Rio Rancho, N.M. - Cory Montgomery scored a team-high 15 points, but it was not enough as the Nebraska women's basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 54-43 loss to New Mexico at the Santa Ana Star Center on Thursday night.
Playing after a 13-day layoff in the second round of the 2009 Postseason WNIT, the Huskers struggled with their shooting strokes to hit just 11-of-47 field goals for the game. Nebraska trailed by just one at 28-27 early in the second half and by just four at 37-33 after Montgomery's second straight three-pointer with 14:27 left in the game.
Nebraska then went 11 minutes without a field goal and New Mexico jumped out to a 16-point lead in a low-scoring contest before Montgomery hit another three-pointer to trim UNM's advantage at 51-38.
Nebraska finished the season with a 15-16 overall record after advancing to its sixth consecutive postseason appearance. New Mexico improved to 24-10 on the season and will play Oregon State in the WNIT's third round.
All-Mountain West Conference guard Amy Beggin led all scorers with 25 points, while Angela Hartill added 18 for the Lobos. New Mexico's dynamic duo combined for 24 points in the second half to power the Lobo surge.
New Mexico produced a double-digit win despite hitting just 20-of-61 field goals, including 6-of-18 three-pointers. UNM also hit 8-of-12 free throws. The Lobos outrebounded NU, 45-36, and finished plus-four in the turnover department.
New Mexico shot out to a fast 12-1 start in the first 3:30 behind 10 early points from All-Mountain West Conference guard Amy Beggin. But the Huskers corralled Beggin the rest of the half and answered UNM's opening run with a 15-3 spurt of their own to take a 16-15 lead on a pair of Kala Kuhlmann free throws with 7:46 left.
The Lobos responded to reclaim the halftime lead at 28-23, but the Huskers stayed within two possessions of UNM on the road despite hitting just 6-of-23 shots from the field, including 2-of-9 three-pointers. NU was outrebounded, 23-19, including 8-4 on the offensive glass, and committed 10 turnovers compared to just eight for the Lobos.
New Mexico hit 10-of-30 first-half field goal attempts, including 3-of-7 three-pointers. NU did outscore the Lobos 9-5 at the free throw line in the opening period. The Huskers were within striking distance despite just 2-for-7 shooting from Montgomery and just one combined point for Turner and Kelley. Nebraska's bench came up big for the Huskers in the first half, outscoring the UNM reserves, 10-2.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs New Mexico 3/25/09 7:05 PM MDT at Santa Ana Star Center/Rio Rancho, N.M.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 15-16 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 5-17 3-6 4-4 2 5 7 1 17 0 3 0 1 34 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... c 2-5 0-0 1-3 3 4 7 1 5 1 1 5 1 26 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 1-6 0-3 1-2 1 4 5 4 3 1 1 1 1 21 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 1-4 1-2 3-4 0 2 2 1 6 1 2 0 2 30 32 Hester, Tay......... g 0-3 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 4 2 1 3 0 1 16 05 BURKE, Kaitlyn...... 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 3 1 3 0 1 15 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-4 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 0 3 3 1 0 1 22 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-2 0-1 4-4 0 1 1 1 4 0 2 0 1 20 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 14 TEAM................ 2 2 4 Totals.............. 11-47 6-19 15-19 9 27 36 14 43 8 17 7 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-23 26.1% 2nd Half: 5-24 20.8% Game: 23.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 31.6% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 9-11 81.8% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 78.9% 1,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: New Mexico 24-10 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 WEISSMANN, Eileen... f 2-6 0-0 3-4 4 1 5 1 7 1 1 2 3 20 15 ADAMSON, Amanda..... f 0-6 0-2 0-0 3 4 7 3 0 3 2 1 3 33 44 HARTILL, Angela..... c 6-11 3-4 3-4 1 3 4 4 18 2 3 0 1 38 10 BEGGIN, Amy......... g 10-19 3-8 2-4 1 5 6 1 25 3 2 1 0 40 32 BEST, Amanda........ g 0-6 0-1 0-0 3 8 11 2 0 3 1 0 3 26 11 TAYLOR, Lauren...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 12 NELSON, Nikki....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 6 20 HALASZ, Sara........ 0-8 0-3 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 14 22 JACKSON, Georonika.. 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 11 34 KAST, Valerie....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 3 52 KIELPINSKI, Jessica. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 TEAM................ 3 3 6 Totals.............. 20-61 6-18 8-12 16 29 45 16 54 14 13 5 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 33.3% 2nd Half: 10-31 32.3% Game: 32.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 66.7% 1,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Randy Campbell, Jack Jones, Brian Hall Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. New Mexico-None. Attendance: 4499 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 23 20 - 43 New Mexico.................... 28 26 - 54 2009 Women's National Invitational Tournament 2nd Round