Nebraska women’s basketball saw its 31-28 halftime lead quickly evaporate after Kansas went on an 18-2 run early in the second half.
The Cornhuskers never recovered, falling 70-57 to the Jayhawks.
NU slipped to 13-14 overall and 4-10 in the Big 12 Conference.
“That was a tough one,” said NU coach Connie Yori. “We’re really disappointed that we couldn’t get this one done.”
NU junior Cory Montgomery started heating up five minutes in, scoring six quick points to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 17-8.
Montgomery scored 20 points and added nine rebounds in her fifth 20-point effort in league play this season.
Jayhawk forward Nicollette Smith did her best to keep NU at bay, draining three 3-pointers in a 10-minute span in the first period.
The Huskers fought back, and narrowed the KU lead to one when sophomore Catheryn Redmon hit a layup with 3:27 to go until halftime. The next play, sophomore Kaitlyn Burke dished down low to Redmon for another easy basket, and Nebraska took a 29-28 lead with 2:20 to go.
Redmon had 10 points and four boards. She also had two blocks, giving her 53 on the year.
For 30 minutes, the Huskers managed to fight and take a three-point lead to the locker room.
However, KU came out in the second half ready to grab a win at home.
Junior Yvonne Turner did not look like herself all night. The Omaha native made several attempts to score but only managed three points on a trey late in the game.
Yori said without all of the players performing to their potential, the task of beating Kansas became more difficult.
“That’s what I told our kids in the locker room,” Yori said. “We’ve got to get some production out of some other people. Yvonne goes 1-for-10, Kaitlyn goes 0-for-4 and Tay (Hester) goes 0-for-5.
“There’s three kids that are experienced guards for us, and none of them contributed offensively.”
Jayhawk junior Danielle McCray, who had a team-high 18 points, connected for a bucket on the first possession of the second half, and Nebraska committed a shot clock violation shortly after.
Unfortunately, this foreshadowed a poor second half for the Husker women.
After junior Nicole Neals hit a field goal to tie the game at 37, the Jayhawks took over and scored on multiple possessions. KU went on an 18-2 scoring run, highlighted by junior Sade Morris scoring six points.
The Huskers’ last hurrah came from Montgomery, who nailed another 3-pointer with seven minutes left to cut the Kansas lead to 11. But the Jayhawks weren’t deterred and went on to win their fifth game in conference.
Nebraska shot 40 percent from the field to Kansas’ 46 percent.
The most impressive KU statistic might have been its 24 points off 17 Nebraska turnovers.
Yori said after this loss the Huskers need to think about how they want to end their season.
“We said we had to get this one to keep our hopes alive,” she said. “Things have changed a little bit here, and we’ve got to regroup and maybe redefine our goals.”
jeffstraub@dailynebraskan.com
NU women's basketball team falls to Jayhawks 70-57
Published: Monday, March 2, 2009
Updated: Monday, March 2, 2009
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