WBB: Exhibition vs. Winona St.

[Row6Seat10]

 

 

Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 p.m.

Pinnacle Bank Arena

 

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                                        Huskers Face Experienced Warriors Sunday

 

The Nebraska women’s basketball team wraps up its 2015-16 exhibition schedule by battling the Winona State Warriors at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday, at 2 p.m.

 

Nebraska fans witnessed the dawn of a new era in women’s basketball in a 92-54 exhibition victory over Nebraska-Kearney last Sunday. In the most-anticipated debut in school history, freshman Jessica Shepard poured in 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in just 17 minutes against UNK. Fellow freshman Rachel Blackburn added 11 points and four rebounds in another impressive debut. Rachel Theriot also made a triumphant return to the court, pumping in 24 points, while adding seven assists and five rebounds.

 

Coach Scott Ballard brings his Winona State squad to Lincoln for the first time in exhibition play for the first-ever meeting between Nebraska and Winona State. Warriors come to Lincoln with a 3-0 regular-season record already in 2015-16, after running to three wins at the CCA Division II Tip-Off Classic in Carson, Calif., last week. The Warriors return four starters from a team that finished 20-8 in 2014-15.

 

Winona State proved itself as a solid group of shooters in California, averaging 72.0 points per game while hitting 40.4 percent of its threes and 93.2 percent of its free throws.

 

Probable Starters:
 

Nebraska Cornhuskers

43 - Rachel Blackburn - 6-3 - Fr. - F
32 - Jessica Shepard - 6-4 - Fr. - F
4 - Kyndal Clark - 5-7 - RSr. - G
5 - Natalie Romeo - 5-7 - So. - G
33 - Rachel Theriot - 6-0 - Sr. – G

 

Winona State Warriors

24 - Hannah McGlone - 6-0 - So. - F - 7.7 ppg
32 - Kayla Timmerman - 6-3 - Jr. - C - 11.0
13 - Alexis Foley - 5-9 - Sr. - G - 17.7
14 - Tara Roelofs - 5-9 - Jr. - G - 14.7
23 - Connor Nagle - 5-6 - Sr. - G - 7.0

 

• Nebraska has set a new record for number of season tickets sold in one season (3,925) and counting.

• Nebraska Coach Connie Yori owns more wins (262) than any other women’s basketball coach in school history. She has averaged 20 victories per season in her first 13 seasons at the helm of the Huskers.

 

• Nebraska is the only team in the Big Ten to record 10 or more league wins in each of the last four years. The Huskers are the only team to post four straight winning Big Ten regular seasons.

 

• Nebraska has ranked No. 11 nationally in average home attendance in each of the Huskers’ first two seasons at Pinnacle Bank Arena. NU has averaged more than 6,000 fans per game at the arena.

 

• Rachel Theriot is expected to be on the preseason lists for the Wade, Naismith and Wooden National Player-of-the-Year awards again in 2016, while also being a contender for the Lieberman Award.

 

• Winona St. is located in Winona, Minnesota, 115 miles southeast of Minneapolis on the banks of the Mississippi River.  

 

GAME NOTES:

 

[redsteve]

On paper anyway, they look to be a bit stronger than UNK, but still a Div ll team. Plus they have played three games already.

 

Their 6-3 center is an former hawkeye that was at Iowa for a year. Don't want to sound nasty, but Jess will probably make the girl have nightmares...... that will come true.

 

We will probably be a little more serious execution in this game, as we've had the opportunity to get the rust off, and now get ready for the real preseason. Expect more feeds inside, but maybe a few more 3s up in the air. And maybe a little more defense taking place.

 

Having Rachel T, Jess, and Clark back and ready to go, and playing well, was maybe the best "surprise" of the first game.

 

Connie just has so many more offensive options than last year. Rebounding may be stronger too. But there's still lots of preseason games, and practice to hone the teams skill set(s) before B1G begins.

[Row6Seat10]

Anxious to see Rachel, Kyndal and Natalie all on the court at the same time! Should be fun!

[kansashusker]

Read Winnona State is ranked 16 in preseason D2 national poll. Should be better competition that Kearny.

[whoopdeedoo]

one thing i would bet on, fans should see a higher number of 3's taken this game. will give the shooters an opportunity of getting into a shooting rhythm, and, let post players work on offensive rebounding-----or, maybe not   if you know what i mean. 

[Row6Seat10]

Winona St plays in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) which consists of 16 teams and is picked by in the pre-season coaches poll to win that conference. Wayne St. plays in that league also and they're picked to finish second.

[HUD]

Conni Yori prefers to play a lot more pressure defense than she has been able to the last few years due to depth issues.  It will be interesting to watch this aspect develop as the team now has the needed depth.  As the younger players develop and the team chemistry continues to improve from players learning their roles this will be huge as we get into the Big Ten.

[Bugeaters1]

Romeo and Cincore are expected to play today.

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[Bugeaters1]

Need to get more scoring from the back court

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[hoop_head]

Excited for this team. Going to be a fun season to watch. Very happy Clark is here.

[HUD]

Was at the game and first time seeing Jess play in person.  Wow.  Was bit disappointed in Romero as she seems to play out of control at times, but it was her first game.  

[huskerchode]

I thought Maddie did some good things today. I could swear she should have 11 points instead of 9 because I remember a drive to the basket the first half. So happy Emily knocked down a 3.

