Burlington, Vt. - Kelsey Griffin produced another monster performance with her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 25 points and grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds to lead No. 12 Nebraska to an impressive 94-50 win at Vermont on Monday night.
Griffin, a 6-2 senior forward and the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, hit 10-of-16 shots from the field, including all five of her free throw attempts, while producing the highest rebounding total by a Husker in six seasons. She nearly notched her 25th career double-double in the first half alone, leading the Huskers with 17 points and nine rebounds at intermission. Griffin hit 8-of-12 shots from the field in the opening half to power Nebraska to a 42-29 halftime lead.
The Huskers, who finished off the first perfect non-conference season in school history by improving to 13-0, closed the first half on a 10-2 surge then put the Catamounts (11-3) away by opening the second half with a 16-2 eruption in the first five minutes to push the lead to 60-33.
In addition to Griffin's career-high rebounds, fellow senior Kala Kuhlmann tied her career-best with 13 points on a perfect shooting night. Kuhlmann hit 5-of-5 shots from the field including a career-best three three-pointers. Eight of Kuhlmann's points came in Nebraska's decisive runs in the first and second half.
Yvonne Turner added a strong effort with 11 points and five assists, while Cory Montgomery gave Nebraska four players in double figures with 10 points and four rebounds. Dominique Kelley added nine points and three assists, while freshman point guard Lindsey Moore added eight points, including a pair of first-half three-pointers.
Eleven different Huskers found the scoring column, as Nebraska produced the most points all season against the Catamounts, surpassing the 84 points scored by defending national champion and current No. 1 UConn in an 84-42 win in Storrs, Conn., on Dec. 3. It was Nebraska's 12th double-digit win of the year, including the eighth by 20 or more points.
As a team, Nebraska hit 58.9 percent (33-56) of its shots from the field, including 8-of-18 three-pointers. NU also hit 20-of-25 free throws, while dominating the glass, 47-25. NU committed just 12 turnovers against the Catamounts. The Huskers also held Vermont to just 28.1 percent (18-64) shooting from the field, including just 3-of-14 success from three-point range. UVM did hit 11-of-15 free throws and committed just eight turnovers.
Kendra Seto led Vermont with 18 points, while May Kotsopoulos added 16 points and Courtnay Pilypaitis pitched in eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Nebraska hit 56.3 percent (18-32) of its shots from the floor in the half, including 4-of-11 threes, while knocking down 2-of-3 free throws. NU outrebounded Vermont, 21-13, and committed just five first-half turnovers.
The Huskers held Vermont to 35.5 percent (11-31) shooting in the opening period, including 2-of-6 threes, while knocking down all five of its free throws. The Catamounts committed just four first-half turnovers. Kotsopoulos led Vermont with 11 first-half points, while Seto added nine points and four boards in 15 first-half minutes.
The Huskers open Big 12 Conference play when they travel to Ames to battle Iowa State on Saturday, Jan. 9. Tip-off between Nebraska and the 11-1 Cyclones is set for 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum with live radio coverage on the Husker Sports Network, including a free live audio broadcast on Huskers.com. A live video stream will also be available to premium subscribers of HuskersNside.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score #12 Nebraska vs Vermont 01/04/10 7:00 p.m. at Burlington, Vt. - Patrick Gymnasium
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: #12 Nebraska 13-0 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...... * 3-5 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 8 2 1 0 0 24 22 Turner, Yvonne...... * 4-9 1-6 2-2 0 3 3 1 11 5 0 0 1 27 23 Griffin, Kelsey..... * 10-16 0-1 5-5 4 12 16 1 25 0 2 1 0 28 24 Kelley, Dominique... * 1-5 0-0 7-8 0 2 2 1 9 3 3 0 3 21 40 Montgomery, Cory.... * 3-7 0-2 4-4 0 4 4 3 10 1 2 0 0 23 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 Williams, Meghin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-2 1-1 0-2 0 2 2 3 3 2 0 0 0 12 12 Reeves, Layne....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 5-5 3-3 0-1 0 3 3 1 13 2 1 0 0 21 20 Leick, Katya........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 5 35 Periago, Jessica.... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 0 4 1 3 1 0 8 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 2-2 0-0 0-1 2 3 5 1 4 0 0 2 0 19 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 33-56 8-18 20-25 8 39 47 15 94 17 12 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-32 56.3% 2nd Half: 15-24 62.5% Game: 58.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 44.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 18-22 81.8% Game: 80.0% 2,1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Vermont 11-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Pilypaitis, Courtnay * 3-11 1-3 1-2 0 7 7 3 8 3 1 1 3 39 04 Kotsopoulos, May.... * 7-14 0-1 2-3 0 1 1 0 16 2 1 0 2 32 25 Young, Tonya........ * 1-5 0-3 0-0 1 0 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 16 45 Iwobi, Sofia........ * 1-8 0-0 2-2 1 4 5 1 4 0 3 0 0 24 54 Seto, Kendra........ * 5-15 2-5 6-6 4 2 6 1 18 0 2 1 0 31 01 Dennerlein, Tory.... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 02 Albert, Morgan...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 05 Lalonde, Kristine... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 21 Hier, Kelli......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 9 22 Hoyt, Ashley........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 32 Buschmann, Lauren... 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 15 52 Sheftic, Alissa..... 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 15 TEAM................ 1 1 1 Totals.............. 18-64 3-14 11-15 9 16 25 18 50 6 8 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-31 35.5% 2nd Half: 7-33 21.2% Game: 28.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 21.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 % 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 73.3% 1,2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Dennis DeMayo, Bonita Spence, Joanne Aldrich Technical fouls: #12 Nebraska-None. Vermont-TEAM. Attendance: 1067 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total #12 Nebraska.................. 42 52 - 94 Vermont....................... 29 21 - 50
Points in the paint-NU 42,VERMONT 26. Points off turnovers-NU 11,VERMONT 6. 2nd chance points-NU 8,VERMONT 5. Fast break points-NU 10,VERMONT 2. Bench points-NU 31,VERMONT 2. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time. Last FG-NU 2nd-00:04, VERMONT 2nd-01:13. Largest lead-NU by 44 2nd-00:04, VERMONT by 4 1st-18:15.