50.0% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 57.1% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 66.7% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Lawson Newton, Wesley Dean, Jesse Dickerson Technical fouls: NEBRASKA-None. LSU-None. Attendance: 3502 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total NEBRASKA...................... 28 22 - 50 LSU........................... 31 33 - 64