(Huskers.com) –The No. 21 Nebraska women’s basketball team returns to the Bob Devaney Sports Center for a top-25 clash with No. 11 Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Tip-off the between the Huskers (5-1) and Terrapins (3-1) is set for 6 p.m. (MST) at the Devaney Center with live national television coverage on the Big Ten Network. Kevin Kugler and Debbie Antonelli will provide the call for BTN.

The Husker Sports Network will provide a live radio broadcast of the game with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on the call, including AM 1400, KCOW, Alliance. A free live audio stream will also be available on Huskers.com.

The Huskers will try to improve to 5-0 at the Devaney Center this season, while notching their 10th victory over a top-15 opponent since Dec. 20, 2009, when they face Maryland. NU’s game with the 2012 ACC Tournament champion Terrapins will be the first regular-season meeting between Nebraska and Maryland, but the Huskers and Terps do have history. Maryland, which will join the Big Ten in 2014-15, knocked Nebraska out of the 2008 NCAA Tournament in College Park, Md. The Terps, who won the 2006 NCAA championship, defeated NU 76-64 in the 2008 NCAA second round.

Maryland, which advanced to the 2012 NCAA Elite Eight, returns four starters from a team that went 31-5. The Terrapins feature national player-of-the-year candidates Tianna Hawkins, Alyssa Thomas and Laurin Mincy. Nebraska adds a pair of national player-of-the-year candidates in Lindsey Moore and Jordan Hooper, putting five of the nation’s top-50 players on the floor at the Devaney Center.

#21 Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-1, 0-0 Big Ten) 3 – Hailie Sample – 6-1 – So. – F – 5.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg 23 – Emily Cady – 6-2 – So. – F – 10.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg 35 – Jordan Hooper – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 16.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg 00 – Lindsey Moore – 5-9 – Sr. – G – 15.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg 13 – Brandi Jeffery – 5-7 – So. – G – 6.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg Off the Bench 21 – Sadie Murren – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 4.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg 1 – Tear’a Laudermill – 5-9 – So. – G – 3.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg 55 – Adrianna Maurer – 6-3 – Jr. – C – 3.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg 14 – Katie Simon – 6-2 – So. – F – 3.0 ppg, 0.6 rpg 24 – Rachel Theriot – 6-0 – Fr. – G – 2.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg 10 – Meghin Williams – 6-1 – Sr. – F – 2.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg 22 – Courtney Aitken – 5-9 – Fr. – G – 0.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg Head Coach: Connie Yori (Creighton, 1986) 11th Season at NU (195-127); 23rd Season Overall (390-267)

#11 Maryland Terrapins (3-1, 0-0 ACC) 21 – Tianna Hawkins – 6-3 – Sr. – F – 19.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg 25 – Alyssa Thomas – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 10.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg 13 – Alicia DeVaughn – 6-4 – Jr. – C – 13.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg 1 – Laurin Mincy – 6-0 – Jr. – G – 6.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg 15 – Chloe Pavlech – 5-9 – Fr. – G – 2.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg Off the Bench 4 – Malina Howard – 6-4 – Fr. – C – 9.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg 22 – Tierney Pfirman – 6-4 – Jr. – F – 8.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg 40 – Katie Rutan – 5-8 – Jr. – G – 7.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg 00 – Sequoia Austin – 5-5 – Jr. – F – 3.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg Head Coach: Brenda Frese (Arizona, 1993) 11th Season at Maryland (255-87); 14th Season Overall (312-117)

Four Huskers Set for 40th Straight Start Together Nebraska’s four returning starters Lindsey Moore, Jordan Hooper, Emily Cady and Hailie Sample are expected to make their 40th consecutive start together on Wednesday. Since sophomores Cady and Sample have arrived on campus, they have started every game alongside Moore and Hooper.

Moore is expected to make her 105th consecutive start dating back to the first game of her freshman season in 2009-10, while Hooper expects to make her 71st straight start dating back to her first game as a freshman in 2010-11.

Winston-Salem, N.C. – (Huskers.com) – Nebraska received career performances from Ray Gallegos and Andre Almeida, as the Huskers posted an impressive 79-63 victory over Wake Forest in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods Tuesday evening.

Gallegos and Almeida had 20 points apiece, as the Huskers broke open a close game with a 20-2 second-half surge in posting their largest road win margin since the 2003-04 campaign.

Gallegos scored 17 of his career-high 20 points in the second half, hitting 7-of-8 shots in the final 20 minutes to improve Nebraska’s record to 5-1 on the season. Nebraska scored on 16 of its first 19 possessions of the second half, turning a 28-24 halftime lead to as much as a 24-point lead in cruising to victory.

Nebraska, which scored 51 points in the second half, shot 62 percent in the second half and placed four players in double figures. Gallegos tied a career high with four 3-pointers, including a pair in the second-half surge, to help the Huskers hand Wake Forest its first home loss in seven ACC/Big Ten Challenge games.

While Gallegos was torching the Demon Deacons on the outside, Almeida put together one of the most dominant efforts of his career with his first career double-double. The 6-foot-11 senior matched his career high with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting, grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and blocked three shots, as Nebraska held Wake Forest to just 43 percent shooting from the field.

