Women Let 15-Point Lead Get Away, Lose To Nebraska

Provo, Utah (Jan. 02, 2001) After having a comfortable 15-point lead with six and half minutes left in the game, BYU's women's basketball team did not get another basket. And the visiting Nebraska team took advantage of it, picking up the three-point 56-53 win, Tuesday.

The loss brings the Cougars record to 7-5 on the year while the Huskers improve to 8-5.

"We didn't execute at the end of the game and nobody wanted to win," said a disappointed Trent Shippen after the loss. "We definitely didn't get in a rhythm at the end, we were tentative, scared and didn't have anyone come out who wanted to win the game for us."

BYU got off to a quick start and had build up a 14-point lead midway through the first half of play and enjoyed a comfortable 11-point 29-18 advantage at the break. The Cougars continued their strong play in the early goings of the second half but lost the momentum at the 6:46 mark and could not recover.

Junior guard Stacy Jensen led all scores with a season-high 17 points and four rebounds. Jensen also tallied four assists and three steals in the game. Heather Cheesman continued her off-the bench role with 11 points and five boards. Chanell Rose, who got her second start of the year contributed with six points and two rebounds. BYU shot 36 percent from the field and just 45 percent at the line. The Cougars had 20 turnovers and were outrebounded by Nebraska 40 to 35.

Casey Leonhardt led the Huskers in points with 14 and a team-high seven rebounds in the contest. Margaret Richards came off the bench for 12 points and four rebounds for Nebraska who shot 46 percent from the field and 56 from the free-throw line.

The Cougars have the rest of this week off to prepare for MWC action which begins on the road on Jan. 11 and 13 with games against SDSU and UNLV. The first home conference game for BYU is on Jan. 18 against Wyoming.