Print Email

By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State's women got halfway to making their senior day one to remember.

But Nebraska didn't cruise through the regular season unbeaten by pushing the panic button.

The No. 3-ranked Cornhuskers started the second half with an 18-3 surge and held on to spoil Ashley Sweat and Kari Kincaid's home finale, thwarting the Wildcats' upset bid, 82-72, Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.

"We've been in situations similar -- not that exact situation, but similar situations -- being down on the road," said Nebraska senior forward Kelsey Griffin, who scored 20 of her career-high 36 points in the second half to lead the Cornhusker comeback. "We were just thankful that we had a half left instead of two minutes."

In reality, all it took was two minutes for the Huskers (30-0, 16-0) to erase a 45-38 halftime deficit -- they trailed by as many as 11 late in the first period -- and tie it at 45-all on Griffin's three-point play with 18:16 left.

Two K-State turnovers and Yvonne Turner's transition layups completed the 11-point Nebraska run, and the Wildcats never led again.

"Probably the two biggest areas for us, was the fact that we came out at the beginning of the second half and went on that stretch where we were about 1 for 11 on the offensive end and also sort of opened the floodgate to points off turnovers to Nebraska early in that second half," said K-State coach Deb Patterson, whose Wildcats finished the regular season at 13-17 overall, 5-11 in the Big 12. "Combine those two against the No. 3 team in the country, and the climb gets very, very tough."

The Wildcats built their first-half lead with torrid shooting, especially from behind the 3-point line, where they went 8 of 12 before the break. They hit just 2 of 11 the rest of the way and turned the ball over 11 times in the second period as Nebraska turned up its defensive pressure.

"K-State played really well in the first half on offense, and we had to find a way to stop the bleeding," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. "We needed to increase the tempo of the game and take some things away."

In addition to Griffin, who also had seven rebounds, the Huskers got 13 points from forward Cory Montgomery and 10 from guard Lindsey Moore. The Huskers shot 56.3 percent in the second half and 53.2 for the game.

Sweat, who was honored along with Kincaid in a pregame ceremony, had 24 points in her final home game. Taelor Karr added 16 points and Brittany Chambers 13, while Kincaid finished her home career with seven points on 3 of 5 shooting.

The Wildcats pulled away for the first time in the first half with an 11-0 surge that included three straight 3-pointers -- two by Sweat and another by Karr -- for a 24-17 advantage. After Nebraska came back to tie it at 29, they used another 11-point spurt to make it 40-29 on 3-pointers by Karr and Chambers, plus a Branshea Brown free throw at the 3:30 mark.

"It was so amazing, that first half," Sweat said. "There was a lot of emotion when we talked in the locker room, and I'm just so happy at the improvements that we've made over the last couple of games.

"I think getting that win at Colorado (on Wednesday) was so big for us."

But in the end it was Griffin, who returned for her senior season after missing last year with a knee injury, and Nebraska's defense that won out.

"We just made play after play on defense, and then once we got the lead, for a while it was the Kelsey Griffin show," Yori said. "It just goes to show how great a player she is.

"She just willed us to that win."

The next step for both teams is the Big 12 Tournament, which gets under way Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

Discuss This Story:

Email this story to a friend:

Subject:

Recipient:

Sender's email (required):



Enter text seen above: