Lincoln - The Nebraska women’s basketball team gave Missouri all it could handle for 36 minutes, but the Tigers closed the game with a 14-2 run to produce a 69-54 win over the Huskers in front of 3,555 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday evening. With the loss, the Huskers fell to 12-10 overall and 2-7 in Big 12 Conference play, while the Tigers stayed in the hunt in the league race by improving to 13-7 overall and 4-5 in conference action.

Keasha Cannon and Katie Robinette both contributed double-doubles for the Huskers, while Shannon Howell led the Huskers with a team-high 16 points, including 14 points in the first half. Cannon scored 12 points and pulled down a team-high 11 boards for her fourth double-double of the season, while Robinette added 12 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year and second in Big 12 play.

While those three Huskers combined for 40 points, no other Husker scored more than five points in the loss.

Kerensa Barr led all scorers with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Evan Unrau contributed a double-double of her own with 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Natalie Bright added 11 points and five boards to round out a trio of Tigers in double figures.

The Huskers jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead, before Missouri erupted on a 17-5 burst to take a 20-13 lead with 9:38 left in the first half. The Huskers battled back, regaining the lead at 24-23 on Howell’s layup with 6:19 left in the half, before the Tigers responded with a 16-3 outburst in the final six minutes to hold a comfortable 39-27 halftime lead.

Missouri opened its biggest lead at 44-30 with 18:26 left in the game after a steal and layup by Barr. But the Huskers refused to give up, continually chipping away at the Tiger lead. After a Barr three-pointer gave MU a 55-45 edge, the Huskers went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:40 to close to within 55-52.

Stephanie Jones started the run with a putback, before Robinette followed with a putback of her own miss with 4:59 left to cut the lead to 55-49. Margaret Richards added a steal and a layup, before forcing another bad Tiger pass that led to Paige Sutton’s steal at halfcourt. Sutton drove strong to the hoop and was fouled from behind by Missouri’s Tracy Lozier, who was whistled for an intentional foul.

Sutton made one of two free throws to cut the lead to three points, while Nebraska maintained possession. Richards then missed a three-pointer off a set play, and Sutton grabbed the rebound but missed the putback and was called for a foul.

Unrau went to the line at the other end and made a pair of free throws to expand the MU lead to five points. Nebraska then missed three shots on their next possession, before Bright’s missed three-pointer fell into Sutton’s hands as she was falling out of bounds. Sutton called a timeout, but Nebraska had spent its last timeout with 5:37 left in the game, so the Huskers were whistled for a technical foul.

Barr, the nation’s leading free throw shooter, connected on both free throws, before adding a three-pointer to push the Tiger lead back to 10 points at 62-52 with 2:35 to play. Missouri scored seven more points to take its biggest lead of the night at 69-52 with 1:10 left in the game, before Greichaly Cepero ended the 14-0 Tiger run with a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left.

For the game, Nebraska shot just 32.8 percent (20-61) from the field, including just 14.3 percent (1-7) from three-point range, while connecting on 65.0 percent (13-20) of its free throws. The Huskers also committed 24 turnovers, including 15 in the first half, and were outrebounded, 47-45, by the Tigers. Missouri struggled from the field as well, connecting on just 33.3 percent (21-63) of its field goal attempts, but hit 36.8 percent (7-19) of its three-pointers, while connecting on 69.0 percent (20-29) of its free throws. MU committed 18 turnovers, including 13 in the second half.

The Huskers return to action Wednesday evening when they travel to No. 17 Colorado for an 8 p.m. contest with the Buffaloes. NU’s next home game is Sunday, Feb. 10, when No. 9 Kansas State comes to the Devaney Center for a 1 p.m. game televised live nationally by FOX Sports Net.

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