[InBoWeTrust]

The first sellout crowd for a Nebraska women’s basketball game at the Devaney Sports Center was treated to a beat-the-traffic-on-the-way-out kind of contest.

Unlike their Feb. 13 game at Missouri two weeks ago, when they needed to score the final 10 points to pull out a win, the third-ranked Huskers used a late first-half run to build a double-digit lead, then cruised to a 67-51 victory that left them 27-0 this season.

Despite the outcome being decided long before the end, most in the crowd of 13,595 stuck around to watch NU celebrate the presentation of the Big 12 championship it clinched Wednesday at Oklahoma.

As has become habit, those folks also witnessed another monster performance from senior forward Kelsey Griffin.

A candidate for national player of the year, Griffin had her seventh straight double-double and 17th of the season by scoring 19 points and pulling down a career-high 17 rebounds. She also had a career-best five blocks.

On a night when she suffered the worst shooting performance of her career (1-for-10), Griffin got all but two of her points by hitting a school-record 17 free throws (on 18 attempts).

“I actually wasn’t aware my night was this bad until (now). But whether I’m feeling it or the ball’s not going in, I just try to let the game come to me,” Griffin said. “I’m fortunate to play with four other scorers on the floor, so there’s no need for me to play outside of myself.

“My role, I guess, tonight was free throws and rebounds. Other people had good shooting nights and that’s why I love playing on this team.”

Nebraska, which posted its 22nd win by double digits, got 15 points from senior guard Vonnie Turner and 11 from junior guard Dominique Kelley.

Leading by just five points, NU finished the first half with an 8-0 run, then scored the first five points of the second half to send the Tigers to their 13th loss in 14 Big 12 games.

It also left NU coach Connie Yori, after appreciative words to the crowd, giving her bunch the ultimate salute, telling them, “You guys are the champs, let’s go cut down some nets.”

While Yori didn’t get a totally crisp performance from a club that shot just 40.8 percent and committed 21 turnovers, she saw a much different effort at the other end of the floor than the game in Columbia.

The 78 points Missouri scored in that contest was the second-highest total the Huskers have allowed all season. But Saturday, Nebraska did a much better job switching off screens against an opponent that entered having averaged just 49.5 points over six Big 12 road games.

“Mostly, we just talked about the fact that we weren’t really true to our system in Columbia,” Kelley said. “We play what we call ‘15’ defense and (doing) it (better) allowed us to get up more in the passing lanes and take them more out of what they try to do.”

Nebraska also kept the Tigers at bay with a plus 16 rebounding margin. In the first half, the teams were even on the boards.

“It was nice to have a reasonably nice lead at halftime, and we cleaned up the defensive glass in the second half,” Yori said. “Hopefully we can play better Wednesday.”

That’s when the Huskers play Kansas in their final home game of the season. Nebraska then closes the regular season with a game at Kansas State on Saturday afternoon.

“It would be a terrific way to end our season if we can win these last two games,” Yori said.

Husker women give record crowd a big treat

[huskernation]

That's awesome! I don't follow any other sports besides football at Nebraska, but this is an amazing season for their team. Love to see the Big Red doing well in other sports.