Lincoln – Jordan Hooper produced her first double-double of the season with game highs of 12 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 18 Nebraska to a 64-39 women’s basketball victory over Temple on Sunday at the Devaney Center.

With the victory, Nebraska improved to 2-0 on the season while the Owls slipped to 1-1.

Hooper’s 14 boards and 10 rebounds from sophomore forward Emily Cady helped the Huskers outwork the Owls on the glass, 53-40 for the game. Temple came to Lincoln after outrebounding perennial Big Sky Conference power Montana, 48-31, in Philadelphia on Friday night.

“We really did some good things on the boards today, especially 23 offensive rebounds against the kind of size and length that Temple has,” Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. “I thought we gave a really good effort today. We need to improve on a lot of things, but our effort was definitely there today. That’s a good win against a good basketball team.”

In additon to a plus-13 rebound margin, Nebraska was plus-12 (22-10) in the turnover department against Temple. Those two stellar performances allowed NU to attempt 71 fields goals compared to just 49 for the Owls. Possessions played a big part in the game, as the Huskers won by 25 points despite shooting just 32.4 percent (23-71) and just 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) from three-point range. The Huskers also hit just 11-of-19 free throws (57.9 percent).

Hooper, a 6-2 junior forward from Alliance, Neb., produced the 18th double-double of her career while adding three steals and NU’s first two assists of the game. She hit just 4-of-19 shots from the field, including 3-of-11 threes.

Brandi Jeffery, a sophomore guard from Vacherie, La., produced double figures for the second time in her second straight start, finishing with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals, while going just 3-of-9 from the field.

Senior point guard Lindsey Moore gave the Huskers three players in double figures with 10 points and three assists, while going 4-of-8 from the floor.

Nebraska received contributions across the board for the second straight game, including eight points, seven rebounds and two assists from sophomore forward Hailie Sample.

Freshman guard Sadie Murren added eight points of her own to go along with two boards. Murren scored all eight of her points in a decisive 17-3 Husker surge that covered just 3:37 late in the first half. Murren hit a pair of three-pointers and both of her free throws in the span, while Moore capped the run with NU’s final six points to turn a 14-6 NU lead into a 31-9 edge with 3:50 left in the first half.

Nebraska led 36-17 at the half, as Hooper finished with eight points and nine boards, including a buzzer-beating jumper at the end of the half. Temple got no closer than 16 points the rest of the way, while NU’s lead grew as large as 64-35 in the final minute. NU continued to pull away despite shooting just 27.8 percent in the second half, including 1-for-15 from three-point range.

Cady added five points to go along with her 10 rebounds, while fellow sophomore Tear’a Laudermill pitched in five points of her own, including a three, to go along with a game-high four steals for the Huskers. Sophomore forward Katie Simon contributed four points on perfect shooting, while freshman guard Rachel Theriot pitched in two points to go along with a game-high five assists.

Nebraska’s swarming defense held the Owls to just 16-of-49 shooting (32.7 percent), including an 0-for-8 effort from long range. Temple also hit just 7-of-16 free throws (43.8 percent).

Erica Covile led the Owls with 10 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Sally Kabengano added eight points and nine boards. Senior center Victoria Macaulay, who produced 21 points and 16 rebounds in Friday night’s win over Montana, was held to just six points and five boards.

Nebraska concludes its three-game season-opening home stand by playing host to Northern Arizona on Friday at the Devaney Center. Tip-off between the Huskers and Lumberjacks is set for 7:05 p.m. with free live audio coverage on Huskers.com. A live video stream also will be available to subscribers on HuskersNside.

Lincoln – Double-digit deficit – no problem for the 2012 Nebraska football team. The Huskers trailed 20-6 at the half before outscoring Penn State 26-3 in the second half on its way to a 32-23 victory over the Nittany Lions on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The No. 18 Huskers notched their fourth straight Big Ten win to improve to 5-1 in the conference and 8-2 overall, while dropping Penn State to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten.

The comeback marked the third time in the last six games that the Huskers have rallied from 12-point or more deficits to win, joining a comeback from 17 points down against Wisconsin and 12 down atNorthwestern. Prior to the last six games, the Huskers had produced just six 12-point or more second-half comebacks in school history. NU has used four double-digit second-half rallies to win five Big Ten games, including a 10-point fourth-quarter rally at Michigan State.

