Theriot leads No. 15 Cornhuskers back in 71-66 victory over UCLA

LOS ANGELES – Rachel Theriot scored 24 points as No. 15 Nebraska erased a double-digit first-half deficit and rallied to defeat UCLA 71-66 Friday.

Emily Cady scored 18 points and Tear'a Laudermill added 15 as the Cornhuskers improved to 5-0.

With the score tied at 56-56 with 4:13 left, Nebraska outscored UCLA 15-10 down the stretch, highlighted by Brandi Jeffrey's 3-pointer and Theriot's eight free throws, to secure the win.

Jordin Canada scored 14 points and Kari Korver added 13 points for the Bruins (0-4), who shot 34.2 percent but outrebounded the Cornhuskers 39-36.

The Bruins held the Cornhuskers scoreless over 4-minutes span midway through the first half and went on a 15-2 run to build a double-digit lead.

Nirra Fields drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to boost UCLA's lead to 20-8 with 10:26 left in the opening half. The Cornhuskers cut it to 10 but Fields and Corinne Costa led another Bruins surge. Costa's basket gave the Bruins a 33-17 lead with 4:01 to play in the half.

However, Nebraska did not allow the Bruins to score for the remainder of the half and went on a 9-0 run. Laudermill hit two 3-pointers to close the gap to 33-26 at intermission.

TIP-INS

UCLA: Nirra Fields leads the Bruins in scoring with 22.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. However, UCLA has committed 20 turnovers per game to start the season.

Nebraska: Coach Connie Yori is in her 13th season at Nebraska and is the winningest coach in Cornhuskers history (245-142). Yori previously coached 10 years at Creighton and overall her career record in 24 seasons is 441-282. She was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

UP NEXT

UCLA hosts Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Nebraska hosts Northern Colorado on Sunday.