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Northern Arizona
Dec. 10, 2011
 
Hooper and Moore have big game in 97-88 double-overtime win vs Northern Arizona
 
Flagstaff, Ariz. — Jordan Hooper and Lindsey Moore became the first Husker teammates in history to score 30 or more points in the same game to lead the Nebraska women's basketball team to a 97-88 double-overtime victory at Northern Arizona on Saturday afternoon.

Nebraska improved to 9-1 with the victory, which marked the Huskers' first true road overtime victory since a 73-68 win at Missouri on Jan. 19, 1996. It was just the second double-overtime road victory in school history, joining a 98-88 win at Notre Dame on Feb. 25, 1982.

Hooper and Moore both scored 25 points after halftime. The Huskers dropped Northern Arizona to 5-5 while handing the Lumberjacks their first loss of the season at the Rolle Activity Center.

Hooper, a 6-2 sophomore forward from Alliance, Neb., produced the second 30-point effort of her career with a career-high 32, while adding eight rebounds and a career-high four steals.

Moore, a 5-9 junior point guard from Covington, Wash., added the second 30-point effort of her career by finishing with 31 points. She added nine assists, six rebounds and three steals in 42 minutes of action.

In the final eight minutes of regulation and the two overtimes, Moore had 22 points and six assists, with a hand in all but five of Nebraska's final 43 points.

Nebraska's dynamic duo carried the Huskers to their third true road win of the season by combining for 41 consecutive points in the final eight minutes of regulation and first nine minutes of overtime.

"Both teams made a ton of big shots in the second half," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "Lindsey and Jordan made play after play after play late in the second half and in the overtimes. We needed every one of them to win. We had to be mentally tough to win that game, and we were. I'm not surprised at all by the outcome of that game. I thought it would be close and come right down to the wire. I don't know if I expected it to go overtime, but I'm glad we won."

The Huskers led 54-49 after a pair of free throws by Kaitlyn Burke with 9:09 left in the game, before Trinidee Trice sparked a 7-0 run over the next minute with a three-pointer to cut NU's lead to two. Khrya Conerly and Amy Patton added back-to-back baskets to give Northern Arizona its first lead of the game at 56-54 with 8:07 left. All three of those Lumberjacks finished in double figures, as Patton scored 12 points and Conerly and Trice added 11 apiece.

Enter Moore, who had scored just nine points through the game's first 32 minutes before tying the game at 56 with her layup with 7:48 left. She added another layup 38 seconds later to give NU the lead back at 58-56.

From there the two teams traded big plays in a game where the score was tied 13 times and the lead changed hands 14 times after halftime.

Amanda Frost, who came off the bench to score a team-high 24 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting, hit a jumper to give Northern Arizona its largest lead of the game at 62-58 with 4:27 left.

Moore then hit back-to-back layups again to tie the game at 62. After a Trice three-pointer, Moore got Hooper involved by finding her with an assist on a layup with 1:57 left to cut NAU's lead to 65-64. In the game's first 38 minutes, Hooper had scored 13 points.

Following a Conerly free throw, Moore connected on a three of her own to give the Huskers a slim 67-66 lead. But back-to-back baskets by Shay May and Conerly put NAU in front at 70-67 with 33 seconds left, pending a Conerly free throw that would have given the Lumberjacks a four-point edge.

But Conerly missed the free throw, and Moore found Hooper again for a game-tying three from the left wing with 24 seconds left. Nebraska then survived a Patton missed jumper to send the game to overtime tied at 70.

Moore and Hooper then combined for all 14 of Nebraska's points in the first halftime, but four consecutive three-pointers by Frost and Tyler Stephens-Jenkins, who finished with just six points, kept NAU in the game. In fact, the Lumberjacks led 84-83 after Stephens-Jenkins' second three with 35 seconds left. Moore connected on the second of two free throws to tie the game at 84 with 19.9 seconds left, and Nebraska survived another NAU offensive opportunity to win.

The second overtime belonged to Moore and Hooper, as they hit back-to-back threes in the opening minute to shoot Nebraska to a 90-84 edge. NAU was unable to get closer than four the rest of the way. Hooper scored her final basket to reach her career high in points with 3:03 left to put NU up 92-86. Moore then hit three straight free throws to cap her 31-point effort and put NU up 95-88 with 1:38 left.

Moore closed out the win by giving Nebraska its biggest lead of the second half with an assist to Emily Cady with 1:08 left to make it 97-88. Cady, who scored Nebraska's first seven points in the opening 1:53 of the game, finished with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds. She also had two steals and two assists.

Cady helped Nebraska to a 33-28 halftime lead, and the Huskers led by as many as 13 points at 26-13 in the first half, before NAU outscored Nebraska 15-7 in the final eight minutes of the half.

Aubrey Davis played strong in the first half for the Lumberjacks and finished with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. In the first half, Davis and Northern Arizona outrebounded NU, 25-19, including 14 offensive boards.

Nebraska outrebounded NAU 21-16 in the second half, before dominating the glass in the overtimes, 11-2. The Huskers finished with a 51-43 edge on the glass.

"I got after our team at halftime as much as I've ever gotten after them," Yori said. "We needed to be stronger on the glass if we wanted to win, and we were. We still weren't very good for most of the game, but hopefully we learned some lessons."

For the game, Nebraska shot 46.2 percent (30-65), including 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from three-point range. In the overtime, NU hit 4-of-5 three-pointers. Nebraska went 27-of-38 at the line, outscoring the Lumberjacks (10-16) by 17 points at the stripe.

Northern Arizona hit 39.3 percent (33-84) of its shots, including 12-of-28 three-pointers. The 22 combined three-pointers by both team tied the third-highest total in school history. NAU hit 4-of-7 threes in overtime.

The Huskers will return to Nebraska tomorrow and take a week off from competition for final exams. Nebraska will return to home non-conference action on Sunday, Dec. 18, when the Huskers take on Vermont. Tip time between the Huskers and Catamounts is set for 2:05 p.m. at the Devaney Center. Tickets are available in advance at Huskers.com or during regular business hours by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.