The quicker, more athletic Kentucky Wildcats ended Nebraska's record-breaking season.A'dia Mathies scored 21 points and fourth-seeded Kentucky roared past the top-seed Cornhuskers 76-67 on Sunday night and into the finals of the Kansas City Regional.
The Wildcats (28-7), extending their school-record win total, opened the second half on an 11-1 run and led by as many as 19 points over the Big 12 champion Huskers, who saw an abrupt end to the most successful season in the history of their own program.
Several thousand red-clad Nebraska fans tried to help fuel a late rally by the Huskers (32-2) when Lindsey Moore's 3-pointer cut the lead to 68-56 with 3:52 to go. But the Wildcats, picked 11th in the Southeastern Conference preseason poll, held on to make their first regional final, where they'll meet Oklahoma.
"They came out and got us on our heals," said Nebraska coach Connie Yori. "We just couldn't get back to who we were all season until the latter part of the game."
Dominique Kelley had 22 points for Nebraska and Kelsey Griffin added 15 points and 12 rebounds. Victoria Dunlop, the SEC player of the year, had 18 points and seven rebounds for Kentucky and Keyla Snowden had 13 points, including 3 of 4 3-pointers.
But it was Kentucky's quick, swarming pressure defense that made the difference. The Huskers, taller and more experienced, knew the Wildcats would harass them with pressure and quickness, but they still had to take shots they did not want to shoot and make passes they did not want to make.
"They did everything we asked of them tonight," said Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell. "We just wanted to play with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. That's been our formula for success all season."
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