Huskers Open with Omaha Monday

#22/#22 Nebraska Cornhuskers 

vs. Omaha Mavericks

Monday, November 7, 2022, Noon (CT)

Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, Nebraska

Live Video: B1G+
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (11:45 a.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (107.3 FM), Omaha (ESPN 590 AM)
Huskers.com, Huskers App
Special Event: Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally

Huskers Open Regular Season with Mavericks 

The Nebraska women’s basketball team tips off its 2022-23 regular season by taking on Omaha on Monday, Nov. 7 in Lincoln. Tip-off between the Huskers and Mavericks at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for Noon. The game follows Nebraska’s annual Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally, which will welcome more than 2,000 middle grades students from around the state, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Doors to Pinnacle Bank Arena will open at 11 a.m.

A live video stream of the game will be available to subscribers of B1G+, while fans can listen to the call of Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on the Huskers Radio Network (B107.3 FM in Lincoln, and ESPN 590 AM in Omaha) and on the Huskers App and Huskers.com. It will be Coatney and Griesch’s 700th game together as the broadcast team for Nebraska women’s basketball.

Tickets for the game are available through the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED.

Nebraska enters 2022-23 ranked No. 22 in both Associated Press and USA Today/WBCA Top 25 preseason rankings.

The Huskers will be led on the court by 2022 second-team All-Big Ten selections Jaz Shelley and Alexis Markowski along with three-year captain and two-time honorable-mention All-Big Ten choice Isabelle Bourne. Shelley, one of 20 candidates for the 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award presented to the nation’s best shooting guard, was also a Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection by the league media. Markowski, one of 20 candidates for the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award presented to the nation’s top center, was the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a preseason first-team All-Big Ten choice.

The Huskers were set to return five starters from their 2022 NCAA Tournament team that finished 24-9 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten, but graduate guard Sam Haiby suffered a knee injury in a September workout. Haiby’s injury was originally feared to be season-ending, but when she went in for surgery Oct. 27, it was determined that the damage was far less significant than originally expected and she could return to the court this season. No timeline for her return has been set.

Haiby, a 5-9 guard from Moorhead, Minn., is the only player in Husker history to achieve the combined career milestones of 1,000 points (1,381), 500 rebounds (532) and 400 assists (414).

The temporary absence of Haiby could lead to a faster path to maturity for sophomore Allison Weidner. The 5-10 guard from Humphrey, Neb., started nine games last season, including NU’s final eight contests. In her nine starts, she averaged 9.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Newcomer Maddie Krull could play a significant role. The 5-9 guard from Omaha spent two seasons starting all 60 games for a pair of NCAA Tournament teams at South Dakota. In 2021-22, the Millard South grad helped USD to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen after winning Summit League regular-season and tournament titles. She was a member of the 2021 Summit League All-Newcomer Team.

Nebraska is also excited for the return of fourth-year guard Trinity Brady. The 5-11 junior started the first two games of 2020-21 before suffering an ankle injury that kept her out for the rest of the season. She missed all of 2021-22 with injuries.

The Huskers also return experienced contributors Annika Stewart, Kendall Coley and Kendall Moriarty, while welcoming Nailah Dillard to the court. Dillard has missed two seasons with injuries.

#22/#22 Nebraska Cornhuskers (24-9, 11-7 Big Ten)

34 – Isabelle Bourne – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 11.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6-3 – So. – C/F – 12.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg

1 – Jaz Shelley – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 13.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg

2 – Trinity Brady – 5-11 – So. – G – Injured

3 – Allison Weidner – 5-10 – So. – G – 7.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg

Off the Bench

4 – Sam Haiby – 5-9 – Gr. – G – 11.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg

42 – Maddie Krull (USD) – 5-9 – So. – G – 6.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg

21 – Annika Stewart – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 5.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6-2 – Fr. – F/G – 2.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6-1 – Fr. – G – 1.5 ppg, 0.4 rpg

24 – Nailah Dillard – 5-10 – Gr. – G – Injured

14 – Callin Hake – 5-9 – Fr. – G – HS

44 – Maggie Mendelson – 6-5 – Fr. – F/C – HS

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

Six Seasons at Nebraska (96-84); 15 Seasons Overall (289-193)

Omaha Mavericks (7-19, 3-14 Summit League)

5 – Elena Pilakouta – 6-3 – Gr. – C – 9.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg

1 – Deanay Watson (SEMO) – 5-10 – Gr. – G – 10.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg

2 – Sam Mitchell – 5-6 – Sr. – G – 5.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg

14 – Katie Keitges – 5-8 – Jr. – G – 4.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg

20 – Grace Cave – 5-7 – So. – G – 7.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Off the Bench

21 – Kennedi Grant – 5-7 – So. – G – 4.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg

00 – Aaliyah Stanley (FGCU) – 5-6 – Sr. – G – 3.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg

24 – Morgann Gardner – 6-2 – So. – F – 1.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg

3 – Akili Felici – 5-10 – RJr. – G – DNP

10 – Jaylen Townsend – 5-8 – Jr. – G – JUCO

4 – Polina Nikulochkina – 5-7 – Jr. – G – JUCO

23 – Ana Nikulochkina – 5-6 – Jr. – G – JUCO

11 – Eviyon Richardson – 5-10 – Fr. – F – HS

54 – Brooklyn Smith – 6-2 – Fr. – C – HS

Head Coach: Carrie Banks (Detroit Mercy, 2000)

Third Season at Omaha (14-32); Third Season Overall (14-32)

Opener with Omaha Features Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally

Nebraska’s regular-season opener with Omaha is set for Monday, Nov. 7 at noon, and will include the annual Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally.

