Lincoln - All-America candidate Kelsey Griffin scored a game-high 27 points on a 16-for-16 shooting day to lead No. 13 Nebraska to a 88-41 win over Albany at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday afternoon.
Playing in their first game since beating LSU on Dec. 20, the Huskers were crisp offensively, racing to a 53-24 halftime lead, before building the lead to 51 points following an 18-0 second-half run. Nebraska stretched its school-record winning streak to 12 games while improving to 12-0 on the year. Albany slipped to 6-5 on the year, while having its three-game winning streak snapped.
The 88 points scored by the Huskers were the most allowed this season by the Great Danes, while the Wednesday matinee crowd of 3,671 was also the largest crowd to see Albany play this season.
Griffin, a 6-2 senior forward from Eagle River, Alaska, produced what is thought to be the best overall shooting day by a women's basketball player in the history of the Devaney Center. She posted her fifth game of 27 or more points by hitting all nine of shots from the floor, including a career-high two three-pointers. Griffin was also 7-for-7 at the line, and pulled down seven rebounds while adding three steals. Griffin scored 18 of her points and grabbed four rebounds in the first half to carry NU to a 29-point first-half lead.
"It felt great to get back out there and play with my teammates again after some time off," Griffin said. "It was good to have some time off and enjoy the holidays with our families, but we were ready to play again. We had some really good practices the past couples days, and I thought we played pretty well today."
Fellow senior forward Cory Montgomery added 14 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in just 24 minutes, while Dominique Kelley pitched in 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal in just 17 minutes. Junior center Catheryn Redmon led NU off the bench with 10 points, eight rebounds and a career-high matching seven blocks in just 18 minutes. Senior guard Yvonne Turner contributed nine points and tied her career-best with nine rebounds, as Nebraska notched a season-high plus-26 team rebounding margin. Lincoln native Charity Iromuanya led Albany with 10 points.
Overall, 10 Huskers found the scoring column and nine players dished out at least one assist in a complete team effort, as NU registered its 11th double-digit win in 12 games this season. The Huskers, who hit 50 percent (31-62) of their shots from the field, including 8-of-25 three-pointers, and a season-best 81.8 percent (18-22) of their free throws, also stood out defensively.
After surrendering just 24 points in the first half, the Big Red allowed just four points in the first 15:27 of the second half, while building a 51-point lead at 79-28.
"I thought defensively we did some really good things, especially the first 32 to 34 minutes of the game," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "We rebounded well and the result was a good win. It only gets more difficult after today, so we'll enjoy this one and come back ready to work hard and get better tomorrow."
Nebraska dominated from start to finish in the first half, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field while knocking down six three-pointers and 9-of-11 free throws to take a 53-24 halftime lead. Griffin led the Huskers with 18 first-half points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, including a three-pointer, while also going a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line in just 12 minutes. Montgomery added 12 first-half points, while Turner pitched in seven points and eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. In all, nine Huskers scored in the first half.
Albany hit 10-of-32 first-half shots, including 3-of-8 three-pointers. The Danes hit just 1-of-4 free throws and were outrebounded 22-16 by the Huskers in the first half. Nebraska forced 11 first-half turnovers by Albany, while committing just seven turnovers of its own.
The Huskers jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead in the first five minutes after a Kala Kuhlmann three-pointer. The Danes trimmed the margin to 12-9 on Felicia Johnson's three with 13:37 left, before NU erupted on a 29-3 surge over the next five minutes. NU scored three points on five of six possessions, including three-pointers from Griffin, Montgomery, Kelley, Lindsey Moore and a traditional three-point play from Griffin to push the lead to 33-12 with 8:30 to play in the half.
Nebraska pushed its lead to 30 points for the first time on a Turner three-pointer with 45 seconds left in the half to make it 53-23.
Nebraska wraps up regular-season non-conference action on Monday, Jan. 4, when the Huskers travel to Vermont. Tip-off between NU and the Catamounts (9-2) is set for 6 p.m. (Central). Vermont entered the day ranked No. 12 in the most recent RPI rankings from CollegeRPI.com.
Official Basketball Box Score Albany vs Nebraska 12/30/09 3:05 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Albany 6-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 Forster, Julie...... f 2-9 0-0 0-2 1 3 4 2 4 1 1 0 2 23 21 Williams, Keyana.... f 3-9 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 6 0 1 1 2 28 14 Clements, Kim....... g 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 22 Johnson, Felicia.... g 3-12 1-6 0-0 0 1 1 0 7 3 4 0 2 25 23 Iromuanya, Charity.. g 4-8 1-3 1-1 0 2 2 5 10 1 7 2 2 22 01 Callaway, Cassandra. 1-6 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 2 3 0 5 0 0 14 03 Basavand, Melia..... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 11 05 Henry, Ebone........ 1-6 0-1 0-0 1 4 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 27 24 Jones, Adrienne..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 10 31 Cohan, Delaney...... 2-3 2-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 1 14 33 Makopondo, Tabitha.. 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 0 1 1 0 0 14 TEAM................ 1 2 3 1 Totals.............. 17-62 5-17 2-5 6 20 26 17 41 8 21 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-32 31.3% 2nd Half: 7-30 23.3% Game: 27.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 29.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 1-1 100 % Game: 40.0% 2,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 12-0 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 9-9 2-2 7-7 1 6 7 1 27 0 1 0 3 22 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-9 1-3 3-4 1 4 5 0 14 2 1 2 1 24 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 1-6 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 3 1 0 1 19 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-7 1-4 0-0 0 9 9 0 9 1 1 0 1 22 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 3-7 1-2 5-6 2 5 7 1 12 3 1 0 1 17 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 10 Williams, Meghin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 14 12 Reeves, Layne....... 1-3 1-2 1-2 0 1 1 1 4 0 2 1 0 12 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 2 0 0 10 20 Leick, Katya........ 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 8 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-5 0-3 2-3 2 4 6 1 4 1 3 0 1 12 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 2 1 0 1 15 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 5-7 0-0 0-0 4 4 8 1 10 0 2 7 0 18 TEAM................ 1 1 2 Totals.............. 31-62 8-25 18-22 12 40 52 9 88 16 19 10 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-32 59.4% 2nd Half: 12-30 40.0% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd Half: 2-12 16.7% Game: 32.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 9-11 81.8% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 81.8% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Wesley Dean, Brian Hall, Ann Schroeder Technical fouls: Albany-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 3671 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Albany........................ 24 17 - 41 Nebraska...................... 53 35 - 88