[Bugeaters1]

I thought Maddie did some good things today. I could swear she should have 11 points instead of 9 because I remember a drive to the basket the first half. So happy Emily knocked down a 3.

I think when she hit that trey a big weight was lifted off of her. and she started to relax. I also think that she is pressing to much. 

[HUD]

Kyndal C. is a very nice addition to the team if even just for one year.  She brings a steady influence to the back court along with Rachel T.  Her outside shots were great looks and even though she was 0/5 that will change going forward.  She had all 4 of the teams steals to go along with 0 fouls and 0 turnovers.  Call me crazy but I believe before the end of the season and maybe even by the time conference starts you will see Simon starting at the 3 position with Natalie R. coming off the bench but still getting considerable playing time.  That's assuming both Clark and Theriot stay healthy. 

[kansashusker]

Nat is the best on the ball perimeter defender. She will continue to start and be a big part of what we do.  jas and maddie will compete to figure out who will be the first perimeter player off the bench this year most likely

[kansashusker]

jas is a really good defender also.  They left her in a long time in the second half yesterday when the other teams guard had gotten hot.  Jas had a great summer and has really improved.  She was very good in Australia.  She and Nat will both have great seasons for NU.

[kansashusker]

But I agree Maddie had a tremendous game yesterday and is crazy talented. Sky is the limit for that kid. 6'3" and runs and jumps like a deer.  I really think she will evolve into a nice scorer and tremendous passer because she can see over the top so well on the perimeter at her height.

[redsteve]

Kyndal C. is a very nice addition to the team if even just for one year.  She brings a steady influence to the back court along with Rachel T.  Her outside shots were great looks and even though she was 0/5 that will change going forward.  She had all 4 of the teams steals to go along with 0 fouls and 0 turnovers.  Call me crazy but I believe before the end of the season and maybe even by the time conference starts you will see Simon starting at the 3 position with Natalie R. coming off the bench but still getting considerable playing time.  That's assuming both Clark and Theriot stay healthy. 

 

More of my guessing:

 

Connie's doing some roster experimenting now, and more will continue as the preseason goes along.  Probably trying some combinations to see how they mesh. It's a lot more complicated than last year were we had 4 returning starters.

 

Probably Connie's looking at two bigs, and three guards (that can score) for the offense. That would obviously make the most sense with the strong bigs we now have. Nothing much better in basketball than being dominate in the post area.

But the outside shot has to be more dependable as we go along.

 

The news is out on Jess. Most every opponent will be double teaming her, and/or using a sagging type of defense trying to stop her. .........thus it opens up the perimeter. We have to able to keep them honest with outside scoring.

 

There's got to be a lot of internal competition for positions. We're pretty balanced with about the same number of bigs and guards. Lots deeper bench than the last few years.

 

It looks like Shepard, Blackburn and probably Havers the inside spots, competing for the starting positions. Got to think the inside competition will help Havers pick up her game. (partly by example, she hasn't seen it much before)

 

Ostrander will enter the picture probably as a sub to rebound. (I didn't realize it but I think she's in the top 20 in Ne state history, for scoring, and rebounding) Plus Washington and Kalenta that have shown improvement.

 

We have seven guards that will compete.

The guard spot looks like only Rachel T is the only lock, and at the point. At the guard spots,  Romeo and Clark probably, with Jazz and Maddie close behind.(for now)

Kind of think the most consistent 3 pt. shooter(s) will get those other 2 positions. (Clarks defense doesn't go unnoticed by Connie)  Maddie and Jazz should continue to get lots of playing time as we go along...mixing them in right away.  Esther and Emily will figure in too.

 

Will be fun to watch the team develop, and who is able to rise to the occasion as we move forward. The coaching staff has a tough job ahead.

 

UConn, and maybe California will most likely be the toughest games in the preseason. They're coming up soon !

 

Sorry for the diatribe, Ok, I'm done .....

[huskerchode]

I think Maddie will take a leap from freshman year to sophomore year because she is now focusing on just basketball. 

[kansashusker]

I agree huskercode. I think all kids take big lead that year, but with her athleticism her leap will be bigger than most.

[HUD]

Wow!  What a difference a year makes.  New coaches that Connie says she really likes and fit in well with good chemistry.  Players not leaving the program.  An injury list not a mile long.  An inside game.  A potentially highly rated recruiting class for the 3rd straight year coming in 2016.  Enough depth that the fans can disagree on who will or should start or play significant roles.  And we get to watch this all unfold in one of the best BB facilities in the nation.  We owe a lot to Coach Yori who set the stage over the years for this to happen and to voters in Lincoln for PBA.

[huskerchode]

Here's another thing I like about Jess.  After missing some free throws in the first exhibition game, she made all 10 in the second game.  Also, when one of her early shots was blocked, I told my daughter that it looked like Jess was kind of pissed off about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if she went on a huge run.  And she did.

[Red Don]

Seems like the exhibition game was a great start.  They seemed unstoppable the first half.  Not to single anyone out everyone looked good. The future is bright. 

[Row6Seat10]

Hope and pray #32 and #33 can stay healthy as it will be fun to watch these two do their thing all season long!

[redsteve]

Short Video from Winona game.

 

http://www.huskers.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=4652099