LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rachel Theriot scored 25 points as No. 15 Nebraska held off Northern Colorado 63-56 on Sunday.

Kourteney Zadina’s 3-pointer pulled Northern Colorado within 58-56 with 2:13 left but Theriot’s basket with 43 seconds left highlighted a 5-0 run.

Emily Cady added 16 and 10 rebounds for Nebraska (6-0). The Cornhuskers made just 34.5 percent from the field but hit 25 free throws compared to Northern Colorado’s 11 attempts.

Amber Van Deudekom scored a career-high 20 for Northern Colorado (4-1). The senior’s previous high was 10 against Johnson & Wales on Dec. 30, 2012. She had never hit a 3-pointer in her college career, but made both of her attempts against Nebraska.

Northern Colorado’s leading scorers, D’shara Strange and Stephanie Lee, were held to seven total points and both fouled out.

Nebraska jumped out to a 26-5 lead, but Northern Colorado hit four 3-pointers in a row and closed the half with a 19-5 run to get within 38-35.

The Nebraska men’s basketball team begins the month of December in Tallahassee, Fla., as the Huskers take on Florida State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Monday night.
Tipoff from the Donald L. Tucker Center is slated for 6:02 p.m. (central) and will be nationally televised on ESPN2 and on the WatchESPN app with Adam Amin and Len Elmore on the call.

The game will be broadcast across the state of Nebraska on the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, 1110 KFAB in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as on TuneIn Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

While the two football programs have combined for eight national titles and have met in bowl games on four occasions, Monday’s meeting is just the second between the two programs on the hardwood and the first one on either campus. Florida State won the only previous meeting, a 74-60 win at the 2005 Orange Bowl Classic.

The NU-FSU contest also opens the 15th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. The three-day event features 14 matchups between Big Ten and ACC programs for the Commissioner’s Cup. The Big Ten has held the cup for the last five years following a 6-6 tie in 2013.

The Huskers are 4-1 on the season following a 75-64 win over Tennessee-Martin on Friday night. The game featured a breakout performance by Walter Pitchford, as the junior scored a career-high 19 points, including six 3-pointers. Pitchford, who was third for the Huskers in scoring last year at 9.3 points per game, had just 14 points in the first four games.
Pitchford joins fellow juniors Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields in giving the Huskers three strong offensive threats. Petteway, a Wooden Award candidate, leads the Huskers and is third in the Big Ten in scoring at 20.2 points per game, while Shields is fourth in the conference in scoring at 19.8 ppg. Petteway had 18 points and a career best eight assists on Friday, while Shields had a career-high 35 points against Omaha on Tuesday.
Florida State comes into Monday’s game with a 3-3 record following a 58-47 win over Charleston Southern on Friday. The Seminoles, who went 22-15 and reached the NIT last season, have battled injuries early and have been without Aaron Thomas, who leads FSU at 14.0 ppg, and Devon Bookert for the last three games. Freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes has stepped in and is averaging 13.8 points per game and 3.6 assists per contest.

The No. 15 Nebraska women’s basketball team tries to close a perfect November when the Huskers welcome unbeaten Northern Colorado to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Tip-off between the Big Red (5-0) and the Bears (4-0) is set for 2 p.m. (central) with tickets available in advance at Huskers.com. Tickets are also available at the Pinnacle Bank Arena Box Office beginning at noon on Sunday.

Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch will call the action on the Husker Sports Radio Network. The game can be heard live in Lincoln on B107.3 FM, 93.3 FM in Omaha and 880 AM in Lexington, along with free live audio on Huskers.com. Live premium video for the game will be available on BTN Plus.

Nebraska returns home after completing a three-game sweep of Pac-12 Conference foes with a 71-66 win at UCLA on Friday.

Junior Rachel Theriot led the Huskers back from a 16-point first-half deficit by scoring 19 of her game-high 24 points in the second half against the Bruins. The 6-0 junior point guard from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, was named to the preseason watch lists for both the Wooden Award and the Wade Trophy earlier this week. Theriot, who added a career-high eight rebounds and a season-high seven assists against the Bruins, leads four Huskers in double figures on the season with 18.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 5.0 assists on the year.

Senior forward Emily Cady added 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field at UCLA to increase her season averages to 14.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists. In her last appearance in Lincoln, Cady erupted for a career-high 25 points in a win over Utah.

