Columbia, Mo. - No. 3 Nebraska came back again, erasing a six-point deficit with three minutes left in an 82-78 women's basketball victory at Missouri on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Nebraska extended its school-record winning streak to 23 games while matching the school-record for single-season victories. The Huskers also improved to 10-0 in the Big 12, while extending their road winning streak to 11 games. Missouri slipped to 11-13 on the year and 1-10 in the Big 12.
Nebraska, which led 41-38 at the half was in a dogfight with the Tigers throughout. The Huskers led by seven points on several occasions in the second half, the last coming at 63-56 after a Yvonne Turner three with 10:38 to play. But Missouri scored on a seven straight possessions to forge to a 67-64 lead with 8:09 left. The two teams traded baskets for the next four minutes until Amanda Hanneman and Johnson hit back-to-back baskets to make it 78-72.
Kelsey Griffin, who notched her 13th double-double of the year with game highs of 28 points and 12 rebounds, then trimmed the lead to 78-74, before Cory Montgomery knocked down her lone three of the game to cut MU's lead to 78-77.
Neither team scored for a minute until Turner, who finished with 19 points and a season-high four steals, came up with a big loose ball on the defensive end and was fouled in the front court by Johnson. Turner made both free throws to give NU a 79-78 lead. On the ensuing inbounds play, Turner came up with a deflection and Lindsey Moore was eventually fouled. She hit the first free throw with 37.2 seconds left, before Turner came up with another steal and was fouled. Turner hit one free throw to push the NU lead to 81-78 with 27.3 seconds left, before Moore came up with a steal, was fouled and hit the second free throw in the closing seconds to win 82-78.
Moore tied her season high with three steals, while finishing with five points and two assists. Nebraska forced five MU turnovers in the final two minutes, after the Tigers committed just seven turnovers in the first 38 minutes.
In addition to Griffin's 11-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 free throw shooting, Dominique Kelley finished with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 shooting at the line. Turner finished 7-of-14 and 3-of-4 at the line.
Nebraska shot 58.3 percent from the field, its second-best shooting percentage of the year, while hitting 3-of-9 three-pointers. The Huskers also hit 23-of-34 free throws, but were outrebounded, 34-28. MU also won the turnover battle, 13-12.
Missouri hit 44.4 percent of its shots, including 8-of-20 threes. The Tigers matched the three-point total of Nebraska's previous five Big 12 road opponents combined. MU also hit 14-of-15 free throws. Jessra Johnson led MU with 21 points, while RaeShara Brown added 14 points and five steals.
In a back-and-forth first half, Nebraska by as many as eight points at 30-22 after a Christine Flores three-point play with 7:13 left, before the Huskers answered with a 14-2 surge to take their biggest lead of the half at 36-32 after a Cory Montgomery free throw with 1:43 left in the half. Griffin took over the game late, scoring 10 straight points and getting four defensive stops in a three-minute stretch during NU's run.
Missouri battled back to quickly tie the score at 36, but Kelley, who finished with 14 first-half points on perfect shooting (3-3 FG, 8-8 FT), scoring NU's final five points, including a three-point play with two seconds left to send the Huskers to the locker room with a 41-38 halftime lead.
Griffin closed the half with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting while pulling down six rebounds and taking two charges. Turner added seven first-half points, including NU's lone three-pointer, while Catheryn Redmon contributed five points, three rebounds and two blocks in the first 20 minutes.
Nebraska hit 60.9 percent (14-23) of its shots, including 1-of-4 three-pointers, while knocking down 12-of-16 free throws in the opening half. NU outrebounded the Tigers, 16-3, but committed nine turnovers while forcing only four by MU. Missouri hit 45.5 percent of its shots, including 3-of-6 three-pointers, while connecting on all five of its free throw attempts.
Missouri also went to the half with foul trouble, as starting point guard Toy Richbow committed three fouls and Amanda Hanneman, RaeShara Brown and Shakara Jones were all whistled for two fouls.
Nebraska returns home next week for a two-game stand, beginning with a Wednesday night battle with Iowa State. Tip-off between the No. 3 Huskers and No. 20 Cyclones is set for 7:05 p.m. with live radio coverage on the Husker Sports Network, including free live audio on Huskers.com. ISU is coming off a 69-45 win over No. 11 Baylor on Saturday in Ames. Get your tickets now at Huskers.com or call the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office during regular business hours Monday-Friday.
Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Missouri 2/13/10 1 p.m. at Mizzou Arena
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 23-0, 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 11-15 0-0 6-7 3 9 12 3 28 2 0 2 1 34 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 2-8 1-3 1-2 1 3 4 1 6 0 1 0 0 32 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 1-3 0-0 3-5 0 1 1 0 5 2 2 0 3 33 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 7-14 2-6 3-4 0 1 1 2 19 1 5 0 4 37 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 5-6 0-0 9-10 0 0 0 4 19 0 1 0 0 29 11 Neals, Nicole....... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 8 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 12 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 2-2 0-0 1-4 3 1 4 2 5 0 1 2 0 14 TEAM................ 4 4 1 Totals.............. 28-48 3-9 23-34 7 21 28 14 82 7 13 4 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-23 60.9% 2nd Half: 14-25 56.0% Game: 58.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 12-16 75.0% 2nd Half: 11-18 61.1% Game: 67.6% 4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Missouri 11-13, 1-10 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Hanneman, Amanda.... f 4-9 3-7 0-0 1 0 1 3 11 2 2 0 1 25 04 Johnson, Jessra..... f 7-15 2-3 5-5 2 2 4 3 21 0 2 0 1 24 44 Jones, Shakara...... f 4-10 0-1 0-0 3 3 6 2 8 1 0 0 0 33 11 Richbow, Toy........ g 0-4 0-1 2-2 1 2 3 4 2 3 2 0 0 29 23 Brown, RaeShara..... g 7-10 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 14 5 2 0 5 32 10 Otote, Jasmyn....... 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 2 2 0 0 18 32 Scott, Marissa...... 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 3 3 3 0 1 0 15 50 Flores, Christine... 3-7 0-0 7-8 2 4 6 3 13 0 1 0 0 23 TEAM................ 5 5 10 1 Totals.............. 28-63 8-20 14-15 15 19 34 22 78 16 12 1 7 199
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-33 45.5% 2nd Half: 13-30 43.3% Game: 44.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 5-14 35.7% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 % 2nd Half: 9-10 90.0% Game: 93.3% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Beverly Roberts, Jesse Dickerson, Teresa Dahlem Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Missouri-None. Attendance: 2651 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 41 41 - 82 Missouri...................... 38 40 - 78