Sweet revenge for Lady Huskers against Duke
By Brent Craig
When you think of Basketball, teams like Duke come to mind. Since 1992 the Lady Blue Devils have made 16 sweet sixteen appearances, 9 elite eight appearances, and 6 final four appearances. With Duke’s storied history, one couldn’t blame any other team to be a little intimidated when they come to town. Wednesday night #8/9th ranked Duke traveled to Lincoln to play in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against the Lady Huskers. This game was a rematch of Nebraska’s loss to Duke in last season’s sweet sixteen, 45-53.
Nebraska Cornhusker Women’s Basketball team began the season ranked 16th in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches Poll. Seven weeks later the Lady Huskers have vaulted up to 12th in the AP poll, and raised one spot to 15th in the Coaches Poll. Lady Huskers were 6-0 going into the Duke game after beating teams like Washington State, