Lincoln, Neb. - Junior guard Yvonne Turner sparked a 21-2 run midway through the second half to help the Nebraska women's basketball run away with a 75-64 victory over visiting Colorado at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Tuesday night.
Turner, who scored seven of NU's first 10 points during the surge that took just over four minutes, finished with a team-high 17 points including a trio of three-pointers.
Nebraska improved to 14-14 on the year, including 5-10 in Big 12 play, while Colorado slipped to 11-16 overall and 3-12 in the league. The Huskers, who have won four of their last seven games, knocked down five three-pointers during the surge, including one from Turner, one from Nicole Neals, one from Dominique Kelley, one from Jessica Periago and one from Kaitlyn Burke.
For the night, Nebraska connected one 9-of-21 three-pointers, including two from Neals who pumped in a career-high 10 points off the bench while also distributing three assists and notching a career-high three steals.
Periago also gave NU a big lift off the bench, matching her career high with 11 points, on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, while adding five rebounds. Cory Montgomery added her sixth double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Kelley gave the Huskers five players in double figures with 14 points, three rebounds and two assists. Catheryn Redmon also gave the Huskers strong play inside with six points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots.
With Periago and Neals leading the way, Nebraska's bench outscored Colorado's reserves, 27-0.
"We have a lot to play for, and I think after one of the early timeouts in the second half, we challenged our players to turn up the intensity and they responded," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We basically turned them loose and they responded by hitting some shots. The crowd really got into it and it was a lot of fun."
In a game that featured 11 ties in the first 25 minutes, Nebraska trailed 34-32 before Turner buried a three-pointer to give Nebraska the lead. After a Husker stop, Neals added a three just 20 seconds later to give NU the biggest lead of the game to that point at 38-34 with 14:12 left.
"That was the most fun I have ever had," Neals said. "It was fun to get in a run like that where everybody is hitting shots. I was just glad I could be a part of it. This was a big win for us tonight because we still have a chance for the postseason. We have made five straight trips to the postseason and we want to keep that going."
Turner then hit back-to-back shots to push the lead to 42-34 with 12:55 left, before Kelley gave the Huskers their first double-digit lead of the night with a three-pointer to make it 45-34. Spears stopped NU's 13-0 run during a stretch of just 2:29, but Periago kept Nebraska rolling with another three-pointer, before adding a jumper to push the NU margin to 50-36 with 11:05 left. Kaitlyn Burke then connected on her second three of the night to extend the Husker lead to 53-36 with 10:32 left and cap the 21-2 spurt.
Colorado could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as Turner and Periago hit big shots down the stretch, and Montgomery sealed the win with six free throws in the final 1:14.
For the game, Nebraska shot a Big 12 season-best 49 percent (25-51) from the field, including a blistering 57.7 percent (15-26) in the second half. The Huskers knocked down 42.9 percent (9-21) of their three-pointers, while connecting on 80 percent (16-20) of their free throws. NU also outrebounded the Buffs, 34-28, while forcing 17 turnovers by the Buffs, including 10 in the second half.
CU senior center Kara Richards led the Buffaloes with a game-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Brittany Spears added 17 points and seven boards for the Buffs.
Colorado hit 50 percent (28-56) of its shots from the floor, but just 4-of-12 three-pointers. Bianca Smith, who hit 7-of-10 three-pointers in the first meeting between the two teams in Boulder, went 0-for-1 from long range on the night. CU was also just 4-of-11 from the free throw line. The Buffs did force 18 NU turnovers.
In a tightly contested first half that featured eight ties with neither team leading by more than three points, Nebraska carried a 27-25 into the locker room at halftime. Montgomery and Redmon led the Huskers with six first-half points. Redmon added six rebounds and a pair of blocks to help the Huskers inside, as NU outrebounded CU, 21-14, in the first 20 minutes. Richards led CU with eight first-half points, while Alyssa Fressle added seven of her 12 points in the first half.
Nebraska wraps up the regular season on Saturday when the Huskers travel to Stillwater to battle Oklahoma State. Tip-off with the Cowgirls is set for 6 p.m., with free live audio available on Huskers.com and premium video to HuskersNside subscribers provided by Oklahoma State.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Colorado vs Nebraska 3/3/09 7:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Colorado 11-16, 3-12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Spears, Brittany.... f 7-15 1-3 2-5 1 6 7 2 17 0 2 0 3 35 44 Richards, Kara...... c 11-21 0-0 2-6 3 4 7 2 24 0 2 2 2 37 01 Fressle, Alyssa..... g 5-9 2-5 0-0 0 2 2 4 12 4 5 1 2 37 02 Smith, Bianca....... g 3-4 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 6 5 4 0 1 30 32 Mullaney, Kelly Jo.. g 2-6 1-3 0-0 2 4 6 3 5 2 3 0 3 38 11 Skildum, Hannah..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 10 15 Seabrook, Julie..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 21 Dale, Chelsea....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 23 Piterniece, Dina.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+ 34 Dunn, Courtney...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 TEAM................ 1 1 1 Totals.............. 28-56 4-12 4-11 8 20 28 18 64 13 17 3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 17-28 60.7% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 36.4% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 14-14, 5-10 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 2-11 0-4 8-8 5 5 10 2 12 2 1 0 1 34 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... f 2-4 0-0 2-2 1 6 7 1 6 0 2 5 1 28 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 7-14 3-9 0-0 0 3 3 3 17 3 6 0 1 33 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 4-7 1-1 4-8 1 2 3 0 13 2 3 0 0 30 32 Hester, Tay......... g 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 4 0 1 5 0 1 25 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 9 11 Neals, Nicole....... 4-6 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 10 3 1 0 3 21 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 35 Periago, Jessica.... 4-4 1-1 2-2 0 5 5 1 11 0 0 1 0 18 TEAM................ 1 2 3 Totals.............. 25-51 9-21 16-20 9 25 34 13 75 11 18 6 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 15-26 57.7% Game: 49.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 7-14 50.0% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 11-12 91.7% Game: 80.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tina Napier, Dee Kantner, Luis Gonzales Technical fouls: Colorado-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 3973 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Colorado...................... 25 39 - 64 Nebraska...................... 27 48 - 75