Huskers Tip 2021-22 With Maine

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Maine Black Bears

Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, Noon (CT)

Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, Nebraska

Tickets: Huskers.com / 800-8-BIG-RED
Special Event: Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally
Live Video: B1G+ (subscription required)
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (11:45 a.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (B107.3 FM), Omaha (ESPN 590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Huskers Tip season with America East Power Maine

The Nebraska women’s basketball team tips off its 2021-22 regular season by taking on traditional America East Conference power Maine at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at Noon (CT).

The battle between the Huskers and Black Bears in the second meeting in series history is set for a special Noon (CT) tip-off, with a live video stream provided for subscribers of B1G+. A live radio broadcast will be produced by the Huskers Radio Network with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on the call together for the 21st season. The radio broadcast also can be accessed for free on Huskers.com and the Huskers App. 

The noon tip time follows the return of the Nebraska Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The special event, co-sponsored by the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame, features approximately a 90-minute program that will include Nebraska Director of Athletics Trev Alberts, Head Coach Amy Williams, All-Big Ten guard Sam Haiby, volleyball players Madi Kubik and Kenzie Knuckles, bowling All-American and national champion Cassidy Ray and Nebraska baseball Big Ten champions Max Anderson and Brice Matthews. More than 1,500 middle grades students from nearly 30 school districts across Nebraska are scheduled to attend.

The rally will features messages about the importance of dealing with change, connecting with others, the value of teamwork, goal-settting, believing in yourself and the people around you, competing on a daily basis, and developing into a leader. 

Because of the Pep Rally, which will last from 9:30 to 11 a.m., the doors to Pinnacle Bank Arena will not be open to the public until 11 a.m., rather than the standard 90-minute pregame opening.

Nebraska opened its 2021-22 campaign with an 87-42 victory over Midland University in the Huskers’ only exhibition game of the season on Monday, Nov. 1 at Pinnacle Bank Arena. 

True freshman Alexis Markowski led four Huskers in double figures by nearly posting a double-double with game highs of 15 points and nine rebounds in less than 17 minutes of action.

Newcomer Jaz Shelley added 14 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting to go along with a game-high six assists in less than 17 minutes of play. 

Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

14 – Bella Cravens – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 6.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg

34 – Isabelle Bourne – 6-2 – So. – F – 13.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg

0 – Ashley Scoggin – 5-7 – RSo. – G – 8.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg

1 – Jaz Shelley – 5-9 – So. – G – 4.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg

4 – Sam Haiby – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 16.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg

Off the Bench

2 – Trinity Brady – 5-11 – So. – G – 8.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg

21 – Annika Stewart – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 6.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg    

11 – Ruby Porter – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 4.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg

10 – Whitney Brown – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 3.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg

5 – MiCole Cayton – 5-9 – Gr./RJr. – G – 2.7 ppg, 0.9 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6-2 – Fr. – F/G – 1.9 ppg, 1.0 rpg 

3 – Allison Weidner – 5-10 – Fr. – G – High School

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6-1 – Fr. – G – High School

33 – Tatiana Popa – 6-5 – Fr. – C/F – High School

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6-3 – Fr. – F/C – High School

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

Sixth Season at Nebraska (72-75); 15th Season Overall (265-184)

Maine Black Bears (0-0, 0-0 America East)

0 – Sera Hodgson – 5-11 – Fr. – G – High School    

5 – Maeve Carroll – 5-11 – Gr. – F – 10.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg

3 – Anne Simon – 5-8 – Jr. – G – 12.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg

4 – Alba Orois – 5-7 – So. – G – 3.6 ppg, 1.1 rpg

13 – Caroline Bornemann – 5-10 – So. – G/F –  0.7 ppg, 0.6 rpg

Off the Bench

23 – Abbe Laurence – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 2.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg

1 – Olivia Rockwood – 5-5 – So. – G – 0.7 ppg, 0.8 rpg

10 – Anna Kahelin – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 0.4 ppg, 0.5 rpg

12 – Katie White – 6-2 – So. – F – 0.2 ppg, 0.3 rpg

2 – Lexi Mittelstadt – 5-8 – So. – G – 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg

15 – Paula Gallego – 6-1 – Fr. – G – High School

20 – Penelope Castillo – 5-11 – Fr. – F – High School

21 – Bailey Wilborn – 5-8 – Fr. – G – High School

33 – Adrianna Smith – 5-10 – Fr. – F – High School

Head Coach: Amy Vachon (Maine, 2000)

Sixth Season at Maine (94-42); Sixth Season Overall (94-42)

Highlighting the 2021-22 Huskers

• Nebraska returns five starters and 10 letterwinners from its 2020-21 team that advanced to the round of 16 in the Postseason WNIT after knocking off five top-25 opponents during the regular season. The Huskers finished with a 13-13 overall record that included a 9-10 Big Ten mark.

• Nebraska’s top two returning players are second-team All-Big Ten guard Sam Haiby (Moorhead, Minn.) and honorable-mention All-Big Ten forward Isabelle Bourne (Canberra, Australia). 

• Haiby was the only Big Ten player to rank among the conference’s top 15 in scoring (11th, 16.8 ppg), rebounding (15th, 6.8 rpg) and assists (8th, 4.4 apg) in 2020-21. 

• Bourne showed her versatility in a breakout 2020-21 season, averaging 13.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. One of the top power forwards in the Big Ten, Bourne also started games on the wing when the Huskers were short-handed because of injuries midway through the 2020-21 season.

• The Big Red do not expect to be short-handed again in 2021-22. Ashley Scoggin (Dallas, Ore.) returns to the backcourt after starting every game in her first year at Nebraska. She averaged 8.5 points and 2.3 assists while leading Nebraska with 43 three-pointers.

• Bella Cravens (Laie, Hawaii) also returns to the starting five after averaging 6.4 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds as one of the Big Ten’s most athletic post defenders.

• Ruby Porter (Adelaide, Australia) also returns for her second season at Nebraska after making 11 starts a year ago. She averaged 4.7 points and 2.4 rebounds despite being limited by injuries.

• Other returning letterwinners for Nebraska include Trinity Brady, Whitney Brown, MiCole Cayton, Annika Stewart and 2021 early enrollee Kendall Coley.

• Coley was also part of the 2020-21 signing class that includes Nebraska high school stars Alexis Markowski and Allison Weidner, that was ranked among the top 25 in the nation. Kendally Moriarty adds another true freshman who was ranked among the top 100 players nationally and was the first commit to Nebraska’s signing class. Tatiana Popa, a 6-5 center, rounds out the group of freshman.

• Nebraska’s collection of six newcomers also got a significant boost with the addition of Oregon transfer and Australian National Team point guard Jaz Shelley in April of 2021. Shelley was the only collegiate player on the Australian National Team that won bronze at the 2021 Asia Cup in Amman, Jordan, in October. She helped Oregon to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2021.

Scouting the Maine Black Bears

• Amy Vachon enters her sixth season as the head coach at Maine. Vachon owns a 94-42 overall record at Maine, including a 62-16 America East Conference mark. She is a two-time America East Coach of the Year (2018, 2019).

• Vachon split time with Richard Barron in her first season as head coach in 2016-17, after spending  five-plus seasons as an assistant at Maine. She led the Black Bears to the America East title game in 2017. Vachon was inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021, the University of Maine Hall of Fame in 2018, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

• As a player at Maine, Vachon led the Black Bears to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a 1999 first-round win over Stanford. She owns the Maine and America East records with 759 career assists.

• In 2018-19, the Black Bears had one of the best seasons in school history with a 25-8 record that included a 15-1 America East Conference mark as regular-season and tournament champions to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Maine lost 63-51 to NC State in the NCAA first round in 2019. 

• Vachon and the Black Bears are coming off a 17-3 campaign a year ago that included a 13-2 America East mark. Maine suffered a 64-60 loss to Stony Brook in the America East title game.

• The game was essentially a rematch of what was supposed to be the 2020 America East championship game, but that contest never happened because of COVID-19.

• Maine is the preseason pick to finish second in the America East behind Stony Brook in 2021-22.

• The 2021-22 Black Bears are led by junior Anne Simon, who was named to the America East Preseason All-Conference team. The 5-8 guard, who is a member of the Luxembourg National Team, averaged 12.5 points per game for Maine last season.Simon was a first-team All-America East pick in 2020-21, ranking fifth in the conference in scoring, fifth in steals (1.9 spg), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.329) and 17th in rebounding (5.2 rpg).

• The Black Bears must replace 2021 America East Offensive Player of the Year Blanca Millan, and their third-leading scorer Dor Saar, who also led Maine in assists a year ago. They also lost senior guard Kelly Fogarty, who started all 20 games a year ago.

• Millan averaged 21.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.9 steals while shooting 47.9 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from three-point range and 78 percent at the line. Saar averaged 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals while hitting a team-high 45 three-pointers. Fogarty contributed 5.5 points and 1.5 rebounds.

• Despite the three significant losses, Maine returns two-time second-team All-America East guard Maeve Carroll, who averaged 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists. In her first four seasons at Maine, Carroll has appeared in more than 100 games with more than 50 starts.

• Alba Orois, a 5-8 guard, also returns after playing in all 20 games for Maine last season. She averaged 3.6 points. Abbe Laurence appeared in 16 games with five starts, managing 2.1 points and 2.0 rebounds.

• Maine’s freshman class includes Paula Gallego (6-1, guard, Spain), Penelope Castillo (5-11, Forward, Canada), Bailey Wilborn (5-8, Guard, Kansas), Adrianna Smith (5-10, Forward, Virginia) and Sera Hodgson (5-11, Guard, New Hampshire).

• Overall, Maine’s roster has a strong international flavor with players from Canada (Castillo), Denmark (Caroline Bornemann), Finland (Anna Kahelin) and Spain (Orois & Gallego).

• Lexi Mittelstadt, a 5-8 sophomore guard from Wilton, is the only player from the state of Maine on the Black Bear roster.

