Women's basketball overcome Creighton in close match

OMAHA - The Nebraska women's basketball team played Creighton tough at the Civic Auditorium on Monday night.

The Huskers escaped, winning 72-67. It was a back-and-forth game featuring 14 lead changes.

Sophomore Dominique Kelley led the scoring for NU with 16 points. Junior Yvonne Turner was arguably the Husker player of the game. She hit two 3-pointers late when NU trailed, tying the game at 63-63. To put the game out of reach for the Jays, Turner made two free throws with 21 seconds left as Nebraska moved to 2-0 on the season. CU fell to 0-2.

"You expect Yvonne to make those shots," Yori said. "She's not afraid to take them. I know that. It's nice to have a player that has that confidence."

The Cornhuskers got off to a fast start with a key 3-pointer by junior guard Nicole Neals. That made it a 6-2 NU lead five minutes into the game.

The Bluejays would find a shooting rhythm from the perimeter. Sophomore Kelsey Woodard and senior Michelle Kaus hit their own treys to trim the Husker lead to one before the 13-minute mark.

But NU senior Tay Hester responded with a field goal. Shortly after, Hester appeared to injure herself and came out of the game. Yori said Hester was not only in foul trouble, but she also sprained her back.

That meant everyone else needed to step up.

As the Bluejays and Huskers battled midway through the first half, CU actually took the lead around the 10:30 mark after a shot by Woodard. The Jays would not relinquish the lead for almost eight minutes as Nebraska couldn't find its shooting touch.

After a tough layup by sophomore Monique Whittaker, Nebraska regained the lead at the two-

minute mark.

Whittaker took over for the Huskers as the period dwindled down. The Onalaska, Texas, native had six points in the last four minutes of the half as NU looked to hold the lead.

With about 30 seconds left in the first half, the Creighton bench was given a technical foul. It appeared Coach Jim Flanery was whistled for coming too far onto the floor. After NU junior Kala Kuhlmann took the free-throws, Nebraska was hanging on to a narrow lead. CU could not do anything with the ball, and sophomore Kaitlyn Burke collected her only points of the half by nailing a deep 3-pointer as time expired.

"We were trying to run a different play, actually," Turner said. "It really didn't work out so we had to scramble and make a play. K.B. (Burke) was there to lift us."

All the players on the Husker bench jumped up and cheered for Burke as the team headed for the locker room with a 37-32 halftime lead.

Nebraska shot just 35 percent from the field in the first half. Junior Cory Montgomery had six rebounds for the Big Red in the first period but was 0-for-4 from the floor. Whittaker had a team-high 10 points and was five of six from the line. Kelley was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor and totaled seven points in the first period. Creighton did not fare any better shooting-wise, shooting only 37.5 percent from the field.

But the Jays would come out firing early in the second half, going on an 11-0 run to regain the lead and increase it to four points.

Hester did come back into the game, but saw limited action in the second half because of foul trouble.

Nebraska eventually took the lead again and began to play solid basketball. As the lead flip-flopped back and forth, play began to get physical as well. Several Huskers picked up their second and third fouls in the half, as did Creighton players.

At the 9:37 mark, CU's Kaus, who was 3-of-4 from 3-point range, went down hard and appeared to injure her knee. She lay there for a few moments in pain. Flanery said it was a tough loss for the Jays, as Kaus is one of only two seniors on the team. He said at that point, junior Chevelle Herring took over. Herring finished with a game-high 19 points. Yori also gave her condolences for Kaus, saying she knows how much it hurts to lose a great player.

Kelley, said going into the game, Yori told the team the game against Creighton was going to be a big rivalry.

"It's a chance for us to hold on to who the best team in the state is for one more year," Kelley said. "I thought Creighton brought their A game, and they really played us tough."

Kelley had injury problems late in the game as well. The Lincoln native said she wasn't hydrated properly and began cramping. Kelley said from that point on she was experiencing pain.

In the end, Turner's 3-point performance in the closing minutes and her clutch free-throws helped Nebraska remain undefeated in the young season.

Yori said the game was typical compared to years past.

"This is a very difficult game to play," Yori said. "There's a lot of depth and feeling that I have toward the Creighton people. It's really hard for me to come into this building where I played and coached, but at the same time we're going to try and win."

jeffstraub@dailynebraskan.com