Feb. 4, 2009
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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Baylor bounced back from consecutive home losses, pulling out a close win at Nebraska.
The eighth-ranked Bears nearly squandered all of a 15-point lead in the second half Wednesday night before Kelli Griffin hit six free throws in the last 2:33 to finish a career-high 14-point performance in a 76-71 victory over the struggling Cornhuskers.
The win was the Bears' first in Lincoln in three tries and came after close losses to No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 16 Texas.
"We weren't exactly coming off an emotional high," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "We understood that we very easily could have lost this game tonight as well. When you go on the road and you're heartbroken a little bit, you have to learn how to regroup and respond. I felt we had a lot of production from a lot of different players."
Danielle Wilson and Jessica Morrow also scored 14 points and freshman Ashley Field had a season-high 12 in her first start for Baylor (18-3, 6-2 Big 12).
The Huskers went without a field goal for more than 10 minutes spanning halftime but still made it close.
Kaitlyn Burke banked in a 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds left to pull the Huskers to 74-71. Then Griffin, who had 8 points in the last 3 minutes, finished a 10-for-10 night at the free-throw line to make it a five-point game with 7.8 seconds left.
Nebraska (10-11, 1-7) lost its fourth straight game and ninth in its last 11. The Huskers, who got 22 points and a career-high 14 rebounds from Cory Montgomery, are under .500 in February for the first time since 2002-03.
"It gets frustrating because you play a game so close and you end up on the short end of it," Montgomery said. "We have to keep our morale high and know that the competition we're playing is tough. We're playing in the toughest conference in the United States right now."
Nebraska used a 13-2 spurt to pull to 54-50 midway through the second half. Yvonne Turner broke the nearly 10 1/2-minute field-goal drought with a 3-pointer and scored seven of her 17 points during the run.
Baylor got the lead back to 10 points, but Turner hit another 3 to pull Nebraska to 62-58, and the Huskers stayed close the rest of the way.
Griffin scored her only field goal of the second half on a twisting shots with under a minute left to put the Bears up by six. She adjusted her shot when Montgomery blocked her path.
"I was trying to drive middle but she cut me off," Griffin said. "I took it up there and prayed it would go in."
The 6-foot-2 Field provided a spark in her 18 minutes. She scored 8 points in her nine first-half minutes. She was on the bench for almost 11 minutes before re-entering with 4 minutes left in the game. She put back a miss for a 68-62 lead, made a big rebound on the other end and blocked Burke's shot.
Mulkey tinkered with the lineup because of Rachel Allison's recent shooting slump. Junior Morghan Medlock started in Allison's place against Texas but went 0-for-5.
So against Nebraska Mulkey went with Field, who had played a total of 9 minutes in seven Big 12 games. She wasn't even on Nebraska's scouting report.
"You always hang in there with upperclassmen until you feel the time may be right to give another kid an opportunity," Mulkey said. "Ashley Field got that opportunity tonight and I thought she did fine."
Allison, 3-of-29 from the field in the previous five games, scored 10 points. The preseason All-Big 12 pick entered in the middle of the first half and made three of her first four shots and 4-for-8 for the night.
"I thought she slowed down and gave us some production," Mulkey said. "She's a senior and she's going to respond. She just needs to not press so hard."
