MU holds onto streak

LINCOLN, Neb. — Missouri coach Cindy Stein can’t help but like the way the Tigers’ women’s basketball team is playing, but Wednesday night she had one caution for her team in their Big 12 Conference game at Nebraska.

“We’ve figured out that if we just play hard, good things will happen. Their mentality has just been really strong,” Stein said. “We talked a lot at halftime about how they were working their tails off, but a little bit too eager.”

The Tigers made sure they didn’t get too carried away.

Carlynn Savant scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half and No. 24 Missouri beat Nebraska 64-58 at the Devaney Center.

Savant opened the second half with a jumper, sparking a 14-4 run that erased Nebraska’s 29-27 halftime lead. Christelle N’Garsanet scored inside and Savant also hit a 3-pointer during the spurt.

“They started the second half blazing,” Stein said, “and Carlynn hit some big second-half shots for us.”

The Cornhuskers (10-4, 2-1 Big 12) pulled within one, but the Tigers (13-2, 3-0) scored the next seven points, taking a 41-33 lead on LaToya Bond’s jumper with 15:09 left.

Bond hit another jumper to give Missouri its biggest lead of the game at 59-50 with 2:05 left. The Tigers went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 17 seconds earn their 12th straight victory.

Bond led the Tigers with 21 points, while N’Garsanet finished with 16.

Kelsey Griffin scored 16 points for Nebraska. Kiera Hardy had 14 and Chelsea Aubrey added 11.

The Tigers jumped to an early 7-3 lead on a 15-foot baseline jumper from Savant, and a 3-point play and fastbreak layup by Bond.

After that neither team had more than a 3-point lead in the first half, but five straight Nebraska free throws put the Cornhuskers ahead at halftime.