Lincoln - The No. 24 Nebraska women's basketball team set a school record with its 10th straight win, as the Huskers improved to 10-0 with the best start in school history by running past Northern Illinois, 69-44, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Huskers improved to 6-0 at the Devaney Center with all six victories by double digits, as NU also stretched its home winning streak to 10 games. Northern Illinois slipped to 3-6 with the loss, but four of its five previous setbacks had been by 11 points or less, including an 11-point loss to a then-top 25 DePaul team.
Dominqiue Kelley led three Huskers in double figures with 14 points and seven rebounds, including 10 points and five boards to shoot the Huskers to a 34-17 halftime lead. Cory Montgomery added 13 points and three boards, while Yvonne Turner pitched in 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kelsey Griffin just missed a double-double of her own with nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 23 minutes. Catheryn Redmon added eight points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots for the Huskers off the bench.
Overall, 10 Huskers scored in the game and five Huskers had two or more assists in a balanced team effort.
"That was a good win for us, and hopefully that will help us as we continue on in our season," Kelley said. "They came out and were physical with us, and they gave us a game like we might see next week against LSU, or like we will see night-in and night-out in the Big 12. It's great to be 10-0, but we know we still have a long way to go to be the kind of team we want to be in February and March."
Nebraska Coach Connie Yori agreed.
"It is nice to be 10-0 because it shows the kind of work this team has put into it," Yori said. "They deserve to be 10-0, but its a long season and we know we are far from the team we want to be at the end of the year. The great thing is that this team is the hardest-working team I've had since I've been at Nebraska, and we are continuing to improve every day. We just need to keep that mentality."
Nebraska, which led by as many as 30 points on two occasions in the second half, hit 42.9 percent (24-56) of its shots in the game, including 5-of-12 three-pointers. Turner and Layne Reeves, both hit a pair of shots from long range, while Neals hit the final trifecta for the Huskers. NU also hit 16-of-25 free throws, and outrebounded NIU, 44-43. The Huskers committed 18 turnovers, but forced 20 by the Huskies.
Northern Illinois was led by Marke Freeman who had 11 points and a career-high eight steals, but hit just 4-of-17 shots from the field. Ebony Ellis added 11 points and six rebounds, while Kylie York contributed eight points, including a pair of threes for the Huskies. NIU hit just 3-for-17 three-point attempts on the day, and connected on just 25 percent (17-68) of its field goal attempts. The Huskies were a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line.
Nebraska shot out to a 34-17 halftime lead on the strength of Kelley's 10 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in the opening 20 minutes. Montgomery added seven points and three boards, while Redmon added six points, three boards, a block and a steal in 10 first-half minutes off the bench. The Huskers had seven players score in the opening half, despite hitting just 13-of-33 shots, including just 1-of-5 three-pointers. The Huskers outrebounded NIU, 25-20, and committed just seven first-half turnovers while forcing 12 by the Huskies.
NIU hit just 8-of-30 first-half shots, including 1-of-8 three-pointers. The Huskies did not attempt a free throw, as Nebraska committed just two first-half fouls, the second coming with 1.1-second left on a blocking call at halfcourt on Griffin. Nebraska outscored Northern Illinois, 7-0 at the line in the first 20 minutes.
Montgomery helped end any hopes of a Huskie comeback early in the second half by scoring six straight points out of the locker room to push NU's lead to 40-17 with 16:58 to play. The Husker lead reached 30 points for the first time on a pair of Kelley free throws with 6:04 left that made it 61-31.
The Huskers will take a week off from competition during Finals Week at the University of Nebraska, before returning to the court to battle No. 5 LSU on Sunday, Dec. 20, at 1:05 p.m. The Tigers, who joined the Huskers as one of 13 Division I unbeatens entering Sunday's games, will visit the Devaney Center for the first time when the two teams meet Sunday. Tickets to the matchup of top-25 foes are available on-line at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED. Live radio coverage will be provided on the Husker Sports Network, including free live audio on Huskers.com. A live video stream will also be available to premium subscribers of HuskersNside.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Northern Illinois vs Nebraska 12/13/09 2:05 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Northern Illinois 3-6 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 ADAMS, Mauvolyene... f 2-12 0-1 0-0 3 7 10 2 4 0 0 0 0 25 44 ELLIS, Ebony........ c 5-11 0-0 1-1 5 1 6 5 11 0 1 1 1 22 03 YORK, Kylie......... g 2-9 2-9 2-2 0 3 3 1 8 1 1 0 1 27 21 SHELTON, Courtney... g 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 2 3 1 1 19 23 FREEMAN, Marke...... g 4-17 1-3 2-2 1 1 2 0 11 3 8 0 8 37 01 CANNON, Terriel..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 02 CALLAHAN, Brittney.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 04 WILSON, Tenisha..... 3-15 0-3 0-0 5 2 7 4 6 1 2 0 0 18 24 ROGERS, Sarah....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 4 2 0 1 0 2 19 25 BROWN, Bianca....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 15 33 HAYWOOD, Shaakira... 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 15 TEAM................ 3 2 5 Totals.............. 17-68 3-17 7-7 20 23 43 22 44 7 20 2 13 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-30 26.7% 2nd Half: 9-38 23.7% Game: 25.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 17.6% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 7-7 100 % Game: 100 % 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 10-0 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 2-6 0-0 5-7 5 6 11 2 9 3 0 0 2 23 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-9 0-0 3-3 1 2 3 0 13 1 1 0 0 23 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 0-4 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 3 4 1 1 23 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 3-9 2-4 2-3 0 5 5 1 10 3 4 0 3 25 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 4-7 0-1 6-7 3 4 7 0 14 1 4 0 1 23 10 Williams, Meghin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 14 12 Reeves, Layne....... 2-4 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 6 2 1 0 0 11 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-6 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 1 2 0 2 16 20 Leick, Katya........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 0 0 1 1 11 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 4-4 0-0 0-5 1 7 8 2 8 0 1 4 1 24 TEAM................ 2 2 Totals.............. 24-56 5-12 16-25 13 31 44 8 69 16 18 6 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-33 39.4% 2nd Half: 11-23 47.8% Game: 42.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 41.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-11 63.6% 2nd Half: 9-14 64.3% Game: 64.0% 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Barb Smith, Michael Price, Dave Rittman Technical fouls: Northern Illinois-WILSON, Tenisha. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 2812 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Northern Illinois............. 17 27 - 44 Nebraska...................... 34 35 - 69