Lincoln, Neb. - Emily Cady scored a career-high 25 points and added nine rebounds as No. 16 Nebraska rolled to a 66-43 women's basketball win over Utah on Sunday afternoon at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The Huskers, who played their first game on their old homecourt at the Devaney Center since March 2, 2013, improved to 4-0 on the season with their second win over the week against Pac-12 competition. Utah slipped to 1-2.
In addition to the big game from Cady, the Huskers got 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals from junior All-American point guard Rachel Theriot. The Huskers never trailed in the game and led by as many as 27 points on their way to victory.
Cady and Theriot combined to hit 18-of-33 shots from the field to lead the Huskers, but the rest of the Big Red struggled to hit just 9-of-31 shots on the afternoon. As a team, NU hit 42.2 percent (27-64) of its shots, including 3-of-12 threes. The Huskers did hit 9-of-10 free throws.
While the Huskers struggled to find their shooting strokes, their defense all but shut down Utah, holding the Utes to just 27.5 percent (14-51) of shooting, including just 17 first-half points. Nebraska's pressure defense grabbed a season-high 11 steals and scored 24 points off 16 Utah turnovers.
Utah did hit 5-of-18 three-pointers, including three in the first five minutes of the second half to briefly threaten Nebraska's 21-point halftime lead. Utah cut NU's lead to 45-32, scoring 15 points in the first six minutes of the second half, but the Big Red answered with a 19-5 surge to take their biggest lead at 64-37 after an Anya Kalenta three-pointer with 4:45 left in the game.
Nebraska won the rebounding battle, 39-37, and produced a 16-7 turnover margin in the game. The Huskers also outscored the Utes 13-1 off the bench, including six points from Natalie Romeo, who helped Tear'a Laudermill start the Husker fullcourt defense with relentless on-the-ball pressure.
Malia Nawahine led Utah with 14 points, but the Huskers held Taryn Wicijowski to just six points and four boards on the day. Wicijowski entered the game averaging 25 points and 16 rebounds.
The Huskers used a stifling defense to work their way to a 38-17 halftime lead. Cady dominated the half with 16 points and six rebounds. Theriot added 10 points and five assists in the first half to lead a Husker offense that hit 16-of-36 shots (.444), including 2-of-5 threes. NU was also 4-for-4 at the foul line.
The Big Red made life tough on the Utes, forcing 10 first-half turnovers while committing just four of their own in the first half. NU also outrebounded the Utes, 23-17.
Nawahine and Tanaeya Boclair both scored five points for the Utes, who hit just 20 percent (5-25) of their first-half shots, including 2-of-9 three-pointers. Utah did hit all five of its first-half free throws.
The Huskers complete a three-game Pac-12 swing by traveling to Los Angeles to take on UCLA on Friday. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion is set for 3 p.m., with live television coverage on the Pac-12 Networks.
Official Basketball Box Score
Official Basketball Box Score Utah vs Nebraska 11/23/14 1:06 p.m. at Devaney Center (Lincoln, Neb.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Utah 1-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Nawahine, Malia..... f 5-10 1-2 3-4 1 1 2 4 14 0 2 0 0 28 11 Wicijowski, Taryn... f 1-6 0-1 4-4 1 3 4 4 6 1 2 1 0 30 32 Boclair, Tanaeya.... f 4-15 1-3 0-0 0 4 4 1 9 0 3 0 0 26 14 Crozon, Paige....... g 3-7 3-4 0-0 0 6 6 3 9 0 1 1 0 27 22 Rodriguez, Danielle. g 1-4 0-0 2-4 1 4 5 1 4 5 1 0 0 27 02 Matthews, Jada...... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 05 Wilson, Cheyenne.... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 4 0 1 1 0 1 22 13 Owens, Devri........ 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 1 2 0 0 17 33 Fatuesi, Joeseta.... 0-4 0-4 0-0 0 6 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 22 TEAM................ 2 2 2 Totals.............. 14-51 5-18 10-14 5 32 37 17 43 8 16 2 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 5-25 20.0% 2nd Half: 9-26 34.6% Game: 27.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 27.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 % 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 71.4% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 4-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Sample, Hailie...... f 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 8 8 2 0 0 0 0 1 20 23 Cady, Emily......... f 9-16 0-2 7-8 2 7 9 1 25 0 3 1 2 23 01 Laudermill, Tear'a.. g 2-6 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 1 26 13 Jeffery, Brandi..... g 2-7 0-3 0-0 1 4 5 3 4 4 0 1 2 32 33 Theriot, Rachel..... g 9-17 0-0 2-2 0 6 6 1 20 6 1 0 4 36 02 Page, Kaylee........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 05 Romeo, Natalie...... 2-5 2-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 6 1 0 0 1 16 11 Ramacieri, Esther... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12 Wood, Emily......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 22 Havers, Allie....... 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 29 31 Kalenta, Anya....... 2-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 5 0 2 2 0 7 34 Cincore, Jasmine.... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 27-64 3-12 9-10 6 33 39 17 66 12 7 4 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-36 44.4% 2nd Half: 11-28 39.3% Game: 42.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 25.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 90.0% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jesse Dickerson, Bill Larance, Missy Brooks Technical fouls: Utah-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 3321 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Utah.......................... 17 26 - 43 Nebraska...................... 38 28 - 66