For the second straight, junior quarterback Taylor Martinez connected with sophomore wide receiver Jamal Turner on the game-winning touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Martinez’s five-yard strike to Turner at the goal line in the middle of the field with 10:57 left gave the Huskers a 27-23 lead. It was NU’s first lead of the game.

Martinez finished the day with 275 yards of total offense, including 12-of-20 through the air for 171 yards and a score. Martinez’s 56-yard strike to senior tight end Kyler Reed early in the fourth quarter helped set up the game-winning toss to Turner, and also put Reed over the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his career.

Martinez added his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season and 12th of his career, carrying 15 times for 104 yards. Sophomore I-back Ameer Abdullah joined Martinez in the century club, carrying a career-high 31 times for 116 yards. It was Abdullah’s sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season.

With Abdullah and Martinez rolling to the fourth double-100-yard rushing game of the season for the Huskers, Nebraska amassed 267 rushing yards against a Nittany Lion defense that surrendered just 123.6 rushing yards per game entering the contest.

Nebraska finished the day with 438 yards of total offense, outgaining Penn State 250-136 in the second half.

After Turner scored the go-ahead touchdown, the Nittany Lions responded by marching 75 yards in nine plays. The PSU drive ended when quarterback Matt McGloin hit Matt Lehman on 2nd-and-Goal from the NU 3. Lehman turned up the field and was met by Husker linebacker David Santos at the goal line. Santos forced a fumble that was recovered by Husker safety Daimion Stafford in the back of the end zone.

Penn State forced a punt on NU’s ensuing drive, before Husker punter Brett Maher produced one of the game’s biggest plays with a career-long 69-yard punt that went out of bounds on the Nebraska sideline at the PSU 2. Two plays later, senior defensive end Cameron Meredith swarmed on McGloin in the end zone to force an intentional grounding resulting in a safety to put the Huskers up 29-23 with 5:02 left.

The Nittany Lions stuffed the Huskers’ on their next drive, and Maher answered again with a 55-yard punt. The Blackshirts surrendered just a five-yard scramble by McGloin and forced three incompletions for the PSU quarterback on the ensuing drive, including Justin Blatchford’s breakup of a McGloin pass on 4th-and-5 at the PSU 25. McGloin finished 18-of-37 for 240 yards on the day.

The Huskers took over and Maher put the game out of reach with his third field goal of the game, this time from 33 yards out with 23 seconds left to produce the final margin.

Maher opened the scoring for the Huskers in the first quarter with a 32-yard field goal, after Penn State raced to a 7-0 lead in the game’s first two minutes. The Nittany Lions scored on a 50-yard burst by running back Zach Zwinak, who led PSU with 141 rushing yards on 21 carries for the game. As a team, Penn State finished with just 151 yards on the ground against the Blackshirts.

Maher cut PSU’s lead to 7-6 early in the second quarter with a 27-yard boot, but the Nittany Lions’ Sam Ficken answered with a 27-yard kick of his own to push the PSU edge back to 10-6 with 6:58 left in the half. McGloin then hit Jesse James on a 10-yard touhdown pass to give the Lions a 17-6 edge with 2:42 left in the half, before Ficken connected on a career-long 38-yard field goal with 1:05 left to put Penn State up 20-6 at the half.

Penn State outgained the Huskers 255-188 in the first half, while the Nittany Lions also capitalized on a fumbled punt that they converted into James’ touchdown catch.

Although the Huskers struggled in the first half, they dominated play in the second half.

Martinez led NU on an eight-play, 75-yard march to open the second half, which was capped by Imani Cross’ one-yard touchdown blast with 11:48 left in the third quarter.

On Penn State’s following drive, Stafford snatched a McGloin pass out of the air on 3rd-and-15 from the PSU 16 and returned it 22 yards to the PSU 4. Two carries later, Cross pounded his way into the end zone from two yards out to tie the game at 20 with 9:37 left in the third to erase PSU’s first-half lead. He finished with eight carries for 22 yards against the Nittany Lions.

Ficken slowed Nebraska’s momentum with his third field goal of the game, this time from 35 yards out with 6:01 left in the quarter, before the Huskers closed the game out in the fourth quarter.

Nebraska returns home for the first of back-to-back games at Memorial Stadium, when the Huskers take on Minnesota on Saturday, Nov. 17. Kickoff between the Huskers and Golden Gophers is set for 2:30 p.m. (CT) with live national television coverage on the Big Ten Network.

