Lincoln - In a battle of unbeaten top-20 teams and two Naismith Trophy candidates, Nebraska's Kelsey Griffin produced another dominant performance with 30 points and 14 rebounds to carry the No. 20 Husker women's basketball team to a 77-63 win over No. 5 LSU on Sunday afternoon.
Playing in front of the largest non-conference crowd in Nebraska history at the Bob Devaney Sports Center with 7,717 fans on hand, the Huskers posted their second-ever win over a top-five opponent to extend the best start in school history to 11-0 by running to a 14-point win over the Tigers, who slipped to 9-1 on the season.
Nebraska never trailed in the game and forced LSU to play from behind for 40 minutes, as the Huskers jumped out to a 21-4 lead and never looked back. The Tigers got no closer than five points the rest way, that coming on an Allison Hightower layup to start the second half. Hightower led LSU with 15 points, but after Hightower's second-to-last basket of the game, Nebraska ripped off a 9-0 run in the next 2:10. The Tigers never got within single digits in the final 18 minutes, as Nebraska built the lead as large as 19 and cruised to a victory in front of a raucous Husker crowd.
In addition to her second 30-point game of the year, Griffin, a 6-2 senior forward from Eagle River, Alaska, matched her career high with 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Fellow senior forward Cory Montgomery added 16 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while adding four rebounds. Junior guard Dominique Kelley, who went head-to-head with Hightower, answered with 13 points and three rebounds of her own.
Freshman point guard Lindsey Moore also supplied a major contribution with nine points and seven assists, while senior guard Kala Kuhlmann contributed seven points on perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the field.
"That is a great win for our program, and we really want to thank the fans for coming out and making a difference in the game today," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Hopefully, we gave them a pretty good reason to come back. Kelsey Griffin was great today, and she showed why we think she is one of the best players in the country. We also felt that we have some pretty good players around her, and today, we were the better basketball team."
In a first-half duel between two of the nation's premier players, Griffin carried Nebraska to a 41-34 halftime lead by scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds. Griffin was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the opening half. Although she missed her first shot of the second half and finished the game 12-of-19 from the field, Nebraska scored on every possession that Griffin shot the ball until the 6:52 mark left in the game. Overall, Nebraska scored on 17 of NU's 19 attempts in the game.
"I have great teammates, and I'm just fortunate that we have all put in the work in the offseason to become a better basketball team," Griffin said. "I'm excited about the way we played and about beating a top five team. I also think our team is focused on continuing to get better and we know we still have a long way to go this season."
As a team, Nebraska shot 50 percent (27-54) and scored 77 points against an LSU defense that had been surrendering just 44 points per game in its first nine contests. The Huskers also connected on 4-of-12 three-pointers, while holding the Tigers scoreless from beyond the arc. NU also hit 19-of-25 free throws and forced 16 Tiger turnovers, while committing just 14 miscues of its own, including just five in the second half. LSU did outrebound Nebraska, 36-34. However, the Tigers hit just 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) of their shots from the field, while hitting 15-of-18 free throws.
Hightower, like Griffin a Naismith Trophy and All-America candidate, led LSU with 11 first-half points but hit just 5-of-13 shots from the floor. Kelley actually matched Hightower's first-half production in a head-to-head matchup, pitching in 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting while knocking down all five of her free throw attempts.
Montgomery added 10 points and a pair of rebounds in the first half, while Moore and Kuhlmann each contributed two first-half points. Other than Hightower, no Tiger scored more than six first-half points.
Led by Griffin, Kelley and Montgomery, who combined to go 13-for-15 in the first half, NU hit 63.6 percent (14-22) of its field goal attempts, including 2-of-4 shooting from three-point range. Montgomery hit both of NU's threes in the opening half. The Huskers also knocked down 11-of-13 free throws, but were outrebounded 18-14 by the Tigers, who yanked down 11 offensive boards.
LSU's first-half board work resulted in 17 second chance points, exactly half of the Tigers' halftime point total. The rebounding kept LSU within striking distance despite hitting just 13-of-35 shots, including 0-for-2 shooting from long range. The Tigers were 8-for-8 at the foul line, and committed just five turnovers, compared to nine for NU.
The Huskers will take several days off for the Christmas holidays before returning to Lincoln to prepare for a Dec. 30 clash with Albany. Tip-off between Nebraska and the Great Danes is set for 3:05 p.m. Tickets are available at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED. Live radio coverage will be provided by the Husker Sports Network on WOW 105.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha.
Official Basketball Box Score LSU vs Nebraska 12/20/09 1:05 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: LSU 9-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 35 TURNBOW, Taylor..... f 3-5 0-0 2-2 3 2 5 3 8 0 0 1 1 23 55 BARRETT, LaSondra... f 1-4 0-1 4-4 2 0 2 4 6 0 1 0 0 15 01 GRAHAM, Katherine... g 6-13 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 4 12 1 1 0 1 31 03 EASON, Latear....... g 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 4 1 2 4 1 2 20 23 HIGHTOWER, Allison.. g 7-21 0-0 1-1 3 0 3 1 15 1 1 1 1 31 02 NELSON, Jasmine..... 3-4 0-0 2-2 2 4 6 1 8 0 0 2 1 17 10 WEBB, Adrienne...... 0-2 0-2 2-2 1 2 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 12 15 LUTLEY, Bianca...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 7 20 HUGHES, Destini..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 15 22 JONES, Courtney..... 1-3 0-1 3-4 3 4 7 3 5 0 4 1 0 20 25 BLACK, Swayze....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 5 32 WILLIAMS, Erica..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 TEAM................ 1 Totals.............. 24-61 0-4 15-18 15 21 36 25 63 4 16 6 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-35 37.1% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 39.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-2 0.0% Game: 0.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 8-8 100 % 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 83.3% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 11-0 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 12-19 0-0 6-9 4 10 14 1 30 1 1 1 1 36 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-10 3-6 3-4 1 3 4 3 16 0 3 0 0 33 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 2-8 0-2 5-7 0 2 2 1 9 7 1 1 0 36 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 24 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 4-7 0-0 5-5 3 0 3 3 13 0 4 0 0 27 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 6 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 3-3 1-1 0-0 1 3 4 2 7 1 1 0 1 25 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 11 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 27-54 4-12 19-25 10 24 34 18 77 11 14 2 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-22 63.6% 2nd Half: 13-32 40.6% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 11-13 84.6% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 76.0% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Melissa Barlow, Carla Fountain, Nick Marshall Technical fouls: LSU-TEAM. Nebraska-TEAM. Attendance: 7717 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total LSU........................... 34 29 - 63 Nebraska...................... 41 36 - 77 Largest non-conference crowd in school history