NU women’s basketball prepares to take on Iowa with homecourt advantage

Nebraska coach Connie Yori has said before that she isn't sure how her women's basketball team wins sometimes. A prime example of that line of thinking was NU's 77-72 win at Iowa Jan. 8. The Huskers lost the turnover battle, had fewer assists, missed six more free throws than Iowa and trailed by as many as eight points in the second half.

The Huskers managed to pull out a win because of the heroics of Lindsey Moore (22 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds) who had a hand in NU's final 19 points and the fact that Iowa struggled mightily from beyond the arc, going just 2 of 16 from 3-point range.

If Moore had failed to heat up late, or if Iowa had hit a few more 3-pointers, Nebraska would have lost. Heading into Thursday's home rematch with the Hawkeyes, it's for that reason that the No. 19 Huskers feel the need to play better against a team it beat in order to win again.

"We, in a lot of ways, were pretty fortunate to win that game at Iowa the first time around," Yori said. "They didn't shoot it particularly well. We know this will be a really good challenge for us. There are a lot of things we can do better, but I'm sure they're saying there are a lot of things they can do better. (After Iowa), we go on the road for two games, so this is a really big game for us."

Priority one for the Huskers will be to stop Iowa's Jaime Printy. Printy torched the Huskers for a game-high 27 points despite Moore, whom Yori called "probably our best defensive player" Wednesday, guarding her all night. The Hawkeyes junior point guard is fifth in the conference in scoring (17.8 points per game) and sixth in assists (4.4) and has been the bright spot of a disappointing season. The Hawkeyes, thought by many to be Big Ten contenders in the preseason, come into Lincoln with a 11-9 record overall, 3-4 in conference play.

"They have a lot of good playmakers on that team ... they're a tough team to guard," Moore said. "It's surprising to see what their record is considering the fact that they have so many talented players on that team."

Something that should help the Huskers Thursday night is the play of freshman forward Emily Cady, recently named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. The Seward native has become more involved in the Husker offense of late, scoring in double figures six games in a row and averaging 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in conference play.

Cady has already proven a threat to Iowa. In the first matchup, she put up 14 points despite four missed free throws and three fouls that limited her to 26 minutes of action. Scoring even more may take some of the pressure off of Moore and Jordan Hooper, which is something Cady's teammates have been telling her she can do.

"Everyone tells me I need to be more aggressive," Cady said. "I like getting assists more than scoring...but if I'm open, of course I'll take (the shot)."

Thursday's game will mark the halfway point of Nebraska's conference season. NU currently sits in a three-way tie for third in the conference at 5-2 (16-3 overall) with Michigan and Penn State. With a win, the Huskers will move into a two-way tie at 6-2 with Thursday's Michigan/PSU winner. With another potential victory over 6-14 Illinois on Sunday, NU could find themselves all alone in third place on Monday and restored to the top-15 of the AP poll.

While the team often speaks of taking things "one game at a time" the goal of the season has always been a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and the players know March Madness is approaching. That's why, to Moore, each game from here on out will have a particular intensity.

"With it almost winding down toward the end of the season and conference play, we all want to be a tournament team," she said. "We set out goals before the season started and we said we wanted to be a NCAA Tournament team. If we're struggling in a drill, coach Yori will remind us of the goals that we set out...and how we wanted to make the NCAA Tournament. We have to be constantly getting better."

But if the Huskers haven't gotten any better since Jan. 8 and find themselves down late again, they know for sure they have what it takes to come back this time.

"I remember (during the last Iowa game) just down the stretch almost trading baskets for baskets and how we came back," Moore said. "We could have easily just called it a day and kind of had a pity party for ourselves. But instead we kept fighting and we have it within ourselves to come back and not give up and just pull a win out."

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