The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in women's college basketball.
Video Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball
History
Women's basketball started as a club sport in 1970 and five years later it became a varsity sport when scholarships were offered. George Nicodemus was the first head coach and had a 22-9 record in his first season, taking the Huskers to the AIAW where they lost in the second round of the tournament. Five different head coaches would be hired after Nicodemus left the program in 1971 until 1986 when Angela Beck took a stable head coach position. Beck led the Huskers to their first NCAA bid after winning the Big 8 championship in 1988. She led the Huskers back to the NCAA in 1993 and 96. She left the program in 1996 to pursue other opportunities and was replaced by Paul Sanderford. Sanderford led the Huskers to a NCAA sub-regional in 1998 and 1999 and received a third consecutive NCAA bid in 2000. Connie Yori became the head coach in 2002 and has led the Huskers to WNIT in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and NCAA in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014
The women's basketball team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has made 13 NCAA Tournament trips since 1988. The Huskers have also have had eight NCAA Tournament victories. In the past six years alone, the Huskers have played five games for a conference title. Also in the past six years the Huskers have made two trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 and they have had 22 All-Conference Awards. Some of the awards include Jordan Hooper receiving 2014 Big 10 Player of the Year in 2014, in 2010 Kelsey Griffin was awarded Big 12 Play of the Year in 2010. Head coach Connie Yori has received the award for Coach-of-the-Year in 2010, 2013, and in 2014. Yori also won the national Coach-of-the-Year award in 2010. The Huskers also won the Big Ten Tournament in 2014 and won the Big Twelve Championship in 2010.
As part of the 2010-13 NCAA conference realignment, the women's basketball team began competing in the Big Ten Conference in the 2011-12 season. There are fourteen colleges that are a part of the Big Ten Conference. The other colleges include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, the University of Iowa, the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, Penn State University, Rutgers University, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin.
Maps Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball
Pinnacle Bank Arena
The Huskers play at the Pinnacle Bank Arena that was recently built in 2013, which cost $179 million to build. The new arena has a capacity of 14,970 people for basketball games. The women's basketball team has an average of 6,000 fans per game, which ranks the Huskers as 11th nationally for women's basketball home attendance. Both the Nebraska men's and women's basketball teams had previously played at the Bob Davaney Sports Center. Pinnacle Bank Arena is located in the West Haymarket district of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Connie Yori (2002-2016)
Connie Yori became the head coach for the women's Nebraska basketball team on June 24, 2002. In Yori's first season in 2002-2003 at Nebraska the Huskers struggled and ended with an 8-20 record and the team finished last in the Big 12 Conference. In the next season in 2003-2004 the team improved to an 18-12 record due to Yori's first recruiting class. The Huskers made a post season trip to the 2004 WNIT, where they beat Drake 73-60. This victory over Drake marked Nebraska's first postseason win since 1998. In the 2004-2005 Nebraska season the team finished with an 8-8 record in the Big 12 Conference and 18-14 record despite playing 11 games against top 25 teams. Overall Yori has led the Huskers to 39 all-conference awards, which include 12 first-team, five second-team, 12 honorable-mention, five all-freshman and five all-defensive honors. In Yori's past six season at Nebraska her teams have claimed six All-American awards. These awards include the first-team WBCA honors for Jordan Hooper in 2014 and Kelsey Griffin in 2010, and honorable-mention awards for Hooper in 2012 and 2013, Lindsey Moore in 2013 and Rachel Theriot in 2014. Also in the past six years the women's Nebraska basketball team has averaged nearly 24 wins per season under Yori. In 2010 Yori was WBCA coach of the year, Big 12 Conference Coach of the year, Naismith National Coach of the Year, U.S. Basketball Writer's Association National Coach of the Year, and Kay Yow National Coach of the Year. Yori was the 2013 and 2014 Big Ten Coach of the Year, and Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year in 2013 and in 2014. The overall record for Yori at Nebraska is 262-153 in 13 seasons. Yori resigned in 2016.
Amy Williams (2016-present)
On April 11, 2016, Nebraska announced the hiring of Amy Williams as the next head coach of the Nebraska women's basketball program. Williams enters her tenure in Lincoln with a career-coaching record of 193-109 (.639). Prior to Lincoln, Williams spent four years coaching at South Dakota, where she guided the Coyotes to two Summit League championships, one Summit League Tournament championship, one NCAA Tournament berth and the WNIT championship in 2016. She began her head coaching career at NAIA Rogers State in Oklahoma, where she started the program from scratch and in her five seasons made the Hillcats an NAIA contender. Before her head coaching experience, Williams spent time as an assistant coach at Texas-San Antonio (2000-01), Oklahoma State (2001-05), and Tulsa (2005-07).
Williams, then Amy Gusso, is a former Nebraska women's basketball player. She was a four-year letterwinner at Nebraska, playing from 1994 to 1998, graduating in 1998 with a degree in biology and mathematics. She was an Academic All-Big 12 selection as a senior in 1997-98 and a Phillips 66 Student-Athlete of the Week in 1997.
Year by year results
Conference tournament winners noted with # Source
Players
Retired numbers
Huskers in the WNBA
The first Nebraska player to go to the WNBA was Nicole Kubik in 2000. Along with being the first Nebraska player to go to the WNBA, Kubik was also Nebraska's first ever first-round pick to go to the WNBA when she was drafted to play for the Phoenix Mercury. The next Nebraska player to go to the WNBA was Anna DeForge, however Deforge was not drafted she had a free agency tryout for the Detroit Shock which was also in 2000. In 2007 Kiera Hardy was drafted to the Connecticut Suns but did not finish out the season. The Connecticut Suns also picked up former Husker Danielle Page, however Page was also a free agent. The next female Husker to be drafted into the WNBA was Cory Montgomery when she was drafted to the New York Liberty in 2010. Kelsey Griffin made Husker history when she became the third overall pick when she was drafted by the Connecticut Sun. The next Husker to be drafted into the WNBA was Lindsey Moore when she was drafted to the Minnesota Lynx in 2013. The last Husker to be drafted to the WNBA was Jordan Hooper in 2014 when she was the thirteenth overall draft pick to the Tulsa Shock. The former Huskers that have been playing in the WNBA have made a few contributions while they have been playing. Lindsey Moore was a part of a WNBA Championship in 2013 as a rookie. In 2004 and 2006 Anna Deforge was named as a WNBA All-Star. Deforge was playing for the Phoenix Mercury in 2004 and was playing for the Indiana Fever in 2006. Kelsey Griffin was named to the WNBA All-Rookie when she was playing for the Connecticut Sun in 2010.
References
External links
- Official site
Source of article : Wikipedia
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