The Nebraska women's basketball team drained a school record 12 three-pointers to help defeat the Weber State Wildcats 96-47 on Friday night.
NU had five players score in double figures, including junior forward Cory Montgomery, guard Kala Kuhlmann and sophomore guard Monique Whittaker, who each contributed 13 points in the victory.
The three-point attack was led by sophomore guard Kaitlyn Burke, who was 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and finished the night with 12 points, four assists and three steals.
"It's a good start for us," NU Coach Connie Yori said. "Anytime you make shots like we did, you look a little bit better. The ball was going in, our ball movement at this stage of the game was pretty good and considerably better than it was against UNK."
At the end of the night, the Huskers shot a staggering 55.4 percent from the field.
However, as good as the offense was, it all started with NU's defense.
The Huskers pressured Weber State into 13 first half turnovers and held the Wildcats to a 3-21 shot ratio in the first half. All of Weber State's field goals in the half came from junior guard Tonya Schnibbe, who finished with 12 points.
Nebraska's defensive effort was led by junior guard Yvonne Turner, who collected four steals and helped hold Weber State to a 19.6 shooting percentage on the night, the second lowest in school history.
"I think it was our disruption and also we play basically 12, 13 players and we kept bringing fresh legs at them," Turner said. "(Schnibbe) played 34 minutes and so just playing (pressure) defense wore them down."
Despite NU's good fortune on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, two areas that caused a bit of concern for Yori were rebounds and fouls.
While the Huskers out-rebounded the Wildcats 42-36, Weber State had the edge on the offensive boards, out-rebounding NU 14-8. As a team, the Huskers committed 23 fouls to Weber State's 14 and the Wildcats converted 24 of 30 free throw attempts.
Without senior forward Kelsey Griffin in the lineup, Nebraska has had to restructure its offensive game plan the past couple of weeks by kicking the ball out to the guards on the perimeter.
With their success Friday night, Yori praised her team's effort.
"We basically changed our offense the last 10 days and I thought our players picked it up pretty well," Yori said. "We executed what we were looking to do reasonably well for this stage of the year."
Last year, Turner and Burke combined for 70 of Nebraska's 141 three point field goals, with both players shooting better than 30 percent from three-point range.
"If anyone has an open shot on the team, we're going to take it," Burke said. "The biggest thing for us is just shooting with confidence and knowing we can hit the open shots."
Yori said the dynamics of the floor and dominance at the post hasn't given NU's increasingly post-oriented offense much time to shoot the three-ball.
However, Yori explained that when Griffin returns to the line-up, the game plan reverts back to the post.
"Our players know how good Kelsey is," Yori said. "If and when she gets back we're going to throw the ball inside to her and allow her opportunities. But, we're going to be aggressive on the perimeter."
nickfilipowski@dailynebraskan.com
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