Scoring Summary
Final: No. 18 Nebraska 32, Penn State 23
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)

First Quarter (PSU, 7-3)
PSU – 13:14 – Zach Zwinak 50 run (Sam Ficken kick) – 4 plays, 74 yards, 1:46 (PSU, 7-0)
NEB – 6:17 – Brett Maher 32 FG – 15 plays, 51 yards, 6:50 (PSU, 7-3)

Second Quarter (PSU, 20-6)
NEB – 12:29 – Maher 27 FG – 12 plays, 84 yards, 4:05 (PSU, 7-6)
PSU – 6:58 – Ficken 27 FG – 7 plays, 26 yards, 2:43 (PSU, 10-6)
PSU – 2:42 – Jesse James 10 pass from Matt McGloin (Ficken kick) – 5 plays, 31 yards, 2:05 (PSU 17,6)
PSU – 1:08 – Ficken 38 FG – 6 plays, 35 yards, 1:12 (PSU 20-6)

Third Quarter (PSU, 23-20)
NEB – 11:48 – Imani Cross 1 run (Maher kick) – 8 plays, 75 yards, 3:12 (PSU, 20-13)
NEB – 9:37 – Cross 2 run (Maher kic) – 2 plays, 4 yards, 0:45 (20-20)
PSU  6:01 – Ficken 35 FG – 13 plays, 57 yards, 3:36 (PSU 23-20)

Fourth Quarter (NEB, 32-23)
NEB- 10:57 – Jamal Turner 5 pass from Taylor Martinez (Maher kick) – 6 plays, 71 yards, 3:10 (NEB 27-23)
NEB – 5:02 – Safety (Intentional grounding in end zone) (NEB 29-23)
NEB – 0:23 – Maher 33 FG – 4 plays, 9 yards, 2:16 (NEB 32-23)

Final: No. 18 Nebraska 32, Penn State 23
Attendance: 85,527
Time of Game: 3:33
Game Start: 2:35 p.m. (central)

ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio University football team suffered its first home loss of the 2012 season Wednesday night, falling 26-14 to Bowling Green State University. With the loss, the Bobcats fell to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

Junior Beau Blankenship (Norman, Okla.) led the offensive attack for Ohio, gaining 97 yards on 18 carries, while classmate Tyler Tettleton (Norman, Okla.) completed 21-of-34 passes for 145 yards and became the all-time leader for career passing yards (5,475). Tettleton also scored one touchdown on the ground.

With 97 yards, Blankenship moved into the top-five in single season yardage (1,194). Bakari Bussey (West Chester, Ohio) led the Bobcats in receiving, catching six balls for 39 yards. Redshirt sophomore Chase Cochran (Lebanon, Ohio) was the recipient of Tettleton’s lone touchdown pass.

Senior defensive end Corey Hasting (Miamiville, Ohio), Gerald Moore (Mitchellville, Md.), and Carl Jones (Arlington, Texas) all had six tackles to lead the way for the Bobcats’ defensive unit, which held the Falcons to 288 yards of total offense. The Ohio secondary had a strong showing, holding BGSU quarterback Matt Schilz to 91 yards on 7-of-17 throwing.

Ohio received the game’s opening kickoff and immediately marched 67 yards down the field for the score as Tettleton snuck in the endzone on a five-yard quarterback keeper to put the Bobcats in front 7-0 early.

Just eight seconds into the second quarter, Bowling Green (7-3;5-1 MAC) got on board for the first time with a 15-yard touchdown run by Anthon Samuel. The run capped a four-play, 20-yard drive and tied the game at seven with 14:52 left in the first half.

After back-to-back empty drives by the Bobcats, Bowling Green took its first lead of the game with a little bit of trickery as Falcons’ QB Matt Schilz found Chris Gallon streaking down the sideline for a 55-yard touchdown reception to put Bowling Green ahead 14-7. BGSU tacked on a field goal and a safety to make in 19-7 going into halftime.

After the intermission, the Ohio defense stepped up with a big stop by forcing Bowling Green to punt on its first drive of the half. Ohio then took over at its own 5-yard line and put together an impressive scoring drive to get back in the game.

With the assistance of Blankenship, Ohio marched 95 yards down the field on a scoring drive which was capped by a touchdown reception by Cochran to bring Ohio within five at 19-14 with 6:54 left in the third quarter. The 95-yard touchdown drive by Ohio was the longest allowed by Bowling Green this season.

