DENVER The University of Denver women’s basketball team fell to the visiting Nebraska Cornhuskers 76-55 at Magness Arena on Monday night.

 

Redshirt sophomore forward Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.) led Denver (1-2) with 12 points, three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Junior forward Ashly Robinson (Bloomington, Minn.) posted 10 points and five rebounds.

 

Nebraska (4-0) saw four players score in double digits. Cory Montgomery led all players with 20 points, while Yvonne Turner posted 15 and both Tay Hester and Kala Kuhlmann had 11.

 

“Nebraska is a very good basketball team, and they are very well-coached,” head coach Erik Johnson said. “We saw the halftime adjustments they made. They really did not allow us to run our offense in the second half. I have to give Nebraska credit. They really had a great game plan and scouted us well.”

 

Denver capped a 6-2 run with a jumper by senior forward Sara Bents (Billings, Mont.) to end the first half and send both to the locker rooms with the Cornhuskers clinging to a 33-32 halftime lead.

 

The Pioneers shot 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from the field in the opening half compared to the Cornhuskers’ 11-of-31 (35.5 percent). Senior guard Andie Mason (Gilbert, Ariz.) shot .500 from behind the arc, hitting 2-of-4 from three-point range in the first half.

 

A Celena Otero (Aurora, Colo.) free throw tied the score at 33 to open the second half. The teams then exchanged lay-ups to reach 35-35. However, the Cornhuskers jumped on a 10-0 run, including five points from Hester, to take a 45-35 with 16:07 remaining.

 

The Pioneers came within seven at 49-42 with 10:56 to play on four straight points by Otero, but the Cornhuskers answered with a 6-0 run and extended their lead to 13 at 55-42.

 

Nebraska used an 11-2 run to climb to a 20-point lead at 69-49 with 4:14 remaining and maintained at least an 18-point lead for the rest of the game.

 

DU shot 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from the field in the second half, while the Cornhuskers went 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) in field goals. The exclamation point on Nebraska’s shooting was a school record 18-of-18 from the free-throw line. The Pioneers sunk 9-of-15 free throws for the game.

 

Denver begins a three-game road stretch with a 1 p.m. (MT) tip-off against Creighton on Sunday, Nov. 30, and will continue on the road to face Colorado State on Dec. 3 and Columbia on Dec. 6.

 

 

- PIONEERS -