Wake Forest was within 42-37 after an Arnaud Adala Moto basket, before Gallegos and Dylan Talley combined to lead the Huskers on a 20-3 surge over the next six minutes to put the game out of reach. The pair combined for all 20 of the Huskers’ points in the run, as Talley finished the night with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Gallegos, who was 1-for-5 in the first half, got the spurt started by scoring five straight points as NU used a 7-0 run to take a 49-37 lead after a Talley basket. Moments later, the pair helped Nebraska run off eight unanswered points, as the Huskers built a 62-40 lead with 8:05 left, and Wake Forest never got within 13 points the rest of the way.

Madison Jones led Wake Forest (3-3) with 14 points, as NU held Demon Deacon stars Travis McKie and C.J. Harris to a combined 10 points, as the pair entered Tuesday’s game averaging nearly 32 points per game. NU held Harris, who hit the game-winning shot in NU’s 55-53 loss in Lincoln last season, to just two points on 1-of-6 shooting, while McKie totaled eight points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor.

The Huskers played solid basketball in the opening 30 minutes, holding Wake Forest to 32 percent shooting in the first half taking a 28-24 lead into the locker room.  The Huskers got off to a good start, using an early 8-0 run to build a six-point lead and led 14-6 before Wake began to battle back behind the play of backup guard Chase Fischer, whose shooting provided Wake Forest (3-3) much-needed spark. Fischer scored all eight of his first-half points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in a 13-2 run to give the hosts a 19-16 lead.

Wake led 22-18 before the Huskers closed the half on a 10-2 run to take a four-point lead into the locker room. Gallegos got the run started with a 3-pointer before Almeida’s layup and a jumper from David Rivers capped a run of seven straight points for Nebraska. Rivers, who finished with a career-high seven rebounds, then added a put back to help give NU a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the evening.

The Huskers will be off until they host USC at the Devaney Center Monday night. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT.

Scottsbluff-  Casper College’s Remi Dibo connected on seven first-half 3-pointers and the Thunderbirds shot past Western Nebraska Community College 95-74 Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace.

Dibo finished with 31 points and was aided by Dominique Lee’s 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Thunderbirds improved to 8-2 on the season. The Cougars, who shot just 36 percent from the field and were 19 of 32 from the free throw line, never got in a rhythm as they dropped to 3-4 on the season.

WNCC coach Russ Beck says they were flat against a Casper team that has won six straight games.  “Our execution was very poor tonight,” Beck said. “We didn’t get any post reads and we didn’t work inside out. We settled for bad shots. The more we got down the worse our shot selection got and it was a pretty embarrassing loss in that regard.

The two things that we can control that we were bad at was team boxing out. They had 18 second chance points and we missed 13 free throws. We did get them miss shots especially in the second half, but they would collect the ball after their miss and put the ball back in.”

Dibo was the spark for the Thunderbirds in the first half, burying 7 of 9 3-pointers and collecting 26 of his 31 points. He hit 3 straight treys  after the Cougars sliced the lead to 11-8 and the Thunderbirds never looked back and pushed the lead to 20 points, 41-21, with an 11-0 run highlighted by another 9 straight points by Dibo.

WNCC changed gears and made a run, slicing the lead to single digits at 51-42 with two minutes to play in the first half on a Rich Williams 3-pointer and a Willie Mangum trey.  Casper stopped the run with a bucket by Demetrius Lee, but Cody Johnson closed the half with a 3-pointer for the Cougars, but Casper still led 53-45.

Any hope of a Cougar comeback faded just five minutes into the second half as the Thunderbirds went on a 14-4 run to lead 67-50. After that, each team traded buckets as Casper posted the 21-point victory.

Beck says the late first half comeback was nice, but wasn’t enough. “We did get the lead cut down to 8 at halftime, but then we came out in the second half and started to make some of the mistakes we did in the first half, giving up second chance points and missing free throws,” he said.

Shooting was the difference in the game. Casper shot 57% from the field in the first half compared to 40% for the Cougars…and made 9 treys to 4-11 for WNCC. In the second half, WNCC shot just 23% and were 3 of 13 from the 3-point line. For the game, the Cougars were 7 of 24 from behind the arc.

Cody Johnson finished with a team-high 16 points, including 4 treys, and pulled down 6 rebounds. Quante Cooley finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Mangum had 14 points and Charles Ward had 11.

Casper’s Dominique Lee had a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Lew Evans was the only other Thunderbird to finish with double figures, netting 13 points.

WNCC will next be in action this weekend when they travel to Sheridan, Wyo., to face Gillette and Sheridan College in a classic. Beck says the Cougars need to put the loss to Casper behind them and “pull together.

“It is embarrassing to lose to a rival like that on our home floor and I am going to work my tail off to get this team where it needs to be in contention for a Region IX title. We are a long ways from that right now. We just need to focus on this game this weekend against Gillette, see if we can pick up two games on the road and just go from there.”