The 2022 Nebraska Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally, which is co-sponsored by the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame, features positive messages from Husker student-athletes, coaches and athletic administrators. This year, the Huskers are expecting more than 2,000 students and more than 200 accompanying staff members from 42 schools across the state of Nebraska.

The 2022 opener marks the fourth time (2013, 2019, 2021) that Pinnacle Bank Arena and Nebraska women’s basketball have teamed with the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame to host the Pep Rally for 6th through 8th grade students. The students and accompanying staff are provided complimentary water from Pepsi and pizza from Nebraska Athletics.

The Sportsmanship Pep Rally is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on the main court at Pinnacle Bank Arena and features messages from Nebraska Head Coach Amy Williams and Husker women’s basketball players Jaz Shelley and Maddie Krull, along with appearances by Huskers Travis Vokolek (Football), Passmore Mudundulu and Mikey Hoffer (Track & Field), Ally Batenhorst and Lexi Rodriguez (Volleyball), Mya Felder and Sydney Gray (Softball) and a special performances by Champions Forever/Spintacular. The Sportsmanship Pep Rally is expected to conclude at 10:45 a.m.

Valentine Middle School students will be making the longest journey to Lincoln, nearly five hours and just over 300 miles, while Chambers students will travel nearly 190 miles to the Star City for the Sportsmanship Pep Rally. A strong representation of Northeast, Southeast and Central Nebraska community schools will also be on hand.

As of Nov. 1, Nebraska had sold 3,541 tickets for the game with Omaha, which will be added to the 2,459 students (2,233) and accompanying staff members (226), which could push official attendance to 6,000 for the opener.

The largest opening day crowd (9,750) in school history came with the first game ever at Pinnacle Bank Arena against UCLA on Nov. 8, 2013. The No. 2 opening-day crowd came with 5,584 fans in the final season opener in the history of the Devaney Center on Nov. 9, 2012 (North Carolina A&T).

The previous largest crowd associated with the Nebraska Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally at Pinnacle Bank Arena came with 5,250 for the opener against Alabama A&M on Nov. 6, 2019, which was the third-largest opening day crowd in Nebraska women’s basketball history. 

Last season, with the first game in the return of fans after COVID-19, the Sportsmanship Pep Rally game against Maine attracted 4,476 fans.

Scouting the Omaha Mavericks

Third-year head coach Carrie Banks brings Omaha to Lincoln to battle the Huskers. Banks is very familiar with the Big Ten Conference. She spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State under Kevin McGuff (2016-2020) after spending three seasons (2013-16) at Northwestern under Head Coach Joe McKeown.

Omaha must replace the loss of its leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago, Mariah Murdie. The 6-3 forward averaged 10.7 points and 6.7 rebounds while playing a team-high 690 minutes over 26 games (25 starts) last season, but chose to shift her attention to volleyball for the Mavs this year.

The Mavs also lost 6-0 forward Josie Filer (6.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg; transfer to UIC), 5-6 guard Natalie Bartle (6.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg; transfer to Finlandia) and 5-5 guard Alexis Pratt (6.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg; transfer to University of St. Thomas), who ranked second on the team with 686 minutes played while leading the team with 2.3 assists per game. Part-time starter and 5-10 guard Sophie Johnston (3.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg) and 5-8 guard Lauren Frost (3.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg; transfer to Central Missouri) are also gone.

Omaha returns four starters from last year’s squad that finished 7-19 overall and 3-14 in the Summit League. Graduate center Elena Pilakouta (Nicosia, Cyprus) is Omaha’s top returning player, averaging 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard Grace Cave (Weeping Water) returns the most production in the backcourt after averaging 7.4 points and 2.8 rebounds as a freshman. Cave led UNO with 23 three-pointers (.319) on the season while ranking second on the squad in assists (1.9 apg) and steals (1.3 spg).

Junior Katie Keitges started 20 games for the Mavs last season, the most by a returning player to this year’s team. Keitges, a 5-8 guard from Knoxville, Iowa, averaged 4.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, while ranking second on the team with 20 made threes (.323) on the season.

Senior Sam Mitchell rounds out Omaha’s returning starters after averaging 5.9 points over 17 games with 11 starts. Mitchell knocked down 19 threes (.284) last season. The 5-6 guard from Downers Grove, Ill., spent her first two seasons at UAB before transferring to Omaha prior to last season.

