Tribune-Herald staff report

LINCOLN, Neb. – Just when the Baylor Lady Bears needed it most, Kelli Griffin delivered.

Griffin, a sophomore point guard from Houston, scored the final eight points of the game for Baylor to help the No. 8 Lady Bears end a two-game losing streak by staving off Nebraska, 76-71, at the Devaney Sports Center Wednesday night.

Always a ruthless shooter from the foul line, Griffin hit 10 of 10 free throws against the Huskers, including 8 of 8 in the final 2:33 of the game. She also tossed in a wild right-handed hook shot to beat the shot clock with just under a minute left that gave Baylor a 72-66 lead.

A former point guard herself, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey is admittedly tough on her quarterbacks. But she had nothing but praise for Griffin, who scored 14 points and committed only two turnovers against Nebraska’s full-court press.

“Jhas (Jhasmin Player) and Kelli were both perfect from the foul line, and that’s great,” Mulkey said in her postgame radio interview. “That was a big shot that Kelli made. We were in our ‘red’ offense, where we look to take some time off the clock and we’re not rushing, taking bad shots. It was kind of one of those spectacular, miracle shots, but it went in, and it was big at the time.”

Coming off consecutive home losses to Oklahoma and Texas, the Lady Bears (18-3 overall, 6-2 in the Big 12) needed a feel-good moment again. They got it thanks to a balanced scoring attack that saw five players reach double figures in points.

That included senior forward Rachel Allison, who showed signs of ending her shooting slump by hitting 4 of 8 shots and scoring 10 points off the bench.

“We’re good when we’ve got a lot of players scoring in double figures,” Mulkey said. “Rachel shot a lot better tonight. She’s just got to slowly get back in the groove. It’s not going to come overnight, but tonight was a good game for her.”

Leading 44-35 at the half, Baylor opened up a 15-point cushion early in the second half by crashing the offensive boards and clamping down defensively. The Huskers (10-11, 1-7) failed to hit a shot from the field coming out of the halftime locker room until Yvonne Turner drilled a 3-pointer with just over 11 minutes to play.

But behind Turner, who knocked down three treys in the second half, Nebraska chipped away, cutting BU’s lead to four on a couple of occasions. The Huskers trailed only 72-68 when Dominique Kelley hit a pair of free throws with 42.2 seconds remaining.

Baylor refused to let Nebraska get any closer. Griffin’s dead-eye foul shooting down the stretch proved significant, as did freshman forward Ashley Field’s rejection of a driving Kaitlyn Burke with around 20 seconds to play.

Making her first career start, Field more than produced. She scored BU’s first six points of the game and finished with a career-high 12 points in 18 minutes.

“I definitely had some butterflies, but I’m a big girl and I just tried to go out there and do what Coach taught me to do,” said Field, who had played a total of nine minutes in Big 12 play before Wednesday. “Once Danielle (Wilson) gave me that nice pass and I scored, the butterflies went away.”

Field and Allison abused Nebraska’s defense in the first half by consistently getting open on backdoor cuts and scoring.

Cory Montgomery tried to keep the Huskers close by scoring a game-high 22 points and snatching 14 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. Nebraska has now lost nine of its last 11 games and is under .500 in February for the first time since 2002-03.

Turner chipped in 17 points for the Huskers and Tay Hester had 11 off the bench.

Wilson recorded her 11th double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds. She also dished out four assists. Jessica Morrow also tallied 14 points, nailing a pair of second-half treys.

Baylor improved to 4-0 on the road in the Big 12, no easy task, Mulkey said.

“After two emotional defeats where you were beaten bad — not beaten bad where you were blown out, but two emotional games where you’re heartbroken because you should have won,” Mulkey said. “After that, the worst thing you can do is go on the road, because you’re setting yourself up for defeat. But we hung in there and battled, and we’re coming home with a victory, and that’s all that matters.”

Baylor will return to the Ferrell Center Saturday for an 11 a.m. nationally televised game against Kansas State.