Lincoln - Rachel Theriot, Emily Cady and Hailie Sample produced huge plays on both ends of the court down the stretch to lead No. 12 Nebraska to a 60-54 women's basketball victory over No. 9 Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday night.
Playing in front of a raucous Husker crowd of 7,571, Nebraska improved to 7-0 on the season for the first time since the 2009-10 Huskers reeled off 30 straight wins to open the year. The Big Red also notched their first win over a ranked non-conference opponent in the regular season since that same Husker bunch rolled to a 77-63 win over No. 5 LSU on Dec. 20, 2009, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Duke, which played its second straight game without All-America center Elizabeth Williams, slipped to 5-2 on the season, following a road loss Sunday at current No. 5 Texas A&M. The Blue Devils face No. 1 South Carolina in Durham, N.C., later this week.
Theriot, Nebraska's All-America point guard, led the Huskers with a game-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot. Theriot hit three of NU's six three-pointers on the night, including a huge three with 7:12 left to push NU's lead to 51-46. Theriot sealed the win with a pair of free throws with four seconds left for the game's final points.
Sample, a 6-1 senior from Flower Mound, Texas, matched her season high with 16 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting night against the Blue Devils. Sample also went 4-of-6 at the free throw line, including 3-of-4 in the final 3:19 to help secure Nebraska's first win in four tries in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Cady, a 6-2 senior forward from Seward, Neb., added her third double-double of the season with 13 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and four assists without a turnover against Duke's zone defense. Cady added a pair of huge steals and may have made the game's biggest play with her offensive rebound and putback to give NU a 57-52 lead with 50 seconds left. It was Nebraska's only putback of the second half, as Duke outscored NU, 21-6 on second-chance points for the game.
Senior guards Tear'a Laudermill and Brandi Jeffery also played major roles in the win. Laudermill finished with seven points, including a pair of threes, while adding a career-high seven rebounds. Jeffery added seven points, four rebounds and a game-high five assists. Both played outstanding perimeter defense as well.
Nebraska won despite hitting just 38.2 percent (21-55) of its shots from the field, including just 6-of-29 threes against the extreme length of the Duke lineup. Nebraska also went 12-of-17 from the free throw line. The Huskers were outrebounded, 47-34, including minus-nine on the glass in the second half. But Nebraska won the turnover battle, 13-10.
The Big Red defense held Duke to just 31.7 percent (20-63) shooting, including a dismal 18.2 percent (2-11) from long range. Duke hit 12-of-14 free throws.
Azura Stevens led Duke with 16 points and nine rebounds, while going 8-of-15 from the field. Oderah Chidom added eight points and seven rebounds while hitting 3-of-5 shots. The rest of the Blue Devil starters combined to go just 6-for-34 from the floor.
The Huskers opened the game red hot, hitting 9-of-13 shots from the field to build a 22-9 lead on a Theriot three-pointer with 11:36 left in the first half. Theriot finished with seven first-half points, while Sample finished 4-for-4 from the field to finish with eight points at the half. Cady added eight points on 2-of-3 shooting and 4-of-4 shooting at the line in the opening period.
However, the Huskers went just 2-for-16 the rest of the way, including 0-for-9 from three-point range, to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Duke hit just 8-of-27 first-half shots and just 1-of-7 threes, but outscored the Huskers 10-4 at the line in the first half to keep it close. Duke outrebounded Nebraska, 21-17, in the first half, but the Huskers won the first-half turnover battle, 7-6.
The Blue Devils came out strong in the second half, tying the game at 34 on a Stevens jumper, before Rebecca Greenwell gave Duke its first lead of the night at 36-34 with 16:33 left. The two teams then exchanged leads until a Theriot three-pointer turned a 42-41 NU deficit into a 44-42 lead with 11:27 remaining. The Huskers would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way, as Duke could get no closer than two points down the stretch.
The Huskers return to non-conference road action on Sunday, when Nebraska travels to Alabama. Tip-off between the Huskers and Crimson Tide is set for 2 p.m. with live video coverage on the SEC Network +. Free live audio will be available on Huskers.com from the Husker Sports Network.
Official Basketball Box Score Duke vs Nebraska 12/03/14 6:32 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Duke 5-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Chidom, Oderah...... f 3-5 0-0 2-2 2 5 7 3 8 2 0 1 0 21 04 Calhoun, Sierra..... g 3-10 0-3 3-4 3 4 7 4 9 1 2 0 0 38 11 Stevens, Azura...... g 8-15 0-0 0-0 5 4 9 4 16 2 1 0 1 23 14 Johnson, Ka'lia..... g 1-14 0-2 0-0 2 3 5 1 2 3 2 0 2 23 23 Greenwell, Rebecca.. g 2-10 1-4 4-4 1 4 5 1 9 3 3 0 0 36 12 Riggs, Mercedes..... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 1 17 21 Cooper, Kendall..... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 2 7 30 Henson, Amber....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 12 32 Mathias, Erin....... 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 2 0 1 0 1 12 34 Belton, Lynee....... 1-1 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 4 0 2 0 0 11 TEAM................ 3 5 8 Totals.............. 20-63 2-11 12-14 18 29 47 19 54 12 13 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-27 29.6% 2nd Half: 12-36 33.3% Game: 31.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 18.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 10-12 83.3% 2nd Half: 2-2 100 % Game: 85.7% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 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 03 Sample, Hailie...... f 6-6 0-0 4-6 2 1 3 2 16 2 1 0 0 40 23 Cady, Emily......... f 4-8 0-2 5-6 3 8 11 3 13 4 0 0 2 38 01 Laudermill, Tear'a.. g 2-13 2-10 1-2 2 5 7 3 7 1 1 0 0 32 13 Jeffery, Brandi..... g 3-11 1-8 0-1 0 4 4 2 7 5 4 0 1 37 33 Theriot, Rachel..... g 6-15 3-8 2-2 0 6 6 1 17 4 2 1 0 40 22 Havers, Allie....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 8 34 Cincore, Jasmine.... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 21-55 6-29 12-17 8 26 34 12 60 16 10 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-29 37.9% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 38.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-14 14.3% 2nd Half: 4-15 26.7% Game: 20.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 8-13 61.5% Game: 70.6% 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tina Napier, Gina Cross, Bob Enterline Technical fouls: Duke-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 7571 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Duke.......................... 27 27 - 54 Nebraska...................... 28 32 - 60