Omaha also returns sophomores Kennedi Grant (4.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg) and Morgann Gardner (1.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg) who both saw signifcant playing time off the bench a year ago.

The Mavs are hoping for instant impacts to the lineup being made by transfers Deanay Watson and Aaliyah Stanley. Watson, a 5-10 graduate guard, spent the last two seasons at Southeast Missouri State. Last season, Watson averaged 10.9 points and 5.6 rebounds while starting 27 of 29 games for the Redhawks. She hit better than 50 percent of her shots from the field, including 48 percent (12-25) of her three-pointers, but SEMO finished 6-23 overall and 2-16 in the Ohio Valley.

Stanley, a 5-6 senior guard from Boynton Beach, Fla., began her career at Eastern Michigan, averaging 12.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 steals over 18 games as a freshman in 2019-20. She transferred to Florida Gulf Coast and averaged 9.6 points per game as a sophomore. She knocked down 51 threes (.381) and nearly 85 percent of her free throws. She also claimed a spot on the 2021 ASUN All-Tournament Team by averaging 15.5 points per game over three games. Last season, she played in just 14 games at FGCU and averaged just 8.5 minutes per game. She averaged 3.1 points and hit just 8-of-33 three-point attempts (.242).

In addition to its two NCAA Division I transfers, the Mavs add a trio of junior college transfers. Russians Ana and Polina Nikulochkina were all-conference guards at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College last season, averaging in double figures. Polina hit nearly 40 percent of her threes last season, while Ana knocked down better than 30 percent of her long-range attempts. The Nikulochkinas both spent their full high school careers at West Oaks Academy in Orlando.

Jaylen Townsend adds a third junior college recruit for the Mavs. A native of Edwardsville, Ill., Townsend was an NJCAA Division II Second-Team All-American by World Exposure Report after averaging 12.3 points per game. She helped Johnson County (Kan.) CC to a fifth-place finish in the NJCAA DII Tournament with a 34-2 overall record in 2021-22, after leading JCCC to a runner-up NJCAA DII finish in 2020-21. She hit nearly 40 percent of her threes last season. She averaged nearly 15 points per game as a freshman at Johnson County CC.

The Mavericks add a pair of true freshmen in Eviyon Richardson and Brooklyn Smith. Richardson is a 5-10 forward from Iowa City, while Smith is a 6-2 freshman center from Waterloo, Iowa.

Nebraska vs. Omaha Series History

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Omaha, 16-9, including a 66-58 win at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Nov. 22, 2016, in what was Amy Williams‘ fourth game as head coach of the Huskers. The game is the only meeting between the schools as Division I opponents. Nebraska rolled to an 80-44 win over the Division II Mavericks on Nov. 26, 2010. UNO announced its intentions to move up to NCAA Division I in March of 2011.

Last season, Nebraska competed against Omaha in a closed scrimmage at Pinnacle Bank Arena prior to exhibition play.

Huskers Shut Down Ichabods in Exhibition

Alexis Markowski produced a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while fellow post Isabelle Bourne pitched in 12 points and eight boards, as Nebraska worked its way to a 70-27 exhibition women’s basketball win over Washburn at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday, Oct. 30.

Markowski, a preseason first-team All-Big Ten choice, hit 7-of-10 shots from the field for the game, including 5-of-7 in the first half. In the second period, she went on a 9-0 run in a 2:16 stretch to turn a 21-11 Nebraska lead into a 30-11 advantage. Bourne extended the NU run with her second three-pointer of the game before adding another basket to help the Huskers cap an 18-0 second-quarter run. That Big Red surge allowed Nebraska to take a 42-13 lead to halftime.

Bourne (3) and Markowski (2) also combined for five of Nebraska’s seven blocked shots on the day, while both added steals. 

Sophomore Annika Stewart pitched in nine points off the bench for the Big Red, as the Huskers outscored the Ichabods 38-14 in the paint.

In the backcourt, sophomore Kendall Moriarty scored seven points while adding three rebounds and three assists. Allison Weidner contributed six points and six rebounds, while Maddie Krull added six points of her own on a pair of three-pointers.

All-Big Ten guard Jaz Shelley managed four points and a game-high four assists in just 23 minutes, while Trinity Brady added five points, four boards and two assists. Freshman Callin Hake rounded out the scoring for Nebraska with three points to go along with six rebounds and a pair of assists in just 15 minutes. Kendall Coley also contributed three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

As a team, Nebraska hit 41.5 percent (27-65) of its shots from the field, including 8-of-23 three-pointers (.348). The Huskers held Washburn to just 17.8 percent (8-45) shooting, including just 1-of-16 three-pointers. Aubree Dewey led the Ichabods with eight points, while freshman Gabi Artis pitched in seven points.

Nebraska controlled the boards, 49-33, and won the turnover battle, 21-10.