NU women top Iowa State
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
With barely eight minutes left in its game against Iowa State on Wednesday night, the Nebraska women’s basketball team had as many points from its All-Big 12 Conference forward Kelsey Griffin as reserve center Nikki Bober.
And the Huskers were up by 10 points.
No slight to Bober — whose six points represented her most in a league game — but that’s the kind of charmed life NU was living.
“A little win streak, a little momentum, playing well — that’s definitely the ideal situation going into the Big 12 tournament,” senior forward Danielle Page said after Nebraska followed up Sunday’s victory against Colorado by winning its regular-season finale 55-45 before 5,773 in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
By notching their first regular-season sweep of the Cyclones since 1995, the Huskers clinched a second straight 20-win season, sixth place in the Big 12 and quite likely a return to the NCAA Tournament.
Not bad for a team that before the season began was pegged by Big 12 coaches to finish ninth in the league standings.
“I think we can go there with nothing to lose,” NU coach Connie Yori said of the league tournament in Kansas City, Mo., where her club will open against Kansas at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. “You can play relaxed and not think, ‘Are we in (the NCAA field)?’ Now, let’s get one, improve our seeding. And if we get one, try and get two.“
It seemed apparent late in the first half Wednesday that Nebraska would be in that frame of mind when the final buzzer sounded.
NU was clinging to a 17-16 lead after Iowa State’s Heather Ezell nailed a three-pointer with 6:47 before halftime, but the Huskers scored the next six points to start a 12-2 run.
Sophomore guard Vonnie Turner, who scored 11 points to share team-high honors with Griffin, hit a pair of threes to start that spurt, and after Page canned a 17-footer, Turner stepped in front of a pass and took it in for a layup to make it 27-18 and force the Cyclones to call timeout with 3:13 left in the half.
The Huskers led 31-21 at the break, and after ISU got to 33-29 on a three-pointer by Alison Lacey with 15:01 left, NU put the Cyclones to bed with a 13-2 flurry.
Iowa State finished worse from inside the three-point line (9-for-30) than outside it (9-for-22), and also failed to get to the free-throw line — factors that contributed heavily to it leaving the Sports Center for a third straight time without cracking 50 points.
“To be honest with you, I’m amazed the game was as close as it was, at times,” Cyclones coach Bill Fennelly said. “It’s tough to win games when you don’t get anything around the basket.“
Iowa State (18-11, 7-9) was trying to pull into a sixth-place tie with Nebraska. Now, it’ll head to the Big 12 event as the No. 8 seed and might need to produce a couple wins, if not more, in Kansas City to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, NU (20-10, 9-7) will take a couple of care-ree days off before beginning to prepare for the postseason.
“Nebraska’s a very good team. That’s why they are where they are,” Fennelly said. “They’ll be an NCAA Tournament team.“
Briefly
Four members of the Nebraska women’s basketball team — senior Page, junior Griffin and sophomores Cory Montgomery and Kala Kuhlmann — earned first-team academic All-Big 12 honors.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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