Women's Basketball 2001

Huskers Lose to No. 24 Lady Bears, 77-57

Feb. 24, 2001

Lincoln--The Nebraska women’s basketball team led No. 24 Baylor for 18 minutes of the first half, but the Lady Bears pulled away in the second half and cruised to a 77-57 win in front of 5,150 fans on Senior Night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday.

With the loss, the Huskers fell to 12-16 overall and 4-11 in Big 12 Conference play, while Baylor improved to 19-7 and 8-7 in the league.

The Huskers played well to open the game, racing to a 24-16 lead after Stephanie Jones’ jumper with 9:29 left in the first half. At that point, the Huskers had hit 10-of-21 field goals and committed just two turnovers, while forcing nine turnovers by the Lady Bears.

But the Huskers went cold the rest of the half, going scoreless for 5:33 until Greichaly Cepero’s jumper with 3:56 left in the half. Despite the Huskers’ lack of offensive production, they still owned a 26-22 lead after Cepero’s basket. Baylor captured its first lead of the half at 28-27 on Sheila Lambert’s jumper with 1:39 left, before Amanda Cleveland connected on her first field goal of the season to give the Huskers a 29-28 lead. The Lady Bears took the lead for good on Brooke McCormack’s jumper with 1:16 left.

The Lady Bears owned a 35-31 lead at the half and quickly pushed the lead to 39-31 less than a minute into the second half, and were not threatened the rest of the way.

After shooting well through the first 10 minutes, Nebraska hit just 11 of its last 43 shots (25.6 percent) from the field, while committing 17 turnovers in the final 30 minutes.

Freshman guard Shannon Howell led the Huskers with 11 points, including a career-high three three-pointers. Howell added a career-high six steals to go along with five assists. Cepero added 10 points, five rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots, while Jones gave the Huskers three players in double figures with 10 points and four boards. Senior center Casey Leonhardt, who picked up her third foul with 14:23 left in the first half, managed just five points and seven rebounds for the Huskers.

Lambert led all scorers with 22 points, eight assists, five steals and four rebounds, while Danielle Crockrom added 14 points and 14 rebounds inside for the Lady Bears. McCormack added a career-high 12 points, six rebounds and five assists in a solid performance off the bench after Crockrom struggled with foul trouble in the first half.

Baylor shot 43.9 percent (29-66) from the field, including 40 percent (2-5) from three-point range, while hitting 70.8 percent (17-24) of its free throw attempts. Nebraska hit just 32.8 percent (21-64) of its field goal attempts for the game, including a dismal 22.2 percent (4-18) from three-point range. The Huskers connected on 68.8 percent (11-16) of their free throws. Baylor outrebounded Nebraska, 53-34, for NU’s largest rebounding deficit (-19) of the season.

The Huskers and Lady Bears each committed 19 turnovers on the night.

Nebraska concludes the 2000-01 regular season by traveling to Stillwater, Okla., to tangle with the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m., as the Huskers and Cowgirls play the second game of a men’s and women’s doubleheader, which will begin with the Oklahoma State men playing host to Baylor at 6 p.m.

Source: University of Nebraska Sports Information