Lincoln - Kelsey Griffin tied her career high with 31 points and posted her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds to power the No. 24 Nebraska women's basketball team to a 69-56 victory over visiting Creighton at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday evening.
Thanks to the huge performance from Griffin, who scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the second half alone, the Huskers matched their best start and longest winning streak in school history by improving to 9-0 on the year. Creighton, which was led by 25 points and 12 rebounds from preseason Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Megan Neuvirth, slipped to 5-2 on the young season. The Bluejays are the preseason pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference title.
Griffin, who matched her career high of 31 points set against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the fourth game of her career on Nov. 27, 2005, carried the Huskers down the stretch by scoring NU's final eight points and 16 of the Huskers' final 20 in the last seven minutes. Griffin's strength at crunch time allowed NU to turn a six-point lead at 51-45 into a 14-point victory.
The All-America candidate hit 12-of-16 shots from the field and added two assists, two steals and a blocked shot in one of the best all-around efforts of her career, while playing a career-high 34 minutes.
"Kelsey was outstanding tonight. That's pretty obvious," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "The amazing thing is that she went 12-for-16 and had 31 points with two and three players all over her all night. She had five offensive rebounds in the second half, and there were almost always two players around her. She played so hard tonight. She just refused to let us lose the game. But we had some other players with that same mentality tonight, including Dominique Kelley, who made some really big plays for us in the second half."
Griffin, a two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection from Eagle River, Alaska also moved past the 1,500-point scoring mark in her career, while her fifth double-figure rebound effort of the season increased her career total to 749. She also increased her career total to 23 double-doubles, which ranks third in Husker history.
Junior guard Dominique Kelley also had a big second half, pumping in nine points after intermission to finish with 13 points. Kelley, who hit 6-of-8 shots from the field, added two assists, one rebound and a steal. Kelley's final points came on a three-point play with 4:02 left to push Nebraska's lead to 61-55, after Neuvirth had pulled the Jays within three on a banked three-pointer from the left wing with 5:21 left. It was Creighton's last field goal of the night.
Freshman point guard Lindsey Moore added a career-high 11 points, including Nebraska's lone three-pointer of the second half, after CU had cut the Huskers' lead to 48-45 on a Neuvirth jumper with 8:58 to play.
Senior forward Cory Montgomery also played a solid all-around game for the Huskers, adding nine points, nine rebounds, two assists, and a steal, while drawing a crucial charge late in the game to help end Creighton's comeback hopes.
While Neuvirth carried the Bluejays, only Kelsey Woodard joined her in double figures with 12 points, five rebounds and a game-high five assists. No other Jay managed more than six points.
After leading 30-29 at the half, Nebraska bolted out of the locker room at halftime on an 8-0 with the first four points coming from Griffin and the next four coming from Kelley to take their biggest lead of the game at that point at 38-29 with 16:39 left in the game. After Neuvirth scored following a Creighton timeout, Kelley and Griffin hit back-to-back baskets to push Nebraska's lead to double digits for the first time at 42-31 with 14:08 left. Neuvirth answered by scoring 10 of CU's next 14 points to pull the Jays within 48-45.
Nebraska finished the game at 50 percent (26-52) from the field, including 3-of-12 from three-point range. The Huskers also hit just 14-of-24 free throws, but hit 8-of-9 in the final 6:14 to seal the win. NU outrebounded CU, 38-36, and matched the Jays with 21 turnovers.
Creighton hit just 37.1 percent (23-62) of its shots from the field, including just 6-of-19 threes. The Jays entered the contest averaging 10 made three-pointers per game. CU also hit just 4-of-6 free throws.
The Huskers built an eight-point on two occasions in the first half, the last time coming after a Griffin layup to make it 21-13 with 10:42 left before intermission. Griffin led the Huskers with nine first-half points, and seven from Moore, along with seven points and seven boards from Montgomery, but Kelsey Woodard, Megan Neuvirth and Kellie Nelson brought the Bluejays back to within at halftime, 30-29.
Woodard, who scored 10 first-half points, hit the last basket for the Bluejays after Neuvirth scored five straight points to tie the game at 27 with just under four minutes left in the half. Neuvirth added eight points and five boards in the first half, while Nelson pitched in six points and three rebounds, but also picked up three first-half fouls.
Nebraska hit 12-of-25 shots from the field in the first half, including 2-of-5 three-pointers, but just 4-of-8 free throws. The Jays hit just 11-of-32 shots, including 4-of-12 three-pointers, but connected on 3-of-4 free throws. CU also outrebounded NU, 20-17, including a 7-2 edge on the offensive glass. The Jays also committed just nine turnovers, compared to 10 miscues by the Huskers. Despite Creighton's edge on the boards and in the turnover department, Nebraska never trailed in the first half.
The Huskers continue their four-game home stand on Sunday, Dec. 13, when they take on Northern Illinois. Tip-off between Nebraska and the Huskies is set for 2:05 p.m. For tickets, visit Huskers.com or call 1-800-8-BIG-RED. Live radio coverage will be provided by 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, while HuskersNside will provide a live video stream to premium subscribers.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Creighton vs Nebraska 12/9/09 7:05pm at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Creighton 5-2, 0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 Schuett, Sam........ f 2-6 1-4 0-0 2 6 8 3 5 1 3 1 2 34 21 Neuvirth, Megan..... f 11-21 2-4 1-2 6 6 12 3 25 2 3 0 3 38 44 Nelson, Kellie...... c 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 4 6 0 2 1 0 11 03 Woodard, Kelsey..... g 5-15 2-5 0-0 3 2 5 2 12 5 5 0 0 34 05 Herring, Chevelle... g 0-6 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 5 2 1 5 0 0 28 15 Crites, Kelsey...... 1-4 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 2 3 2 1 0 2 27 20 Jensen, Ally........ 1-5 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 15 24 Corbin, Jasmin...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 33 Frank, Katie........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 TEAM................ 1 Totals.............. 23-62 6-19 4-6 14 22 36 22 56 11 21 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-32 34.4% 2nd Half: 12-30 40.0% Game: 37.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 31.6% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 66.7% 0,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 9-0, 0-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 Griffin, Kelsey..... f 12-16 0-1 7-13 6 5 11 3 31 2 1 1 2 34 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 4-6 1-1 0-0 2 7 9 2 9 2 2 0 1 29 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 3-8 1-5 4-5 0 1 1 1 11 1 4 0 2 30 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 0-8 0-2 2-2 0 4 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 30 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 6-8 0-1 1-1 0 1 1 1 13 2 6 0 1 30 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 9 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-2 1-2 0-0 1 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 20 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-3 0-0 0-3 1 4 5 1 0 0 2 2 0 14 TEAM................ 1 4 5 1 Totals.............. 26-52 3-12 14-24 11 27 38 12 69 9 21 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0% 2nd Half: 14-27 51.9% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 25.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 10-16 62.5% Game: 58.3% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Lisa Mattingly, Scott Yarbrough, Ann Schroeder Technical fouls: Creighton-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2134 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Creighton..................... 29 27 - 56 Nebraska...................... 30 39 - 69