The Bobcats’ defense forced a three-and-out on the next BGSU possession, giving the offense a chance to take its first lead since the game’s opening possession. The drive stalled; however, and the Falcons took over on the Ohio 29-yard line with a chance to increase their lead. Seven plays and 3:14 later, Samuel found the paydirt for the second time to put BGSU ahead 26-14 with 14:50 remaining in the game.

Samuel led the offensive attack for BGSU with 181 yards on 29 carries, while Chris Gallon led the way with 55 receiving yards and one touchdown. Samuel’s 181 yards and 29 carries were both career highs.

The loss marks just the second midweek loss for Ohio since 2009. The Bobcats are now 9-2 in midweek games in the last four seasons. It was also Ohio’s first loss when wearing black jerseys. The Bobcats are now 4-1 in such games.

The Bobcats return to action Wednesday, Nov. 14 for a MAC matchup against Ball State in Muncie, Ind. Game time is slated for 8 p.m. (ET) and is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPNU.

COLBY, Kan. — Jess Samorodova recorded a double-double and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team went to 4-0 with a 75-40 win over Fort Carson Army Base Saturday in the final day of the Ambassador Classic in Colby, Kan.

Samorodova, the 6-foot-3 post player from Russia, poured in 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to finish the Ambassador Classic with a 3-0 mark.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said it was a good weekend for his young team.

“We have a very good weekend and a very good start to the season to go 4-0,” Harnish, who is in his 25th year as the head coach at WNCC, said. “We played hard and competed all weekend. We have done everything well this weekend [in all the games] except shoot and we shot better today.”

The Cougars controlled the contest running out to a 38-20 halftime lead and cruised after that. The Cougars shot around 40 percent for the game and connected on just 5 of 6 free throws.

What impressed Harnish in the win against Ft. Carson was how well his team played defensively along with hitting the boards hard. Samorodova and Bridgeport’s Ashley Stevens honkered down on the boards with a combined 18 rebounds.

The Cougars put down four 3-pointers Saturday against Ft. Carson, which was much better than the one trey they made Friday against Colorado Northwestern. Shalise Moffit and Idil Ozbayrak each connected on two treys each.

The Cougars finished with three players in double figures. After Samorodova’s 21 points, Moffit and Katie Kerkhoff each had 10 points on the day. Ozbayrak and Stevens also poured in eight points each, while Gritt Ryder had six points and six steals.

The Cougars, 4-0, will be back in action Tuesday when they host Colorado Christian junior varsity at 6 p.m. WNCC will then compete in the Central Wyoming Classic where they will face Central Wyoming College and Miles Community College over the weekend.

 

WNCC (4-0)         38 37 — 75

Ft. Carson            20 20 — 40

WNCC

Michelle Brassard 2, Shalisa Moffit 10, Lauren Rivera 4, Idil Ozbayrak 8, Jess Samorodova 21, Gritt Ryder 6, Mikayla Brower 2, Maurissa Ortega 2, Jenna Lindquist 2, Ashley Stevens 8, Katie Kerkhoff 10.

The Sioux County Warriors football team came up short in their bid to become Nebraska’s six-man champion.

Friday night at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Wauneta-Palisade downed Sioux County, 26-16.

Wauneta-Palisade’s win capped a perfect 11-0 season.  W-P finished last year’s season with an 0-8 record in eight-man football.

 

CHADRON – Regis University’s Katie Klein had 13 kills and Caite Breaux added 11 more as the No. 14 Rangers turned back Chadron State in their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match 20-25, 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 Friday evening in Chadron.

Chadron State (5-23, 2-16 RMAC) will host No. 23 Metro State in the season finale tonight (Saturday). First serve is set for 6 p.m.

On Friday, the Rangers, now 21-8 overall and 15-3 in the RMAC, dropped a tightly contested first set but controlled the remainder of the match, thanks in large part to their service game.

Regis served 11 aces – Rebecca Sponcil had a match-high four and Klein and Makayla Higgins each added three more – and received 10 more points after Chadron State service errors.

For the match, Regis hit .149 while Chadron State had a hitting percentage of .110.

Erika Roybal and Lexi Hoagland paced the Eagles’ offense with nine kills apiece and Mollie Jones, who had a team-high 17 digs, added eight more.

Also for Chadron State, Justine Ackie had 22 set assists and Mallory Irvine had four blocks.