Lincoln - No. 16 Nebraska got contributions from top to bottom at both ends of the court, as the Huskers stretched their Big Ten Conference winning streak to four games with a 69-59 women's basketball victory over Purdue on Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
With the win, Nebraska improved to 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten while snapping a five-game series losing streak to Purdue. It was NU's first win over the Boilermakers since a triple-overtime win in West Lafayette, Ind., in Nebraska's inaugural season in the Big Ten in 2011-12. Purdue slipped to 9-9 this season and 2-5 in the Big Ten, suffering its fourth consecutive loss.
All-American point guard Rachel Theriot led the Huskers with 16 points and seven assists. She scored nine points in the final 3:02 of the game to close out the victory. The 6-0 junior from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, sealed the win with six straight free throws in the final 1:11.
Theriot led four Huskers in double figures, including 15 points from senior Hailie Sample, who connected on 6-of-10 shots from the floor. Sample also went 3-of-4 from the free throw line while grabbing three rebounds and adding an assist and a block.
Sample drew the one-on-one defensive matchup with Purdue's top scorer Whitney Bays and outscored Bays 15-14 in the contest. Bays finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the year and seventh straight in Big Ten play.
April Wilson led Purdue with a career-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists as the only other Boilermaker in double figures.
Brandi Jeffery added one of the best all-around games of her career with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while also going 3-for-4 at the line. The 5-7 senior guard from Vacherie, La., added six rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was the second-highest scoring total of Jeffery's career, trailing only her 19 points in the season-opening win over Pepperdine on Nov. 15. It was her seventh double-figure scoring performance of the season and her third in the last four games.
Senior Tear'a Laudermill added 10 points - all in the first half - to help set the tone for Nebraska. She added four rebounds, an assist and a steal to help the Huskers run to a 33-24 halftime lead.
Nebraska hit 44.1 percent (26-59) of its shots for the game, including 4-of-13 three-pointers (.308). The Huskers also connected on 13-of-15 free throws, hitting all 11 in the second half and going 9-for-9 at the line in the final 3:02.
The Big Red dominated the turnover battle, 19-10, and outscored Purdue 19-9 in points off turnovers for the game. Purdue won the rebounding battle, 39-33.
Nebraska held the Boilermakers to 37.9 percent (22-58) shooting from the floor, but Purdue did connect on 40 percent (6-15) of its three-point attempts on the night. The Boilermakers also went 9-of-11 at the line.
Nebraska trailed by as many as three points in the game's first five minutes before taking the lead for good on a three-pointer by freshman Natalie Romeo to make it 13-10 with 14:21 left in the first half.
Leading 18-16 with nine minutes left in the half, Theriot started an 8-2 Husker surge that included three-straight layups from Laudermill to push the NU lead to 26-18 with 6:34 left in the half.
Freshman Chandler Smith connected on the first field goal of her career with 5:01 remaining in the half to give Nebraska its first double-digit lead of the game at 30-20. It was just Smith's third career appearance after missing 14 games on the season with injury.
Nebraska took a 33-24 lead to the locker room at the half, but Purdue chipped away through the first nine minutes of the second half, eventually cutting the Husker margin to 41-38 with 11:12 left.
Smith then stepped up again, draining a huge three-pointer from the right corner - her first career three - to push Nebraska's lead back to 44-38 with 10:48 left. Moments later, Emily Cady knocked down another three to push the Husker margin back to nine at 49-40 with 9:52 left. Cady finished with just five points, but ripped down 13 rebounds and added five assists, two steals and a block.
Purdue got no closer than four points the rest of the, and Nebraska twice built 12-point leads down the stretch.
The Huskers return to Big Ten road action Thursday when they travel to Madison to face Wisconsin. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Badgers at the Kohl Center is set for 7 p.m., with live radio coverage by the Husker Sports Network including free live audio on Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
Official Basketball Box Score Purdue vs Nebraska 01/19/15 6:02 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Purdue 9-9, 2-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 Clemons, Liza....... f 2-6 0-0 0-0 2 7 9 3 4 5 2 2 0 30 32 Bays, Whitney....... f 4-12 0-0 6-7 4 10 14 2 14 2 2 1 3 36 01 Morrissette, Ashley. g 3-11 0-4 0-0 0 1 1 0 6 3 3 0 0 35 24 Keys, Andreona...... g 3-5 1-1 0-0 2 1 3 1 7 0 4 0 0 26 25 Wilson, April....... g 7-9 3-4 3-4 0 6 6 3 20 3 3 0 1 33 04 Thornton, Torrie.... 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 3 0 1 12 10 Hamby, Hayden....... 2-9 2-5 0-0 1 1 2 5 6 1 2 0 0 21 22 Horrocks, Bree...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 TEAM................ 3 3 Totals.............. 22-58 6-15 9-11 12 27 39 17 59 14 19 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 12-32 37.5% Game: 37.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 81.8% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 14-3, 4-2 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Sample, Hailie...... f 6-10 0-0 3-4 1 2 3 3 15 1 1 1 0 38 23 Cady, Emily......... f 2-7 1-1 0-0 3 10 13 3 5 5 2 1 2 36 01 Laudermill, Tear'a.. g 5-10 0-3 0-0 0 4 4 3 10 1 1 0 1 29 13 Jeffery, Brandi..... g 5-8 0-2 3-4 1 5 6 1 13 2 0 0 2 29 33 Theriot, Rachel..... g 4-14 1-3 7-7 0 3 3 1 16 7 4 1 1 40 05 Romeo, Natalie...... 1-7 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 3 0 1 0 1 16 22 Havers, Allie....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 6 30 Smith, Chandler..... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 6 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 26-59 4-13 13-15 7 26 33 11 69 17 10 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-33 45.5% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 44.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 30.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 11-11 100 % Game: 86.7% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tina Napier, Denise Brooks, Michael Price Technical fouls: Purdue-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 5095 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Purdue........................ 24 35 - 59 Nebraska...................... 33 36 - 69