Columbia, Mo. - Sophomore center Catheryn Redmon produced her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and sophomore guard Kaitlyn Burke contributed a team-high 13 points off the bench, but the Nebraska women's basketball team suffered a 67-66 loss to Missouri at the Mizzou Arena on Saturday night.
With the loss, Nebraska slipped to 9-7 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, while Missouri improved to 10-6 and 1-2 in the league. The loss snapped the Huskers' five-game winning streak against the Tigers in Columbia, while giving MU just its fifth win in the last 19 tries against the Huskers in Missouri.
The game came down to the wire, as the Huskers had multiple chances to win the game in the final 35 seconds. The last chance came on Dominique Kelley's running three-pointer from 30 feet on the left sideline that went over the backboard as time expired. Redmon, who added a career-high five blocked shots, also made what could have been the biggest defensive play of the day by tying up Jessra Johnson on the offensive end with 28 seconds left in the game to give Nebraska a chance for a win.
After the Tiger turnover, Nebraska ran a set play that RaeShara Brown and Shakara Jones defended well in the paint to force a turnover with eight seconds left. Nebraska forced a deflection on the sideline but Missouri maintained possession. On the next throw in, the Huskers fouled Alyssa Hollins, who missed MU's first free throw of the day to set up a Cory Montgomery rebound and long outlet pass ahead to Kelley.
In the game's final 2:23, Nebraska forced five turnovers by the Tigers but went 1-for-6 officially from the field while committing two turnovers. Jessra Johnson led MU with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Hollins pitched in 15 points and five boards for MU.
Nebraska led 56-55 with 7:50 left, but Missouri erupted on a 10-2 run to claim a 65-58 lead with less than four minutes to play. Nebraska continued to battle to the final tick of the clock before falling by one point.
Redmon led four Huskers in double figures, while Burke contributed 13 points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench. Yvonne Turner added 12 points on four three-pointers, while adding five rebounds and three steals, and Montgomery contributed 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals.
The Huskers hit 39.1 percent (25-64) of their shots from the field, including 37.5 percent (6-16) of their three-point attempts, while connecting on 10-of-16 free throw attempts. NU forced 16 turnovers, while committing just 14 miscues, but were outrebounded, 43-37, by the Tigers. MU hit 38.8 percent (26-67) of its shots from the floor, including 5-of-16 three-pointers. The Tigers hit their first 10 free throw attempts, before Hollins' misfire in the closing seconds.
In a back-and-forth first half, the two teams went to the locker room at the half tied at 34. The Huskers, who took a four-point lead at 25-21 after back-to-back three-pointers by Nicole Neals with 6:20 left, went through a five-minute stretch without a field goal as Missouri went on an 11-0 run. The Tigers took their biggest lead of the half at 34-27 on a pair of Bekah Mills free throws with 1:46 left.
But the Huskers reclaimed the momentum with a 7-0 run over the last 1:20 of the first half, led by five points from Kelley sandwiched around a jumper by Burke.
Burke and Neals provided the Huskers with a major lift off the bench in the first half by scoring six points apieced, while Harleen Sidhu added a bucket of her own. NU's bench outscored MU's reserves 14-3 in the first 20 minutes. NU hit just 38.7 percent (12-31) of its shots from the field in the opening period, but did connect on 4-of-6 three-pointers. NU was also 6-for-9 from the free throw line, while holding MU to just two free throws by Mills. The two teams were even on the glass at 20, while NU committed nine turnovers and MU turned it over eight times. Missouri hit 40 percent (14-35) of its field goal attempts, including 4-of-11 three-pointers.
Hollins led all scorers with 11 first-half points, while Shakara Jones pitched in eight first-half points on her way to 12 for the game.
The Huskers return to Lincoln to start a two-game Big 12 home stand next week beginning with a Wednesday night matchup with Kansas. Tip-off between Nebraska and the Jayhawks is set for 7:05 p.m. with free live video and audio on Huskers.com. Sophomore guard Dominique Kelley, a graduate of Lincoln Northeast High School, will be honored as NU's "Hometown Husker" for the game against KU.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Missouri 1/17/09 5 p.m. at Mizzou Arena (Columbia, Mo.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 9-7, 0-3 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 4-13 0-2 2-3 1 6 7 2 10 2 6 0 5 35 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... c 4-7 0-0 4-6 4 7 11 2 12 0 0 5 1 33 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-9 4-7 0-0 0 5 5 3 12 1 2 0 3 30 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-15 0-1 2-3 3 1 4 1 8 3 1 0 1 25 32 Hester, Tay......... g 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 2 1 1 2 0 0 13 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 6-11 0-3 1-2 1 1 2 2 13 2 0 0 1 28 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 6 0 1 0 0 7 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 16 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 0 1 0 0 9 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 TEAM................ 2 2 4 1 Totals.............. 25-64 6-16 10-16 12 25 37 15 66 11 14 5 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 39.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 2-10 20.0% Game: 37.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 62.5% 7
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Missouri 10-6, 1-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 04 Johnson, Jessra..... f 7-18 0-4 4-4 3 6 9 4 18 2 6 1 1 26 44 Jones, Shakara...... c 6-10 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 2 12 1 2 0 0 34 01 Mills, Bekah........ g 3-13 1-5 2-2 2 0 2 0 9 2 4 3 3 29 12 Hollins, Alyssa..... g 5-14 3-6 2-3 1 4 5 0 15 3 1 0 3 39 23 Brown, RaeShara..... g 2-7 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 2 4 2 1 0 3 36 03 Hanneman, Amanda.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 Richbow, Toy........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 0 1 0 0 12 32 Scott, Marissa...... 2-2 1-1 0-0 1 3 4 3 5 0 1 0 0 17 50 Flores, Christine... 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 TEAM................ 6 3 9 Totals.............. 26-67 5-16 10-11 17 26 43 14 67 10 16 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-35 40.0% 2nd Half: 12-32 37.5% Game: 38.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 31.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 90.9% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jesse Dickerson, Amy Bonner, Brian Hall Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Missouri-None. Attendance: 2117 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 34 32 - 66 Missouri...................... 34 33 - 67