NU women open with win
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By CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Kelsey Griffin caught one look at Xavier’s bulky 6-foot-6 center Ta’Shia Phillips and long, lean 6-5 forward Amber Harris, and thought about all the work she and her Nebraska teammates had put into conditioning and shooting.
Sure, the two-time all-Big 12 Conference junior forward recognized she and teammate Danielle Page would have to muscle up some on the low block while giving away considerable size. But what Griffin really understood was how the Huskers would have to try and turn Sunday’s NCAA Tournament opener into a track meet and also find their midrange shooting touch.
They did that almost from the start, racing to a double-digit lead in the first four minutes before needing to show their endurance while hanging on for a 61-58 victory in the Comcast Center.
“I was happy that my jumper was on,” said Griffin after hitting 10 of 17 shots en route to matching her season high of 26 points. “That’s the first time, probably since high school, that I’ve been able to shoot like that. I prefer to play with my back to the basket, but Xavier had some larger girls in there, so I knew that I may have to take my game outside.”
Fueled by Griffin, junior wing Tay Hester’s 13 points (her first double-digit performance in 12 games and one off her career high) and 12 from sophomore forward Cory Montgomery, Nebraska advanced in the NCAA Tournament for only the third time in school history. The Huskers (21-11) will now face Maryland (31-3), the No. 1 seed in the Spokane Regional, on its home court at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Terrapins pulled away from feisty Coppin State in the final 10 minutes to win 80-66.
While the 2006 national champions weren’t tickled over being given a tussle by a No. 16 seed, NU coach Connie Yori was ecstatic that her team earned a crack at the perennial power.
“Absolutely,” she said when asked whether the Huskers would celebrate the outcome. “How many wins do we have in the NCAA Tournament? Men’s and women’s basketball have three total in the history of our program — you’ve got to get excited.
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of work to do preparing for Maryland, but you can book in for an all-nighter in those situations.”
On Sunday, her club had the look of one set for a 40-minute effort.
With senior forward Danielle Page hitting a three-pointer on the game’s first possession — her only make in 10 first-half attempts — Nebraska broke to a 13-2 lead with only 3:41 running off the clock.
Hester, in her first NCAA game, also ignited her performance during that stretch by hitting just her fifth three-pointer of the season. Entering the game with a 6.4-point average, she turned up her aggression in the up-tempo pace and sank 4-of-6 first-half shots while scoring nine to help NU take a 30-20 lead into the break.
“I just know my strengths and, yeah, I can drive to the hole, but I’d rather drive when there’s three defenders than five,” the 5-10 Hester said. “In transition, I knew if they weren’t going to match up, then I had to run through.”
Considering Nebraska was 17-0 this season when holding a halftime edge, the Huskers were right where they wanted to be against the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament champions.
Nebraska eventually pushed its lead to 15 points. Then, after the Musketeers got to within eight on a jumper by Harris with 11:35 left, Montgomery canned back-to-back 17-footers.
NU appeared to be headed for an uneventful ending after a turnaround jumper by Griffin at the 4:49 mark left Nebraska up by 12. But the Huskers then went scoreless until Griffin hit a free throw with 47.2 seconds to go to make it 57-52.
After Xavier’s Tudy Reed missed a three-pointer, Hester was fouled on the rebound and sank a pair of free throws to make it a seven-point game. But the Musketeers (24-9) got a three-pointer from Jerri Taylor and, after Dominque Kelley got behind the press for a layup, Harris hit another deep three to make it a three-point game with 4.7 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Nebraska was able to inbound the ball to Griffin, who called time after being surrounded with 1.3 seconds to play. The Huskers came out of that to find Kelley near midcourt with a pass that allowed them to run out the clock.
“It was a really contradictory matchup,” Yori said. “We want to run, they want to play quarter-court, so it was really like who could control the game with their pace. And I felt like we did for a good portion.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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