Austin, Texas - Yvonne Turner scored a season-high 21 points and Jessica Periago added a career-high 11 points off the bench, but it wasn't enough as No. 16 came back for a 74-60 win over Nebraska in Big 12 women's basketball at the Erwin Center on Wednesday night.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 9-6 on the year and 0-2 in the Big 12, while the Longhorns improved to 13-3 overall and 1-1 in the league with their ninth straight home win to open the season.
In a game of big runs and momentum swings, the Huskers built a double-digit first half lead, only to watch Texas respond with a furious rally to take a 13-point lead on four occasions midway through the second half. UT's last 13-point edge came at 60-47 with just over seven minutes remaining, before Periago ignited an NU surge.
Periago, a 6-4 sophomore center from Toulon, France, hit a jumper for her career-high 11th point with 7:01 left in the game. Cory Montgomery, who finished with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, then hit three shots in NU's next four possessions to cut UT's lead to just five points at 62-57 with less than four minutes left in the contest.
But as they did in the first half, the Longhorns closed the game strong in the final 3:45, outscoring NU 12-3 down the stretch to seal the win. In the final 3:45 of each half, UT combined to outscore the Huskers 23-5 with NU's lone field goal coming on a three-pointer from Dominique Kelley with two seconds left in the game to make the final margin.
"I thought we played really hard and did some good things to be right there with Texas in the last five minutes," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Credit Texas because they executed in the last five minutes of both halves to win the game."
The Huskers got off to a strong start, jumping out to an 11-5 lead on the strength of three consecutive three-pointers after a layup from Cory Montgomery. Turner knocked down a pair of threes in the first 4:15 to shoot her way into the top 10 on Nebraska 's career three-point field goal made list.
After the Longhorns tied the game with six straight points, Periago gave the Huskers a huge lift off the bench by scoring a career-high eight points over the next four minutes to shoot NU back to a 21-15 lead with 8:48 left. After scoring on a backdoor layup off a great pass from Montgomery, Periago hit a short jumper off an inbounds play and was fouled, completing a three-point play. Less than a minute later, Periago drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key.
Periago's career point total coming into the game was just 18, including nine total points this season.
The Huskers pushed the lead to 10 points on two occasions later in the half, and Catheryn Redmon had a front end of a one-and-one free throw situation with a chance to push the lead even larger with 1:39 left, but missed the shot.
The Longhorns then responded with a huge final 45 seconds from Kathleen Nash, who scored seven points during the quick-hitting span to trim NU's lead to 33-32 at the half.
Nebraska went back to work to open the second half, getting a jumper from Montgomery to stop UT's 9-0 run and take a 35-32 lead. But Carla Cortijo got her first two of the game before Ashley Lindsey scored on a steal and breakaway layup to give Texas its first lead since the opening basket of the game at 36-35 with 17:53 left in the game.
Ashleigh Fontenette then put the Longhorns in firm control of the game by ripping off 11 straight points in four consecutive possessions to expand UT's lead to 13 points midway through the first half.
Fontenette, who came off the bench to spell Brittainey Raven because of Raven's foul trouble, scored a career-high 21 points. Her previous career best was 13 points. Nash finished with 20 points for UT, as the only two Longhorns in double figures.
Texas hit 50 percent (30-60) of its shots from the field, including a sizzling 59.3 percent (16-27) in the second half. UT also went 4-of-10 from three-point range and 10-of-14 at the free throw line. Texas also produced a 34-30 edge on the glass and a 22-18 advantage in turnover margin.
Nebraska hit just 38.9 percent (21-54) of its shots from the field including 6-of-14 three-pointers. The Huskers also connected on 12-of-16 free throws and matched UT on the offensive glass with 14.
The Huskers continue Big 12 road play by traveling to Missouri on Saturday to tangle with the Tigers. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. with live television coverage in the states of Nebraska and Missouri on Fox Sports Midwest.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Texas 01/14/09 7 p.m. at Austin, Texas (Erwin Center)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 9-6, 0-2 Big 12 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 7-13 0-1 1-2 2 6 8 0 15 2 4 0 1 32 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... c 2-14 0-0 1-3 3 4 7 3 5 0 1 2 1 32 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 5-9 3-6 8-8 1 1 2 5 21 1 5 0 4 36 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 1 3 0 1 21 32 Hester, Tay......... g 0-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 4 0 1 4 0 1 14 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 0 0 25 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 9 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 2-5 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 3 5 5 0 0 0 15 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 35 Periago, Jessica.... 4-4 1-1 2-3 1 1 2 0 11 1 1 0 0 13 TEAM................ 4 2 6 Totals.............. 21-54 6-14 12-16 14 16 30 19 60 14 22 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-26 46.2% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 38.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 75.0% 3,2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Texas 13-3, 1-1 Big 12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 00 Williams, Earnesia.. f 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 3 7 2 1 0 1 23 35 Lindsey, Ashley..... f 3-7 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 2 6 0 4 3 3 25 03 Cortijo, Carla...... g 3-6 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 6 10 2 0 1 29 05 Nash, Kathleen...... g 7-11 3-5 3-3 2 4 6 1 20 0 1 1 2 31 10 Raven, Brittainey... g 2-4 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 4 5 1 3 0 0 18 04 Arriaran, Erika..... 1-3 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 17 12 Anderson, Yvonne.... 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 3 0 1 14 22 Gayle, Ashley....... 1-6 0-0 3-3 2 3 5 1 5 1 2 2 0 14 33 Fontenette, Ashleigh 9-13 1-2 2-3 1 1 2 1 21 3 1 0 2 22 43 Cook, Aubry......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 2 2 0 1 0 0 7 TEAM................ 2 1 3 Totals.............. 30-60 4-10 10-14 14 20 34 17 74 17 18 6 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-33 42.4% 2nd Half: 16-27 59.3% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-10 80.0% Game: 71.4% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Lisa Mattingly, Scott Yarbrough, Laura Morris Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Texas-None. Attendance: 4348 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 33 27 - 60 Texas......................... 32 42 - 74