The Nebraska women’s basketball team is officially on a winning streak.
Coming off three-straight loses to ranked opponents in early January, the Huskers have responded with three key victories in a row to garner momentum going into the heart of Big Ten play, including a close 69-62 win over Rutgers last time out on the road.
NU overcame the game-high 33 points from star freshman Kiyomi McMiller who went 14-for-28 from the field and five three pointers. Tied going into the fourth quarter, the Huskers limited the Scarlet Knights to 33.3% shooting from the field while NU went 7-for-13 (53.8%) to pull away late and earn its first true road win of the season.
Five-star freshman Britt Prince poured in a career-high 24 points while Alexis Markowski added 14 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. Plus, Jessica Petrie chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.
However, the win came at a huge cost as guard Allison Weidner suffered her third career season-ending injury as announced by the team on Tuesday. It’s another brutal blow for this Huskers squad who have already lost reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Natalie Potts. The team will have to recover quickly, as they hit the road once again.
Here’s all you need to know as Nebraska takes a visit to Iowa City Thursday night.
How to Follow Along
Iowa Scout
Head Coach: Jan Jensen | 25th Season at Iowa (AC); 1st as HC | 12-5 (.706) at Iowa & Career | As Assistant: 23x NCAA Tournament Appearances, 2x Final Fours, 3x Elite Eights, 5x Sweet 16s | 5x Conference Regular Season titles (2x B1G, 3x MVC) 9x Conference Tournament titles (5x B1G, 4x MVC) | Previous assistant at Iowa and Drake.
2023-24 Record: 34-5 (15-3 B1G, T-2nd) | 1x All-American, B1G Player OTY, 1x All-B1G First Team, 2x Al1-B1G Second Team | NCAA Runner-Up; L, 87-75 to South Carolina.
All-Time Series: Iowa leads 26-14 (2024 B1G Tournament Championship last matchup, 94-89, OT, Iowa).
Key Returners: Hannah Stuelke, F, Jr. | Sydney Affolter, G, Sr. | Addison O’Grady, F/C, Sr. | Taylor McCabe, G, Jr. | Kylie Feuerbach, G, RS-Sr. | AJ Ediger, F, Sr.
Key Additions: Lucy Olsen, G, Sr. (Villanova) | Aaliyah Guyton, G, Fr. (Recruit) | Teagan Mallegni, G, Fr. (Recruit) | Ava Heiden, C, Fr. (Recruit) | Taylor Stremlow, G, Fr. (Recruit).
Key Departures: Caitlin Clark, G (WNBA Draft) | Kate Martin, G (WNBA Draft) | Gabbie Marshall, G (Eligibility) | Molly Davis, G (Eligibility) | Sharon Goodman, C.
Outlook: It’s a new era for Iowa women’s basketball who said goodbye to one of the best college basketball players and coaches of all-time in Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder who combined to lead the Hawkeyes to back-to-back NCAA Runner-Up finishes and 65 wins over the past two seasons.
25-year assistant coach Jan Jensen takes over for her first season as a head coach and has Iowa out to a solid start despite a 2-4 conference record with losses to No. 17 Michigan State, No. 8 Maryland, Illinois and Indiana.
Aside from Clark, fellow guard Kate Martin was a major loss with her team leadership and 13.1 PPG. But Jansen had a solid core to build around with the return of second-leading scorer and 2024 All-Big Ten Second Team pick Hannah Stuelke. She’s second on the team once again with 12.8 PPG and a team-leading 7.7 RPG. After coming off the bench in 38 of the 39 games last season, Addison O’Grady has developed into an impact starter with 12.5 PPG and five rebounds per contest. Fremont native and three-point sniper Taylor McCabe averages over seven points a game and shoots 46.8% from deep.
There’s no replacing Clark, but the Hawkeyes brought in one of the top transfers of last season’s cycle in Villanova guard Lucy Olsen who’s leading the team with 16.4 PPG and 4.9 APG. Iowa has leaned on its development of several role players from last season with Olson being the only impact transfer. True freshman Teagan Mallegni has played in all 17 games while fellow first-year guard Aaiyah Guyton has seen playing time with 4.8 PPG.
The defense has been a sore spot for the Hawkeyes who are tied for fifth in the Big Ten in allowing 75.1 PPG while being in the bottom half in three-point percentage (32.1%), rebounding (39.8 RPG) and turnovers (16.6 per game). It’s tough to predict what type of performance we’ll see from the Huskers, who may be dealing with the emotional fallout of losing its second key member for the season while having to adjust their gameplans with Weidner no longer in the lineup. I give the slight edge to Iowa being at home, but this is close enough on paper to swing either way.
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