• Vachon and her entire coaching staff are Maine graduates, however assistant strength coach and director of operations for women’s basketball Matt Peyton has ties to Nebraska. He was a strength and conditioning coach at Omaha for two years while earning his master’s degree. He then spent five months at Creighton before accepting a position at Maine in 2017-18. Peyton earned his bachelor’s degree from South Dakota as a biology major and was an active duty medic in the U.S. Army from 2010 to 2014.

Nebraska vs. Maine Series History

• Tuesday’s game between Nebraska and Maine will mark just the second all-time meeting between the Huskers and Black Bears.

• Maine defeated Nebraska 89-82 in Bangor, Maine on Jan. 6, 1988. That Husker squad went on to win the Big Eight title and become the first Nebraska women’s basketball team to advance to the NCAA Tournament. 

• The 1988 Huskers featured Big Eight Player of the Year Maurtice Ivy, who scored more than 2,000 career points, was the first Nebraska women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired, and was recently honored with her induction into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame in September.

• Maine was the Seaboard Conference runner-up to Boston University in 1988, before transitioning into the North Atlantic Conference in 1990. The Black Bears began play in the America East in 1997, and played in seven consecutive conference championship games through 2004. Maine did not return to the America East championship game until 2016 but has now earned six consecutive trips to the conference title game. The Black Bears won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019, but the 2020 title game with Stony Brook was canceled by COVID-19 measures.

• From 1992-93 through 1999-2000, Maine was coached by Joanne P. McCallie. From 2000-01 through 2004-05, the Black Bears were coached by Sharon Versyp. 

Opener with Maine To Feature Life Skills pep Rally

• With the return of fans to Pinnacle Bank Arena for Nebraska women’s basketball games in 2021-22, the Huskers also are excited for the return of the Nebraska Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally in advance of their season-opening game with Maine on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

• The 2021 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 to more than 1,500 students from nearly 30 school districts across the state of Nebraska. The students and accompanying staff are also provided with complimentary water from Pepsi and pizza from Nebraska Athletics.

• The Sportsmanship Pep Rally will begin at 9:30 a.m. on the main court at Pinnacle Bank Arena and will feature messages from Nebraska Vice Chancellor, Director of Athletics Trev Alberts, Head Coach Amy Williams, All-Big Ten guard Sam Haiby, Husker volleyball players Madi Kubik and Kenzie Knuckles, Nebraska baseball players Max Anderson and Brice Matthews and All-American and NCAA Champion bowler Cassidy Ray.

• The Pep Rally, which includes schools from as far away as Kimball (5 1/2 hours from Lincoln), along with schools from Northeast Nebraska, Central Nebraska and Southeast Nebraska, will last from approximately 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., and will also include a special performance from the Master of Simon Sez (Steve Max).

• Because of the Sportsmanship Pep Rally, doors to Pinnacle Bank Arena will not be open to the public until 11 a.m. for Nebraska’s Noon tip-off with Maine.

• The 2021 opener will mark the third time (also 2013 and 2019) 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 3rd through 8th grade students from around the state of Nebraska.

Husker History of Home-Opening Success

• Nebraska owns a history of season-opening success on the Huskers’ home court. NU improved to 44-3 in home season openers with the 90-61 victory over Oral Roberts on Dec. 4, 2020. 

• NU is 7-1 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in season openers, including a win over Alabama A&M (Nov. 6, 2019). The lone loss came on Nov. 7, 2018, with an 83-77 loss to Drake. In the first regular-season game in the history of Pinnacle Bank Arena, Nebraska powered its way to a 77-49 win over UCLA on Nov. 8, 2013.

• Nebraska’s only season-opening home losses have come to Drake (2018), South Dakota State (Nov. 19, 2005) and Kansas (Nov. 21, 1980).

• Nebraska has been strong in its first four home games every season. In fact, NU is 163-25 (.867) over 47 seasons in its first four home contests, including 40-7 in Game No. 2. 

• Nebraska is 38-9 in Game No. 3 and 41-6 in Game No. 4.

Huskers Run Past Midland in Exhibition Win

• Alexis Markowski led four Huskers in double figures and just missed a double-double finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Nebraska women’s basketball team power its way to an 87-42 exhibition victory over Midland in front of more than 3,000 fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Nov. 1.

• Markowski, the 2021 Nebraska High School Player of the Year, scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting in nine first-half minutes. The true freshman out of Lincoln Pius X added three rebounds, a block and a steal before the half, then managed three points and six rebounds in eight minutes off the bench after halftime in her college debut.

• Another Big Red newcomer, sophomore transfer Jaz Shelley put together an impressive debut with 14 points, six assists, two rebounds and a steal in just 17 minutes of action. Shelley, a member of the Australian National Team, hit a three-pointer on Nebraska’s opening possession to give the Huskers the lead for good and finished 4-of-7 from long range on the night.

• Fellow Australian Isabelle Bourne also had a strong night for the Huskers with 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Bourne, a third-year player from Canberra, Australia, hit 5-of-8 shots from the field on the night.

• Redshirt sophomore Ashley Scoggin rounded out the Huskers in double figures with 11 points, while going 3-for-6 from three-point range. 

• All 13 Huskers who played in the game found the scoring column and 12 grabbed rebounds on the night for the Huskers, while no Nebraska player competed for 20 minutes in the game.