Senior guard Tear’a Laudermill added 15 points, including a trio of threes and a career-high-tying four steals at UCLA to push her season averages to 13.0 points per game. Fellow senior guard Brandi Jeffery pitched in 11 points against the Bruins and is averaging 11.2 points and 5.2 boards on the year.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
3 – Hailie Sample – 6-1 – Sr. – F – 6.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg
23 – Emily Cady – 6-2 – Sr. – F – 14.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg
1 – Tear’a Laudermill – 5-9 – Sr. – G – 13.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg
13 – Brandi Jeffery – 5-7 – Sr. – G – 11.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg
33 – Rachel Theriot – 6-0 – Jr. – G – 18.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Off the Bench
31 – Anya Kalenta – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 7.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg
5 – Natalie Romeo – 5-7 – Fr. – G – 4.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg
22 – Allie Havers – 6-5 – So. – C – 4.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg
34 – Jasmine Cincore – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 2.5 ppg, 0.8 rpg
2 – Kaylee Page – 6-2 – Fr. – F – 0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg
11 – Esther Ramacieri – 5-8 – So. – G – 0.0 ppg, 0.5 rpg
12 – Emily Wood – 5-5 – Fr. – G – 0.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg
30 – Chandler Smith – 6-0 – Fr. – G – High School
50 – Darrien Washington – 6-2 – Fr. – F – High School
Head Coach: Connie Yori (Creighton, 1986) 
13th Season at NU (246-142); 25th Season Overall (441-282)

Northern Colorado Bears (4-0, 0-0 Big Sky)
22 – Amber Van Deudekom – 5-11 – Sr. – F – 3.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg
44 – Stephanie Lee – 6-1 – Sr. – C/F – 15.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
3 – D’Shara Strange – 5-10 – Sr. – G – 16.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg
20 – Lindsay Mallon – 6-0 – Sr. – G – 3.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg
24 – Kyleigh Hiser – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 10.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg
Off the Bench
2 – Savannah Scott – 5-7 – Fr. – G – 1.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg
14 – Kourteney Zadina – 6-2 – So. – F – 9.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg
15 – Katie Longwell – 5-6 – So. – G – 1.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg
31 – Rebecca Howell – 6-1 – Jr. – C/F – 1.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg
33 – Kianna Williams – 5-9 – Fr. – G – 3.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg
34 – Janniqua Thomas – 5-11 – Jr. – F – 0.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg
Head Coach: Kamie Ethridge (Texas, 1988)
1st Season at UNC (4-0); 1st Season Overall (4-0)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Walter Pitchford missed all five of his three point attempts against Omaha Tuesday. Friday, Pitchford hit his first four 3-pointers and finished with a career-high six threes and 19 points to lead Nebraska past Tennessee-Martin 75-64.

“Somebody said I was in a slump, I say ‘What slump?,’ Pitchford said “It’s not in my vocabulary…Some nights they go in, some nights they don’t. Changes? I put in a little extra time in the gym, just concentrating, tweaking little things.”

Nebraska coach Tim Miles said he and assistant Kenya Hunter worked with Pitchford on his shot in practice this week, then ran plays for him to start the game.

“He’s worked really hard to get a rhythm shooting,” Miles said. “We ran some stuff for him early. I thought that was critical and it got him going.”

Nebraska (4-1) used a 17-4 run in the last seven minutes of the first half to take a 13-point halftime lead. The Huskers stretched that advantage to 19 on Benny Parkers’ free throws with 14:26 left.

Tennessee-Martin (3-2) then responded with a 17-2 run of its own, slicing the Nebraska lead to 54-50 after the second of Deville Smith’s back-to-back 3 pointers with 9:10 remaining.

Terran Petteway’s jumper started a 10-3 Nebraska run that was capped by Shavon Shields’ layup with 6:38 left and made the score 64-53. The Skyhawks cut the Nebraska lead to 8 on Twymond Howard’s jumper with 56 seconds left. Nebraska made five of six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

The Huskers trailed 24-23 after Myles Taylor’s free throws with 6:36 in the half. Tai Webster hit a 3-pointer to start a 17-3 Nebraska half-closing run. Webster’s jumper with 51 seconds left put Nebraska up by double digits for the first time and Tarin Smith’s buzzer-beating layup pushed the halftime lead to 40-27.

“We had a lot of good things going offensively,” Miles said. “I thought we were a little tired tonight, both teams were. Thanksgiving does that to you. That turkey makes you sleepy. We got the lead, then they started draining the 3s. I liked what we were doing offensively for a long time.”

Tennessee-Martin coach Heath Schroyer also liked how his team played on offense, but they had no answer for what Pitchford brought Friday.

“We have been pretty good offensively so far this season,” Schroyer said. “We have shot 50 percent on the year, and I thought we got pretty good looks tonight, when guys stepped up and made them. Pitchford came out and hit his first three 3s. It makes them really hard to guard when that five-man can start knocking down shots and spreading the floor.”

Howard had 18 points to lead Tennessee-Martin. Smith had 15 points for the Skyhawks, Taylor finished with 11 and Alex Anderson had 10.

Petteway finished with 18 points and a career-high 8 assists for Nebraska.

TIP-INS

Nebraska: Shavon Shields, Nebraska’s leading scorer averaging 23 points a game coming into Friday’s contest, had just five points on 2-of-9 shooting. “You thought there’s no way he’s going to be sustaining that high level,” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. “I’m glad Walt (Pitchford) picked us up.”

