Lincoln - Playing without starting senior guards Rachel Theriot and Kyndal Clark, Nebraska could not muster enough offense in a 68-50 women's basketball loss to Purdue on Sunday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Huskers, who slipped to 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Big Ten, announced that Clark's playing career at Nebraska was likely over because of extreme pain in her knees. Clark, who missed nearly all of her fourth season with a knee injury at Drake in 2015 after being named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2014, had started Nebraska's first 26 games this season. However, the last three games she averaged less than 18 minutes per contest. She has battled pain throughout the season, but it was determined on Saturday following practice that she would be unable to continue the rest of the season.
Theriot, who has been limited in practice for more than a month by an ankle injury but has started 12 of NU's 16 conference games, was scratched on Sunday morning at the start of shoot-around. Theriot aggravated the injury Thursday at Ohio State. She has been day-to-day for more than a month.
The absence of Theriot and Clark removed both Nebraska's starting and backup point guard from its regular rotation, leaving the Huskers little room to adjust against the Boilermakers, who improved to 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Big Ten. Purdue avenged a 62-61 loss to the Huskers in West Lafayette, Ind., on Jan. 20.
Sophomore Jasmine Cincore and freshman Maddie Simon each earned the second career starts in place of Theriot and Clark.
Sophomore Natalie Romeo hit a trio of threes for Nebraska to become the first player in Husker history to hit 90 three-pointers in a season on her way to a team-high 15 points. Her third three of the game pulled Nebraska within 40-35 with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
But Purdue responded from Nebraska's rally to score 11 straight points and eventually take a 53-37 lead into the fourth quarter. The short-handed Huskers were never able to recover.
Anya Kalenta, a 6-3 forward from Minsk, Belarus who was the only active senior on Nebraska's roster on Sunday, added 13 points including her first three-pointer of the season to boost the Huskers in 16 minutes off the bench. Kalenta hit 5-of-7 shots from the field and both of her free throws while adding a pair of rebounds and a block.
Junior center Allie Havers added 12 points, three rebounds and three blocked shots to give the Huskers three players in double figures. Havers hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor and both of her free throws.
While Kalenta and Havers combined for 25 points and 10-of-15 shooting, freshman forward Jessica Shepard managed just two points on 1-of-9 shooting. Shepard added five rebounds and a trio of assists.
Cincore and Simon combined for six points, three assists, three steals and three rebounds on 2-of-10 shooting.
As a team, Nebraska hit just 35.8 percent (19-53) of its shots from the floor, including 4-of-13 threes. The Huskers connected on 8-of-11 free throws.
Ashley Morrissette led Purdue with 19 points, while April Wilson added 13 points for the Boilermakers. Andreona Keys added a terrific all-around effort from the wing with eight points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks.
Purdue hit 46.9 percent (30-64) of its shots from the field, including 3-of-11 threes. The Boilermakers also connected on 5-of-6 free throws. Purdue outrebounded Nebraska 45-26, but the Huskers won the turnover battle 17-16.
Nebraska continues its regular season-ending home stand on Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena when the Huskers take on Indiana. Tip-off between the Huskers and Hoosiers is set for 7 p.m., with tickets available now at Huskers.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
Purdue vs Nebraska
02/21/16 2:02 p.m at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Purdue 17-10, 8-8 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 04 Thornton, Torrie.... f 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 2 6 4 4 2 4 2 1 16 01 Morrissette, Ashley. g 7-12 2-6 3-3 0 1 1 0 19 2 1 1 2 28 13 Perry, Bridget...... g 3-10 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 3 6 0 2 0 1 24 24 Keys, Andreona...... g 4-10 0-1 0-0 8 2 10 1 8 6 3 2 4 30 25 Wilson, April....... g 6-14 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 13 2 2 0 1 39 03 Murphy, Tiara....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 10 Hamby, Hayden....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 12 Kiesler, Nora....... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 1 1 9 20 McBryde, Dominique.. 4-8 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 0 8 1 1 1 0 14 22 Horrocks, Bree...... 3-3 0-0 2-2 1 4 5 1 8 1 0 0 0 15 TEAM................ 5 3 8 3 Totals.............. 30-64 3-11 5-6 18 27 45 14 68 14 17 7 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-35 40.0% 2nd Half: 16-29 55.2% Game: 46.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 27.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 83.3% 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 17-10, 8-8 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 22 Havers, Allie....... f 5-8 0-0 2-2 2 1 3 1 12 0 1 2 0 22 24 Simon, Maddie....... f 1-5 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 1 4 2 3 1 0 27 32 Shepard, Jessica.... c 1-9 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 0 2 3 2 0 0 24 05 Romeo, Natalie...... g 5-18 3-10 2-2 0 3 3 2 15 1 2 0 2 40 34 Cincore, Jasmine.... g 1-5 0-1 0-1 1 1 2 1 2 1 5 0 4 35 11 Ramacieri, Esther... 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 2 0 4 2 0 0 17 12 Wood, Emily......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 31 Kalenta, Anya....... 5-7 1-1 2-2 1 1 2 0 13 0 0 1 0 16 43 Blackburn, Rachel... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 4 2 0 1 2 1 18 TEAM................ 4 4 Totals.............. 19-53 4-13 8-11 9 17 26 12 50 11 16 6 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-24 33.3% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 35.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 30.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 72.7% 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Billy Smith, Bruce Morris, Tiffany Bird Technical fouls: Purdue-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 5671 Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Purdue........................ 17 13 23 15 - 68 Nebraska...................... 11 10 16 13 - 50