Lawrence, Kan. - Cory Montgomery produced her fifth 20-point effort of the Big 12 season with 20 points and nine rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Nebraska women's basketball team dropped a 70-57 decision to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
The loss snapped Nebraska's two-game winning streak as the Huskers fell to 13-14 overall and 4-10 in the Big 12, while Kansas notched its third straight Big 12 victory to improve to 16-11 overall and 5-9 in the league.
Montgomery, a junior forward from Cannon Falls, Minn., hit 8-of-14 shots from the field including 3-of-4 three-pointers, helping Nebraska rally from a 15-2 deficit to open the game for a 31-28 halftime lead. Nebraska continued to play the Jayhawks tough on the road, as Nicole Neals hit a layup to tie the game at 37 with 14:11 left. Neals finished with five points and a game-high five assists off the bench for NU.
But KU took control of the game with an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to claim its biggest lead of the night at 55-39 with just over eight minutes left. The Huskers, who then lost Catheryn Redmon and Tay Hester to fouls, were unable to overcome the Jayhawk surge after getting as close as 11 points on a Montgomery three with 7:28 left.
Dominique Kelley added 12 points for NU, while Redmon finished with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two blocks. Jessica Periago added a career-high six rebounds in 17 minutes in the game. Danielle McCray led KU with 18 points, while Sade Morris added 15 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. Senior point guard Ivana Catic, who entered the game with 14 points in the first 13 Big 12 games, finished with 10 points, two assists and two steals to help the Jayhawks.
"I thought the difference in the game was clearly Ivana Catic," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "She scored 10 points. She got them in their sets. She kept them organized, and she did a great job defensively. She played like a senior leader for them tonight."
Freshman forward Aishah Sutherland also gave KU a big second-half lift with 12 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal in 18 second-half minutes, after not seeing any action in the first three halves of the season against the Huskers.
Kansas opened the game on fire, jumping to a 15-2 lead by hitting seven of its first nine shots from the field, including a pair of three-pointers from Nicollette Smith. But the Huskers responded to outscore KU 13-5 over the next four minutes to trim the Kansas lead to 17-12 with 11:18 left in the half. Nebraska was hindered by early foul trouble for Hester and Yvonne Turner, who both went to the bench with two fouls before the second media timeout.
But the rest of the Huskers responded in a huge way. Montgomery hit 4-of-5 first-half shots including a pair of three-pointers to finish with 11 points and five boards in the opening 20 minutes. Redmon added six points on 3-of-3 shooting with two rebounds and two blocks, while Kelley added six more points on 3-of-4 shooting.
After opening the game just 2-of-7 from the field, the Huskers caught fire to hit 11 of their last 18 shots to finish at 52 percent. NU and KU both hit 3-of-9 three-pointers, while Nebraska hit 2-of-4 free throws. KU hit seven of its first nine shots in the game but hit just 5-of-22 the rest of the half to finish at 39 percent (12-31). The Jayhawks also hit their lone free throw, which came on the opening possession of the game. McCray and Smith led KU with nine first-half points. The Huskers outrebounded KU, 17-15, in the first half, but NU committed eight first-half turnovers, while the Jayhawks turned it over just six times.
For the game, Nebraska finished at 39.7 percent (23-58), hitting just 30.3 percent (10-33) of their second-half attempts. KU closed at 46.3 percent (25-54), thanks to 56.5 percent (13-23) shooting in the second half. NU outrebounded their second Big 12 opponent in the past three games, 37-32, but NU was minus-five in the turnover column (17-12) after posting a plus-12 turnover margin (22-10) in the first meeting on Jan. 21, in Lincoln.
Nebraska returns to Lincoln for its final regular-season home game when the Huskers take on Colorado on Tuesday, March 3. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m., with special pregame ceremonies to honor guard Tay Hester on Senior Night. Free live audio and video will be available on Huskers.com, along with a live radio broadcast on the Husker Sports Network. For tickets, visit Huskers.com or call 800-8-BIGRED.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Kansas 2/28/09 7:05 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse (Lawrence, Kan.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 13-14,4-10 Big12 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 8-14 3-4 1-1 1 8 9 3 20 1 0 0 0 37 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... c 4-4 0-0 2-3 2 2 4 5 10 0 3 2 0 25 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 17 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 1-10 1-5 2-2 0 2 2 2 5 1 3 0 1 24 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 6-9 0-1 0-0 1 5 6 1 12 1 2 0 0 30 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-5 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 2 5 5 2 0 0 27 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 6 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 32 Hester, Tay......... 0-5 0-0 1-2 2 0 2 5 1 0 2 0 0 16 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-5 0-0 0-0 4 2 6 1 2 0 1 1 0 17 TEAM................ 1 3 4 1 Totals.............. 23-58 5-15 6-8 12 25 37 20 57 12 17 3 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 10-33 30.3% Game: 39.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-4 100 % Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Kansas 16-11,5-9 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 24 Smith, Nicollette... f 3-8 3-5 0-0 2 3 5 3 9 4 4 1 1 39 14 Boogaard, Krysten... c 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 16 03 Catic, Ivana........ g 5-10 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 1 10 2 1 0 2 34 04 McCray, Danielle.... g 7-14 1-3 3-3 2 4 6 3 18 3 1 0 0 30 20 Morris, Sade........ g 3-6 0-1 9-10 1 4 5 4 15 2 3 2 1 36 00 Jacobs, LaChelda.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 0 0 12 01 Sutherland, Aishah.. 4-6 0-0 4-9 1 7 8 1 12 0 1 3 1 18 02 Kohn, Kelly......... 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 8 34 Weddington, Porscha. 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 7 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 25-54 4-13 16-22 8 24 32 14 70 15 12 7 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7% 2nd Half: 13-23 56.5% Game: 46.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 30.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 15-21 71.4% Game: 72.7% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: June Courteau, Beverly Roberts, Brian Hall Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Kansas-None. Attendance: 4481 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 31 26 - 57 Kansas........................ 28 42 - 70