Ames, Iowa - No. 21 Iowa State played suffocating defense to hold the Huskers to a season-low 38 points in a 61-38 win over the Nebraska women's basketball team at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Nebraska slipped to 11-13 overall and 2-9 in the Big 12, while the Cyclones improved to 19-6 overall and 7-4 in the conference. ISU also improved to 13-1 at home on the season.
Sophomore forward Catheryn Redmon led the Huskers with eight points and six rebounds, while Nicole Neals, Yvonne Turner and Dominique Kelley each added six points in the low-scoring affair.
Iowa State's Alison Lacey led all scorers with a game-high 20 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range, while crossing the 1,000-point plateau for her career. Senior forward Nicky Weiben added 17 points for the Cyclones.
"We just couldn't score," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We missed shots, turned it over too much and then I think we lost some energy on the defensive end because we couldn't score. Usually, you give up 61 points against Iowa State in Ames and you have a pretty good chance to win. We just couldn't score against them tonight."
The Huskers hit just 31.9 percent (15-47) of their shots from the field, including 5-of-16 three-pointers, while knocking down 3-of-4 free throws. Nebraska was outrebounded, 37-33, by the Cyclones, and committed 21 turnovers while forcing just nine miscues by ISU.
Iowa State hit 37.9 percent (22-58) of their field goal attempts, including 8-of-24 three-pointers. The Cyclones also hit 9-of-12 free throws.
Iowa State jumped to an 8-0 lead in the first four minutes before Nicole Neals sparked the Huskers by burying a pair of three-pointers off the bench to get NU untracked. Cory Montgomery then added a three-pointer before Tay Hester hot a steal and a fastbreak layup to give Nebraska an 11-10 lead with 13:26 left in the first half.
Montgomery's field goal was her only one the night, as Iowa State took Nebraska's leading scorer out of the offensive equation.
"They just took her out of the game tonight," Yori said. "They focused on her and we couldn't really get her the ball in a position where she could operate. You have to credit Iowa State with the job they did on her tonight, and in the first game in Lincoln."
ISU answered to regain the lead before Kala Kuhlmann tied the score at 18 on a jumper with eight minutes left in the half. Redmon added a layup with 6:28 remaining to pull NU within 21-20, but Iowa State closed the half on a 12-2 surge that featured lockdown defense on the Huskers to head to the locker room with a 33-22 edge over Nebraska.
Neals led the Huskers with six first-half points on 2-of-3 shooting from three-point range, but NU hit just 30.8 percent (8-26) of its first-half field goal attempts, including 4-of-12 three-pointers. NU committed 11 first-half turnovers while forcing just six on the Cyclones, while ISU outrebounded the Huskers, 19-17.
Lacey led Iowa State with 14 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Nicky Wieben added nine points for the Cyclones, who hit 40 percent (12-30) of their first-half attempts, including 5-of-13 three-pointers. ISU also outscored NU, 4-2, at the free throw line.
The Huskers continue Big 12 North Division action on Saturday, Feb. 21, when they return home to tangle with the Missouri Tigers. Tip-off with MU is set for 7:05 p.m. with free live audio on Huskers.com, courtesy of the Husker Sports Network. A live video stream will also be available to premium subscribers of HuskersNside. For ticket information, visit Huskers.com or call the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-8BIGRED.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Iowa State 02/18/09 7:07 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum - Ames, Iowa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 11-13, 2-9 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Turner, Yvonne...... * 2-5 2-3 0-0 1 3 4 2 6 1 3 1 0 26 24 Kelley, Dominique... * 3-11 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 3 2 0 0 28 40 Montgomery, Cory.... * 1-6 1-2 0-0 2 2 4 1 3 2 1 0 0 34 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... * 3-5 0-0 2-2 2 4 6 3 8 0 1 3 2 32 5 Burke, Kaitlyn...... * 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 12 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-4 2-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 0 2 0 0 23 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 5 1 2 0 0 9 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 32 Hester, Tay......... 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 3 5 3 2 0 5 0 1 21 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-3 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 2 0 3 1 0 14 TEAM................ 1 6 7 1 Totals.............. 15-47 5-16 3-4 9 24 33 14 38 8 21 5 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-26 30.8% 2nd Half: 7-21 33.3% Game: 31.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 31.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Iowa State 19-6, 7-4 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 Bolte, Kelsey....... * 2-5 0-3 0-0 1 4 5 0 4 2 0 0 0 24 15 Ezell, Heather...... * 1-5 0-3 1-2 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 1 27 32 Nisleit, Amanda..... * 4-7 2-5 0-0 4 1 5 1 10 1 2 0 2 26 4 Lacey, Alison....... * 7-11 5-8 1-1 0 4 4 0 20 5 3 0 0 32 5 Wieben, Nicky....... * 6-15 1-2 4-4 1 3 4 1 17 2 0 0 2 27 10 Stuckey, Denae...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 1 1 15 13 Florzak, Anna....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Williams, Whitney... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 23 Rockall, Claire..... 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 5 3 Yackley, Alexis..... 0-3 0-2 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 30 Mosman, Shellie..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 31 Arlen, Ashley....... 2-6 0-0 1-2 2 2 4 2 5 0 1 0 0 11 41 Ross, Toccara....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 9 44 Anderson, Jocelyn... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 TEAM................ 3 7 10 Totals.............. 22-58 8-24 9-12 14 23 37 8 61 16 9 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 10-28 35.7% Game: 37.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Beverly Roberts, Tina Napier, Amy Bonner Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Iowa State-None. Attendance: 10225 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 22 16 - 38 Iowa State.................... 33 28 - 61 Fouled out: none