To no one’s surprise, the Nebraska women’s basketball team vacuumed up the two biggest honors from the Big 12 Conference on Monday.

Connie Yori won the league’s Coach of the Year award. Senior forward Kelsey Griffin won Player of the Year. Griffin, along with senior guard Vonnie Turner and senior forward Cory Montgomery, also appeared on the Big 12’s first team. Junior forward Dominique Kelley grabbed an honorable mention, while point guard Lindsey Moore landed on the All-Freshman team.

And so each member of NU’s starting five - the lifeblood of a 29-0 regular season - won an honor of some kind. Turner was named co-Defensive Player of the Year with Baylor freshman Brittany Griner, and joined Griffin on the All-Defense Team.

The glue was Griffin, who averaged 20.4 points and 10.4 rebounds after returning from reconstructive ankle surgery. The 6-foot-2 native of Eagle River, Alaska, is the second Husker, after forward Karen Jennings, to capture the conference Player of the Year. It’s also her third appearance on the All-Big 12 first team, as well.

"Coming to Nebraska out of high school from Alaska five years ago, I never imagined this would be possible," Griffin said. "Actually, I never even imagined that I would be All-Big 12, let alone a player-of-the-year candidate. There have been so many great players in the conference during my time here.”

Griffin was lightly regarded as a recruit.

“Great example of why recruiting is not an exact science,” Yori said. “From the moment she walked on campus, she has set herself apart in her work ethic to make herself the best player that she can be, and that has been a daily process for her.”

Yori won her second league coach-of-the-year award. She won at Creighton in 2002, as well. NU went from a 15-16 last year to one of the nation’s best.

"I've got great players to work with every day who have given everything they can to make this program great," Yori said. "I am thankful I get to work with them every day because not every team is like this group. These honors aren't given to coaches because they are smarter than anybody else. They are given because their players buy into team concepts."

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In reality, the challenger doesn’t have to knock out the reigning champ for the title belt.

The No. 3 Nebraska women’s basketball team, at 25-0 overall and 12-0 in the Big 12 Conference, has probably accumulated enough wins to win the regular season league title. If not, then NU will once it likely beats Kansas and Missouri at home in the next week.

But Wednesday’s 7:05 p.m. game at No. 10 Oklahoma offers the Cornhuskers a chance to dethrone the defending league champs - winners of three of the last four, in fact - on their home court. NU hasn’t won in Norman in 12 years. Hasn’t beaten the Sooners at all in five.

“They’re going to want to win that game,” Nebraska head coach Connie Yori said. “And they’re not going to want to let us win the conference championship on their home court. They’re still in the hunt. It means a lot to them, and it means a lot to us.”

In their history, the Huskers own just one conference title, a 1988 Big Eight crown, the trophy for which sits on the main concourse of the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Yori talked pointedly Tuesday about NU’s relatively empty trophy case.

“It’s been a long run of middle-of-the-pack,” she said. “It’s been a long run of, at times, lower-than-middle-of-the-pack. There hasn’t been a long history here.”

Meanwhile, OU (19-7 and 9-3) has dominated the Big 12 with help of the Paris twins, Courtney and Ashley, who graduated last year after a Final Four berth. The Sooners have only a remote shot at the league crown this year, needing to beat four NCAA Tournament teams in a row - NU, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State - coupled with three Husker losses.

That won’t make winning in Norman much easier. Expect 11,000 fans in the Lloyd Noble Center, and a fast, athletic Oklahoma team that runs the floor and challenges opponents much like Nebraska does. OU boasts the league’s toughest non-conference schedule, too, losing games to Notre Dame, Tennessee and Connecticut, the last of which beat the Sooners 76-60 in Norman last Monday - but trailed in the second half.

“They’re not afraid of anyone,” Yori said. “They’re not going to wilt.”

Nebraska will try to press OU to exploit its lack of depth. The Sooners lost a starter, guard Whitney Hand, to a torn ACL six games into the season.

“We’re going to do what we’ve always done: Wear down teams,” freshman guard Lindsey Moore said. “It’s hard to run with us.”

OU will counter with a lineup that averages 41 rebounds per game and savvv point guard Danielle Robinson, who’s averaging 17 points and five assists this season. Not a 3-point shooter, Robinson scored 36 in a 77-66 win over Oklahoma State, and shoots 86 percent from the line.

“Extraordinary quickness,” Yori said of Robinson. “Extraordinary speed. Plays with great tenacity.”

NU senior “hound” Vonnie Turner will draw the key defensive assignment.

“It’s going to be on my back,” Turner said. “She’s very smart.”

Turner expects OU’s “A game.” Nebraska sees it often these days. Yori makes a habit of watching opponents during warm-ups, and has noticed an added focus in the layup line. It’s made teams like Kansas, Missouri and Colorado more competitive in games with NU than their records would suggest.

“We’re getting everybody’s best shot,” she said.