The Cougars next home game will be Friday, Dec. 7 when they host Northwest Kansas Technical College.

 

Casper (8-2)                       53 42 – 95

WNCC (3-4)                        45 29 – 74

CASPER

Corey Spence 5, Demetrius Lee 1, Nate McGinley 3, Remi Dibo 31, Austin Kofoed 4, Juwan Starks 5, Dominique Lee 22, Richard Smith 4, Mantas Adomaitis 2, Ryan Madsen 3, Lew Evans 13, Trahmier Burrell 2.

WNCC

Tahir Little 5, Zach Clemens 4, Quante Cooley 11, Rich Williams 3, Willie Mangum 14, Isaiah Castellaw 2, Charles Ward 11, Cody Johnson 16, Youssoupha Kane 2, Chad Calcaterra 6.

 

 The last time the Western Nebraska Community College and Casper College men’s basketball teams played it was last March in the semifinals of the Region IX tournament where Casper came back to sting the Cougars 70-68.

Tuesday night, the two squads will hook up once again at Cougar Palace at 7 p.m. with that loss still on the minds of the Cougar faithful.

“It will be a classic battle between WNCC and Casper and it always makes for a good game and a big atmosphere,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “We are still a little upset of how our season ended last year so we want to use that game as motivation and set the record for what could be a great season for Western Nebraska.”

This year’s contest will definitely be a battle of teams that have a lot of success going their way. The Cougars, despite posting a 3-3 record, have put up some numbers, averaging 83 points a game. Casper enters with a 7-2 record and is averaging 88 points a game.

Beck said that he has watched Casper several times this season and has a handle on their tendencies.

“We played Casper out in the Jamboree and I have watched them play three or four games now and I think we are familiar with the kind of team they are,” he said. “They are a team that does not run a lot of offensive sets; they rely on ball penetration, kick outs, and their athleticism. They have a really quick point guard that is a transfer from South Plains [Corey Spence]. We need to protect the paint to disallow that initial penetration. The key will be rebounding and turnovers.”

The two squads definitely are equal on the court and one needs to go back to the Region 18/9 Shootout on Nov. 16-17 where Casper and WNCC split contests against the College of Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College.

WNCC fell to College of Southern Idaho on Friday 68-67 before coming back to drop Salt Lake Community College 82-76. In the Salt Lake win, the Cougars trailed 37-30 at halftime and then scored 52 second-half points to pick up the big win. Against CSI, the Cougars held a one-point, 35-34, lead.

Casper flip-flopped results against CSI and Salt Lake. The Thunderbirds dropped Southern Idaho 81-76 a day after falling to Salt Lake Community College 84-76. Against CSI, the Thunderbirds had four players finish with double-doubles, led by Remi Dibo with 18 points followed by 15 points each from Jonathan Blythers, Richard Smith, and Spence.

Beck said they played well that weekend.

“We played a good game against CSI and ended up giving up one real late basket and lost by one. I felt like that was a game we should have won,” he said. “We learned from some of our mistakes in that game and beat Salt Lake the next night. On Casper’s side, they lost to Salt Lake but then really got emotionally charged up and beat CSI, who just beat No. 4 Indian Hills at their place [over Thanksgiving]. I kind of like where we are at. I think we can play with anybody. We are our biggest enemies at times and we are the only team that can beat us.”

WNCC is coming off a big win against Western Wyoming a week ago 96-81. WNCC freshman Willie Mangum had the hot hand scoring 30 points. Red-shirt freshman Cody Johnson finished with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Quante Cooley, another freshman, tallied 12 points in the win.

Casper enters the contest on a five-game winning streak after going 3-0 in their Thanksgiving Classic, defeating Rahleighs’ Finest Sports Academy 123-76, Cloud County 87-60, and Lamar Community College 79-65.

Beck said both teams have plenty of talent.

“Casper and us probably have the most height in the region and both teams match up with each other pretty well,” he said. “We just need to keep our tempo and do what we do and be solid defensively.”

Beck said his team has plenty of offensive weapons and what they need to worry about in the team’s second home contest of the season is worrying about their game.

“We are getting better at moving the ball and we have quite a few shooters on this team,” he said. “Last year we had a couple shooters and this year we have maybe four, five or six guys that can shoot the basketball when given an open look. I think the big thing for us is execution and ball movement in making the extra pass. ”

After Tuesday’s contest, the Cougars will hit the road to compete in the Sheridan College Holiday Classic this weekend. The Cougar’s next home game will be Dec. 7 when they host Northwest Kansas Technical College.

DETROIT (AP) – The NFL has decided not to suspend Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh  for his actions against Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.

League spokesman Greg Aiello announced the decision Monday on his Twitter account, adding the “incident’ will be reviewed for a potential fine.

Suh’s left cleat connected with Schaub’s groin area after he threw a pass in the first quarter of last Thursday’s game. The defensive tackle was on his chest after being taken down by an offensive lineman and extended his left foot to hit Schaub below the belt.

Suh, a former Nebraska Cornhusker, was suspended for two games a year ago after he was ejected for stomping on the right arm of Green Bay offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith during a game on Thanksgiving.