2008–09 Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball team

2008-09 Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball
Conference Big Twelve
2008-09 record 15-16 (6-10 Big-12)
Head coach Connie Yori
Assistant coach Sunny Smallwood
Assistant coach Kellie Lewis-Jay
Assistant coach Tony Verdi
Home arena Devaney Center
200809 Big 12 women's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#3 Oklahoma 15 1   .938     28 4   .875
#7 Baylor† 12 4   .750     27 5   .844
#10 Texas A&M 11 5   .688     25 7   .781
#18 Iowa State 11 5   .688     24 8   .750
#22 Kansas State 10 6   .625     24 7   .774
#23 Texas 8 8   .500     21 11   .656
Kansas 6 10   .375     18 13   .581
Texas Tech 6 10   .375     16 15   .516
Nebraska 6 10   .375     15 15   .500
Oklahoma State 4 12   .250     16 15   .516
Missouri 4 12   .250     13 17   .433
Colorado 3 13   .188     11 18   .379
2009 Big 12 Tournament winner
As of March 14, 2009; Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008–09 Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball team represented the University of Nebraska in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cornhuskers were coached by Connie Yori. The Cornhuskers are a member of the Big 12 Conference and did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. Those hopes were tempered with the loss of two-time first-team All-Big 12 forward Kelsey Griffin to a season-ending ankle injury in late-August. Despite playing without Griffin, the Huskers fought their way to a 9-3 record early in the season that included a dramatic come-from-behind win over No. 24 Arizona State on Dec. 28. Nebraska, which had received votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 for five weeks, knocked off a Sun Devil squad that went on to advance to the 2009 NCAA Elite Eight. However, just days after defeating ASU, the Huskers took another hit inside with the loss of junior center Nikki Bober to a season-ending knee injury. Without two of their most experienced post players for a final non-conference game at five-time NCAA Final Four participant LSU, the Huskers closed non-conference play at 9-4 with all four setbacks coming to 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, including three on the road.

Roster

Number Name Height Position Class
5 Kaitlyn Burke1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) Guard Sophomore
11 Nicole Neals1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) Guard Junior
13 Kala Kuhlmann1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) Guard Junior
21 Harleen Sidhu1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Forward Freshman
22 Yvonne Turner1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) Guard Junior
23 Kelsey Griffin1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Forward Junior
24 Dominique Kelley1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) Guard Sophomore
35 Jessica Periago1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Center Sophomore
40 Cory Montgomery1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Forward Junior
42 Nikki Bober1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Center Junior
44 Catheryn Redmon1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Center Sophomore

Schedule [1]

Exhibitions

Date Location Opponent Score Record
Oct. 31 Devaney Center Chadron State 102-30 1-0
Nov. 5 Nebraska-Kearney Grand Island, NE (Heartland Events Center) 80-69 2-0

Regular season

Date Location Opponent Score Record
Nov. 14 Devaney Center Weber State 96-47 1-0
Nov. 17 Omaha, NE Creighton 72-67 2-0
Nov. 22 Devaney Center Southern Utah 65-57 3-0
Nov. 24 Denver, CO Denver 76-55 4-0
Nov. 28 Albuquerque, NM Butler 67-54 5-0
Nov. 29 Albuquerque, NM New Mexico 51-62 5-1
Dec. 2 Devaney Center Oral Roberts 70-51 6-1
Dec. 6 Devaney Center #18 Ohio State 65-69 6-2
Dec. 9 Devaney Center Cal State Bakersfield 70-57 7-2
Dec. 12 Devaney Center Long Beach State 76-44 8-2
Dec. 20 El Paso, TX UTEP 53-63 8-3
Dec. 28 Devaney Center #24 Arizona State 62-58 9-3
Jan. 1 Baton Rouge, LA LSU 50-64 9-4
Jan. 10 Devaney Center #4 Oklahoma 56-77 9-5
Jan. 14 Austin, TX #16 Texas 60-74 9-6
Jan. 17 Columbia, MO Missouri 66-67 9-7
Jan. 21 Devaney Center Kansas 67-58 10-7
Jan. 24 Devaney Center Iowa State 48-62 10-8
Jan. 27 Manhattan, KS #14 Kansas State 40-51 10-9
Jan. 31 Boulder, CO Colorado 73-75 10-10
Feb. 4 Devaney Center #8 Baylor 71-76 10-11
Feb. 8 College Station, TX #10 Texas A&M 43-86 10-12
Feb. 14 Devaney Center Texas Tech 62-56 11-12
Feb. 18 Ames, IA #21 Iowa State 38-61 11-13
Feb. 21 Devaney Center Missouri 65-52 12-13
Feb. 25 Devaney Center #20 Kansas State 52-47 13-13
Feb. 28 Lawrence, KS Kansas 57-70 13-14
Mar. 3 Devaney Center Colorado 75-64 14-14
Mar. 7 Stillwater, OK Oklahoma State 82-74 15-14

Postseason

Big 12 Tournament

National Invitation Tournament

Player stats

Player Games Played Minutes Field Goals Three Pointers Free Throws Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals Points
Cory Montgomery 31 990 176 23 95 241 33 8 19470
Yvonne Turner 31 869 119 57 69 106 57 867 364
Dominique Kelly 31 814 96 22 87 101 76 125 301
Tay Hester 31 627 70 1 37 129 40 323 178
Catheryn Redmon 31 719 70 0 38 172 9 6720 178
Monique Whittaker 9 74 8 5 16 13 1 0 237
Kaitlyn Burke 31 638 48 23 4 39 45 0 16123
Nicole Neals 31 467 35 25 3 28 42 0 10 98
Kala Kuhlmann 31 426 34 8 10 46 32 0 1486
Jessica Periago 24 228 19 5 6 38 5 6 349
Nikki Bober 12 134 8 0 7 34 8 8 123
Harleen Sidhu 25 214 9 2 0 41 0 1 8 20

[2]

Highlights

Team

[3]

Individual

Awards and honors

Eight Nebraska women's basketball players claimed spots on the Big 12 Commissioner's Spring Academic Honor Roll. Nikki Bober, Kala Kuhlmann and Harleen Sidhu posted perfect 4.0 GPAs. Bober, Kuhlmann and Sidhu were joined on the spring honor roll by teammates Kaitlyn Burke, Kelsey Griffin, Cory Montgomery, Nicole Neals and Jessica Periago.[9]

Team players drafted into the WNBA

No one from the Huskers was selected in the 2009 WNBA Draft.[10]

References