Wednesday, players agree, Nebraska will be ready to deliver theirs. The one-game-at-a-time mentality still applies, of course. But NU can release the pressure of the Big 12 slate by finishing off OU. It can then begin to prepare for the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments in earnest and use its last two home games as a celebration of a great season - instead of a weight to lift.

The boggart of the Big 12, Oklahoma, is the last hurdle. Maybe the biggest one.

“It’s not just for trophies,” Turner said. “ (It’s) for memories.”

See also: Five Keys to OU

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No. 3 Nebraska’s 60-50 win over No. 13 Iowa State in women basketball was defined ironically by its point guards: What ISU’s Alison Lacey couldn’t do vs. what NU’s Lindsey Moore did.

Lacey, the Cyclones’ senior leader and arguably the best point guard in the Big 12, sat out Wednesday night’s game with a mild concussion.

“We obviously caught a break, but we also had to take advantage of it,” Nebraska head coach Connie Yori said.

The Cornhuskers did, forcing 24 turnovers.

Meanwhile, Moore, a pass-first true freshman, had the best game of her young, promising career, hitting four 3-pointers en route to 18 points. Purposely left open by Iowa State’s defense, Moore busted through a season-long shooting slump on a night when forward Kelsey Griffin and guard Vonnie Turner combined for just 19 points.

“Every point she scored was my fault,” ISU coach Bill Fennelly said. “They were told not to guard her.”

Said Moore: “The ball was coming out of hands pretty well, and I started getting into a rhythm.”

It takes all kinds of heroes in a historic season; Nebraska, now 24-0 overall and 11-0 in the Big 12, broke a school record for wins in a single season while 11,000 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center grind down and finally finish off a smart, tough Cyclone team.

“This team isn’t just about one player, and we win games as a team,” said Griffin, who was frequently double and tripled-teamed by ISU. “That obviously showed tonight. We have a freshman who can step up and make great plays.”

And Yori can claim she saw it coming. For months, she’s insisted Moore was not only a good shooter, but possibly Nebraska’s best. That seemed odd given that Moore had only made 20 percent of her 3-point attempts heading into Wednesday night.

But in a five-minute stretch after Iowa State (19-5 and 7-4) had erased NU’s 27-19 halftime advantage and taken a 34-33 lead, Moore hit three treys to help give the Huskers a 47-40 cushion. The Cyclones never got closer than three points after that.

“She got in the gym the last few days, got a little confidence playing on our rims and knocked those babies down,” Yori said.

ISU was redeemed by a 34-24 rebounding advantage and hitting ten 3-pointers. More than half of its shots came from beyond arc. Without Lacey, the Cyclones rarely tried to test the interior of NU’s defense.

Turner, while hitting just 3 of 10 shots, accounted for four steals and forced many more turnovers on top of it.

“When you take away your point guard, your leading scorer, your primary ball handler, everyone else has to play at a much higher level,” Fennelly said. “And that didn’t happen. And Nebraska had a lot do with that.”

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Unsurprisingly, Nebraska's women's basketball team smacked Davidson in its season-opener 86-62, as 12 Cornhuskers played double-digits in a lopsided, sloppy contest.

NU (1-0) jumped to a 22-6 lead by hitting its first nine shots. Freshman guard Lindsey Moore scored the first points of the season by draining a 15-foot jumper right after tip-off. She finished with five points and eight assists.

Kelsey Griffin led the Huskers with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor. Nebrasks nailed eight 3-pointers; Vonnie Turner draining a trio. After a 46-26 halftime lead, head coach Connie Yori played a variety of subs in the second half, and the game turned a little sloppy, as NU and Davidson (0-1) combined for 50 turnovers.

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Five keys to the non-conference season for NU's women's basketball team, which opens plays Friday vs, Davidson.

Kelsey's Killer Instinct: Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin is plenty hungry after a season on the shelf, and her enthusiasm can help sweep the Huskers up into a red-hot start. NU has enough experience around Griffin, too, to fall right in line. The Huskers are getting a smarter, hungrier, healthier player than they had at the beginning of last year. That can't help be but a good thing.

The Prep Star: Freshman point guard Lindsey Moore is arguably the most decorated recruit of Connie Yori's tenure, and she'll be able to contribute in a controlled-but-effective role. NU already so many seasoned guards that Moore, unlike her male counterpart in Lance Jeter, won't be called upon to run the team. But Moore is definitely a spark plug with an extra gear in the passing department.

Staying Healthy: It simply goes without saying usually, but, with Yori's bunch, you have to say it. Injuries, really, are the only thing that holds these Huskers back from being a top 25 club.

Slaying the Tigers: LSU is Nebraska's marquee home game of the non-conference season; the Tigers should be in the top ten by the time the game rolls around Dec. 20. NU will have a full week to prepare for the game, and should give LSU its best shot.

Consistent shooting: Nebraska needs its 3-point shooters to post slightly better numbers than the 33 percent they nailed last year. Griffin's presence in the post should help free up those shots. Griffin herself can shoot them a little better, as well.

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