Lincoln - In the first-ever top-10 NCAA Division I basketball game in the history of the state of Nebraska, the No. 4 Husker women's basketball ran to another lopsided midweek win with an 88-67 victory over No. 10 Oklahoma State in front of 10,227 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night.
With the victory, Nebraska stretched its school-record winning streak to 20 games while improving to a program best 7-0 in Big 12 Conference action. The Huskers registered their 12th 20-win season in school history, while picking up their third win over a top-10 opponent this season. Entering the year, NU had just three wins over top-10 foes in 35 seasons of women's basketball.
"I told the team in the locker room that they continue to leave me without words," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "They left me speechless with how well they played in the first 30 minutes of that basketball game. We can't play much better than that, but we're going to keep trying."
The Huskers were never threatened in the game by the Cowgirls, who slipped to 18-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12, after OSU earned its first-ever top-10 national ranking on Monday. Nebraska jumped out to a 9-0 lead before reserve Lindsey Keller hit OSU's first field goal with 17:30 left in the first half. By the time OSU hit its second field, Nebraska led 29-5 with just over 10 minutes left in the half. OSU never pulled within 20 points the rest of the night.
Each of the Big Red's "Big Four" scorers produced double figures in the first half, and all five NU starters finished in double figures on the night. All-America candidate Kelsey Griffin led Nebraska with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in just 19 minutes of action. Yvonne Turner added 17 points, including four three-pointers, to move ahead of former NU All-American and two-time WNBA All-Star Anna DeForge on Nebraska's career three-point list.
"Vonnie really keyed our defense with how she played (Andrea) Riley on the ball tonight," Yori said. "She set the tone and she got some help from Dominique Kelley and Tiny (Nicole) Neals. Our defense was excellent early in the game."
Dominique Kelley added 13 points, while Cory Montgomery added all 10 of her points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. True freshman point guard Lindsey Moore also produced the best game of her career, matching her career best with 11 points, including a career-best matching two three-pointers. Moore also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds, while adding five assists, all in the first half, against just one turnover.
Turner, Kelley, Moore and senior guard Nicole Neals, led a terrific defensive effort against OSU All-American Andrea Riley, holding the nation's leading scorer to just 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field, and just 1-of-5 three-point attempts. Riley also committed three turnvoers, and committed three fouls in the first four minutes of the second half, and did not return to the court.
Nebraska's lead grew as large as 36 points with just over eight minutes left in the game. NU hit 49.2 percent (31-63) of its shots from the field, including 11-of-31 three-pointers, while hitting 15-of-24 free throws. The Huskers were outrebounded 38-32 for the game, but NU's starters did not play the final 12 minutes of the game, and still held a 16-6 turnover margin on the night.
OSU hit 27-of-59 shots from the field, but just 2-of-13 three-pointers, while hitting 11-of-16 free throws. Precious Robinson led OSU with 12 points and 10 boards, while Toni Young added 14 points and Lindsey Keller pitched in 12.
In one of its most impressive first halves of the season, Nebraska led 51-27 at halftime after bolting out to a 29-5 lead by holding OSU to just one made field goal in the first 9:54. The stretch included an 18-0 run for the Huskers.
In running to the most points scored by a Cowgirl opponent in a half this season, Nebraska produced its fifth 50-point half of the year. All four of the Big Red's "Big Four" scorers went to the locker room in double figures, led by Griffin's 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 14 first-half minutes.
Turner added 12 first-half points on a trio of three-pointers, including a four-point play midway through the half. Kelley added 11 points and a pair of threes, while Montgomery pitched in 10 points on 5-of-7 first-half shooting.
Moore, NU's freshman starting point guard, also pushed all the right buttons in the first half with five points, five rebounds and five assists.
Nebraska shot 48.6 percent in the opening half, including 6-of-17 threes. NU also outrebounded OSU, 18-17, while committing just one first-half turnover against the Cowgirls. NU also forced OSU in 10 miscues, while holding the Cowgirls to just 38.5 percent shooting, including just 1-of-7 three-pointers.
Nebraska concludes its two-game home stand by playing host to No. 12 Texas A&M on Saturday, Feb. 6, in Lincoln. Tip-off between the Huskers and Aggies at the Devaney Center is set for Noon. For tickets, visit Huskers.com or call the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-8-BIG-RED. Live national television coverage will be provided by FSN with live radio coverage on the Husker Sports Network, including a free live audio broadcast world-wide on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
Official Basketball Box Score Oklahoma State vs Nebraska 2/3/10 7:05 p.m. at Bob Devaney Sports Center- Lincoln, Neb. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Oklahoma State 18-4, 6-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 01 Cunningham, Tegan... f 2-7 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 4 0 0 1 0 24 24 Robinson, Precious.. f 6-8 0-0 0-0 5 5 10 2 12 0 3 1 0 24 33 Byford, Megan....... c 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 11 00 Garrison, Lakyn..... g 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 1 0 10 10 Riley, Andrea....... g 4-15 1-5 6-8 0 1 1 4 15 3 3 1 1 24 05 Blair-Mobley, Caroly 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 2 1 0 0 16 11 Clardy, Ally........ 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 0 0 17 13 Howard, Heather..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 15 Young, Toni......... 6-9 0-0 2-3 1 2 3 3 14 0 0 0 0 16 21 Riley, LaSharra..... 0-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 10 25 Keller, Lindsey..... 5-7 0-1 2-2 2 3 5 1 12 0 0 0 0 20 32 Jeffries, Desiree... 2-2 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 1 5 3 3 0 0 14 TEAM................ 1 4 5 1 Totals.............. 27-59 2-13 11-16 10 28 38 21 67 10 16 5 1 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 17-33 51.5% Game: 45.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 15.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 68.8% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 20-0, 7-0 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 5-7 1-1 8-9 2 4 6 2 19 4 1 0 1 19 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-7 0-1 0-1 1 2 3 0 10 1 0 0 1 24 00 Moore, Lindsey...... g 3-5 2-4 3-4 0 8 8 1 11 5 1 0 0 24 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 6-14 4-10 1-2 0 3 3 0 17 1 0 1 2 21 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 5-7 2-3 1-2 0 0 0 2 13 1 1 0 0 17 10 Williams, Meghin.... 2-5 0-2 1-2 1 1 2 2 5 0 0 0 0 7 11 Neals, Nicole....... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 13 12 Reeves, Layne....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 10 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 3-6 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 7 2 1 0 0 18 20 Leick, Katya........ 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 9 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 8 35 Periago, Jessica.... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 1 0 0 0 14 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-0 0-0 0-2 2 3 5 2 0 1 1 3 0 16 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 31-63 11-31 15-24 8 24 32 14 88 18 6 4 7 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-37 48.6% 2nd Half: 13-26 50.0% Game: 49.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-17 35.3% 2nd Half: 5-14 35.7% Game: 35.5% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 9-11 81.8% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 62.5% 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: June Courteau, Billy Smith, Michol Murray Technical fouls: Oklahoma State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 10227 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Oklahoma State................ 27 40 - 67 Nebraska...................... 51 37 - 88