Nov. 28, 2006
Box Score
The Lady Broncs move to a 1-1 all-time record against the University of Nebraska as the Cornhuskers dominated UTPA by a score of 77-37 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, NE, on Tuesday (Nov. 28).
"We came up against a really talent and athletic team tonight," said head coach DeAnn Craft. "We struggled in the first half, but we really rebounded in the second half even though the score doesn't really show it. We battled them tough on the boards and tied them in rebounds. They were a really explosive team, and it showed,."
The Huskers opened the game with a 9-0 run on a trio of three-pointers in the opening two minutes of action. The Lady Broncs didn't have an answer for the Nebraska defense in the opening minutes as their first score came on LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) jumper with 16:53 to play in the first half, making the score 9-2.
Kiera Hardy hit her third three-pointer of the night with 14:16 remaining in the half to move her to ninth all-time in the Big 12 Conference in three-point shots made. Harding's trey would make it an 18-4 game.
The Lady Broncs trailed by 26 points twice early in the game, but Nebraska continued to apply defensive pressure as the Lady Broncs came back from double-digit deficits twice in their previous two games to make them one-possession contests.
The Lady Broncs would go into intermission down by 33 points as Gray hit two free-throws to close out scoring in the opening stanza, with the score 49-16. Gray scored 12 of the Lady Broncs' 16 points with 4-of-5 shooting and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe as UTPA shot their lowest first-half percentage of the season with 23 percent on 6-26 shooting.
The story of the first half was the Nebraska defense, which forced 17 turnovers while scoring 22 points on the Lady Bronc miscues. Offensively, the Huskers shot 57 percent on 16-28 from the field in the first 20 minutes of play.
Nebraska came back from the break right where they left off as they increased the Husker lead to 44 in just over three minutes of play in the second half on a Cory Montgomery lay-up at the 16:39 mark with the score 60-16.
Montgomery would finish as game's leading scorer with 18 points on 5-9 shooting, including 8-10 from the foul line.
The Lady Broncs would have their biggest run of the game as they went on a 6-0 rally at the 13:45 mark on a Gray jumper in the second half to make the score 62-22.
UTPA would finish the game on a 13-10 rally, but the Nebraska defense would be too much for the Lady Broncs.
Gray would be the high-scorer for the Lady Broncs with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, matching her career-high.
The Lady Broncs would shoot a season-low 28 percent from the field to the Husker's 52 percent on the night. The battle on the boards was an even 37-37, but the difference would come in the turnover battle as the Lady Broncs were outscored 22-0 on points off turnovers in the opening stanza.
The loss drops the Lady Broncs to 3-4 on the season as they head to Colorado Springs to take part in the Air Force Academy Tournament on Friday (Dec. 1) in game four of their six-game road trip with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. against Western Michigan.
UTPA Sports Information
