Moraga, Calif. - All-America candidate Kelsey Griffin notched her second straight double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to an 84-73 win over Saint Mary's at McKeon Pavilion on Saturday night.
With the victory in the final game of the Saint Mary's Hilton Thanksgiving Tournament, Nebraska improved to 6-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Griffin, who registered the 22nd double-double of her career, powered the Huskers to their sixth consecutive double-digit victory including three road wins by 10 or more points.
Griffin captured tournament MVP honors by finishing with 55 points and 27 rebounds in 58 total minutes in two games. She also tied a career high on Saturday night with four steals. The 6-2 senior forward from Eagle River, Alaska was joined on the all-tournament team by Cory Montgomery, who added 15 points and six rebounds against the Gaels. Montgomery, a 6-2 senior forward from Cannon Falls, Minn., opened the tournament with 15 points and four boards in Friday night's win over UALR.
In addition to strong performances from NU's two senior forwards, junior guard Dominique Kelley pumped in a season-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists against Saint Mary's. Senior guard Yvonne Turner added nine points on a trio of three-pointers to go along with two steals.
Freshman point guard Lindsey Moore pitched in three points, three rebounds and seven assists, including a dazzling halfcourt alley-oop pass to senior guard Nicole Neals who finished the shot to give the Huskers their biggest lead of the game at 23 points with just over eight minutes left. Neals finished with five points to lead another strong effort from the NU bench.
Nebraska put up 84 points on Saint Mary's despite hitting just 37.3 percent (25-67) of its field goal attempts, including just 6-of-25 three-pointers. The Huskers also converted 28-of-39 free throws, while winning the rebound battle, 44-43. But the biggest statistic might have come in the turnover column, as the Huskers committed just 12 turnovers while forcing 22 turnovers by SMC.
"I thought we had a lot of people contribute and Vonnie Turner and our guards really did a nice job of being aggressive on defense and setting the tempo," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Kelsey Griffin just had a great tournament and her production was almost unbelievable. Cory was solid and Dominique did some really good things at both ends for us. It was just another good team win."
Saint Mary's lost despite shooting 45.9 percent (28-61) from the field, including 65.5 percent in the second half. After Nebraska took its biggest lead of the game at 69-46 with eight minutes left, the Gaels erupted for 16 points in a four-minute span to pull within single digits at 71-62 for the first time since midway through the first half. But Nebraska made plays down the stretch, eventually pushing the lead back to 13 points before settling for the 11-point victory.
Junior center Louella Tomlinson led the Gaels with a double-double of her own with 12 points and 11 rebounds to go along with six blocks - one below her season average. Ashlee Smith added 14 points and seven boards, while Jasmine Smith pitched in 10 points and five rebounds in a losing effort.
Nebraska took a 41-26 lead into the locker room at halftime on the strength of a 15-0 run midway through the first half. Griffin powered the Huskers with 13 points, nine rebounds an assist and a steal in 13 first-half minutes. Montgomery added a strong half of her own with nine points and four rebounds in the opening half, while Kelley added seven points and Turner six on a pair of three-pointers.
Nebraska hit just 13-of-35 shots in the first half, including just 4-of-13 three-pointers, but the Huskers outscored the Gaels 11-7 at the free throw line and were plus-four on the boards (27-23) and plus-five in the turnover department (11-6) in the first. Nebraska's stingy defense also held SMC to just 28.1 percent (9-32) shooting, including just 1-of-10 from three-point range.
Nebraska returns to home action on Thursday night, when the Huskers play host to South Dakota. Tip time between the Huskers and Coyotes is set for 7:05 p.m. with live radio coverage on the Husker Sports Network, including 98.1 KFGE in Lincoln and 93.3 KTWI in Omaha. Free live audio will also be available on Huskers.com. For tickets, visit Huskers.com or call 1-800-8BIG-RED.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Saint Mary's (CA) 11/28/09 8:00 PM at McKeon Pavilion
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 6-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 00 Moore, Lindsey...... * 0-6 0-4 3-6 0 3 3 3 3 7 0 0 2 30 22 Turner, Yvonne...... * 3-9 3-6 0-0 2 1 3 4 9 1 2 0 2 25 23 Griffin, Kelsey..... * 10-14 0-1 8-11 5 8 13 2 28 1 3 0 4 27 24 Kelley, Dominique... * 4-11 0-4 10-13 2 2 4 2 18 2 2 0 2 28 40 Montgomery, Cory.... * 5-13 2-3 3-4 2 4 6 1 15 0 3 1 1 29 11 Neals, Nicole....... 2-8 1-6 0-0 0 1 1 2 5 1 1 0 1 18 12 Reeves, Layne....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-1 0-0 4-4 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 0 0 15 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-2 0-1 0-0 2 3 5 0 0 2 0 1 0 9 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 3 2 0 1 1 0 14 TEAM................ 3 1 4 Totals.............. 25-67 6-25 28-39 16 28 44 21 84 16 12 3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-35 37.1% 2nd Half: 12-32 37.5% Game: 37.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-13 30.8% 2nd Half: 2-12 16.7% Game: 24.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 11-15 73.3% 2nd Half: 17-24 70.8% Game: 71.8% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Saint Mary's (CA) 3-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 02 TOMLINSON, Louella.. * 6-9 0-1 0-0 0 11 11 4 12 1 1 6 0 27 10 GAZE, Kate.......... * 1-5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 4 4 0 0 15 21 BATLIN, Katie....... * 3-7 0-1 3-4 0 7 7 5 9 3 6 0 1 20 22 SMITH, Jontelle..... * 2-11 1-6 2-2 1 5 6 3 7 1 3 0 0 30 33 SMITH, Ashlee....... * 5-7 0-0 4-4 2 5 7 4 14 1 0 0 1 30 01 HATTEN, Morgan...... 2-3 1-2 2-4 0 2 2 1 7 3 0 0 0 16 05 CARBONEL, Alex...... 4-6 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 2 9 2 5 0 1 18 23 BAILEY, Andrea...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 25 PULETASI, Tifa...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 1 1 16 32 SMITH, Jasmine...... 4-10 2-3 0-0 1 4 5 0 10 1 1 0 0 22 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 28-61 5-16 12-16 7 36 43 26 73 16 22 7 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-32 28.1% 2nd Half: 19-29 65.5% Game: 45.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-9 11.1% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 31.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-10 70.0% 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 75.0% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Clarke Stevens, Shelley Nakasone, Mazetta Garrett Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Saint Mary's (CA)-TEAM. Attendance: 428 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 41 43 - 84 Saint Mary's (CA)............. 26 47 - 73