Tennessee-Martin: Friday’s game was the second of six straight road games for the Skyhawks. Tennessee-Martin won’t play at home again until it faces Presbyterian on Dec. 20.

UP NEXT

Nebraska: Nebraska visits Florida State Monday.

Tennessee-Martin: UT-Martin visits Northern Kentucky Wednesday.

Los Angeles – No. 15 Nebraska trailed by as many as 16 points, but rallied down the stretch for a 71-66 women’s basketball win over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Fridayafternoon.

Junior Rachel Theriot scored 19 of her game-high 24 points in the second half to lead the Big Red to their fifth straight win to open the season, while UCLA slipped to 0-4 with all four losses to current top-25 teams.

Theriot, a 6-0 point guard from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, erupted for 13 points in the final 5:43 to help the Huskers erase an eight-point deficit with just over seven minutes left. Theriot sealed the win by hitting eight consecutive free throws in the final 1:02.

Senior forward Emily Cady added 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including a three-pointer, while adding five rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Senior guard Tear’a Laudermill added 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals. Laudermill’s three three-pointers in the final five minutes of the first half allowed the Huskers to turn a 16-point deficit in the first half into a 33-26 UCLA margin at halftime.

Senior guard Brandi Jeffery gave the Huskers four players in double figures with 11 points, including a huge three-pointer to give Nebraska a 63-57 lead with 1:54 left in the game.

Nebraska found a way to win despite a season-high 22 turnovers, while also being outrebounded 39-36. Theriot committed a career-high eight turnovers in the game, but just one in the second half to fuel the Husker comeback. She finished with team highs of seven assists and eight rebounds to go along with her game-high 24 points. She went 4-of-7 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. She was also 13-of-14 at the free throw line.

The Huskers hit 40 percent (20-50) from the field, including 9-of-23 threes. NU also went 22-of-26 at the free throw line – all in the second half.

UCLA built leads of 16 points on two occasions in the first half, the last time at 33-17 with 4:04 left on a jumper by Corinne Costa. However, a three-pointer by Theriot (3:03) and back-to-back threes by Laudermill (1:49, 1:23) got the Huskers back within striking distance at halftime.

The Bruins did not score in the final four minutes of the first half, then went nearly seven minutes without a field goal in the final 7:30 of the game, as Nebraska prevailed.

For the game, UCLA hit just 35.8 percent (24-67) of its shots from the floor, including 8-of-20 threes. The Bruins were 10-of-15 at the free throw line and committed 18 turnovers, including 10 in the second half.

Jordin Canada led four Bruins in double figures with 14 points, six assists and six steals. Kari Korver added 13 points, including 11 points in a span of just two minutes after Nebraska cut the Bruin lead to two points at 39-37 with 13:30 left in the game.

Nirra Fields added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Costa added 10 points of her own.

The Huskers return home to face unbeaten Northern Colorado on Sunday. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Bears at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 2 p.m.

The Husker men’s basketball team returns to the court Friday night, as Nebraska hosts Tennessee-Martin at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

As of Wednesday afternoon, a limited number of tickets are still available, including 100 level end court seats, by visiting Huskers.com, calling the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8-BIG RED during business hours or visiting the Pinnacle Bank Arena box office beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Tipoff for Friday’s tilt is set for 7:02 p.m. (central) and will be available on ESPN3 and on the WatchESPN app with Peter Young and Rich Zvosac on the call. For more information on WatchESPN and ESPN3, visit (espn.go.com/watchespn/index). Friday’s game will be one of four ESPN3 broadcasts during non-conference play.

The game will be broadcast across the state of Nebraska on the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, 1110 KFAB in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as on TuneIn Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

The Huskers look to continue on a roll at Pinnacle Bank Arena, as they are 18-1 since moving into the facility following an 80-67 win over Omaha Tuesday night. Nebraska is riding an 11-game home win streak dating back to last January.

On Tuesday, the Huskers received an outstanding performance from Shavon Shields, who had a career-high 35 points, including four 3-pointers, and eight rebounds. The junior wing is second in the Big Ten at 23.5 points per game and is sixth in rebounding at 8.0 per game. Shields was one of three Huskers in double figures in the win over UNO.
Nebraska has been strong offensively, putting up 80 or more points in each of its first three home games, the first time since the 1995-96 season that Nebraska has scored at least 80 points in its first three home games. It is also the first time since 2006-07 that the Huskers have scored 80 or more points in three consecutive home contests.

Tennessee-Martin comes to town riding a three-game win streak following a 74-56 win at Bethune Cookman on Tuesday. Tonight’s game will be the second of six straight road games for the Skyhawks, as they will not play another home game until Dec. 20. UT-Martin is coached by Heath Schroyer, who served as the head coach of Wyoming for four seasons while Nebraska Coach Tim Miles was at Colorado State.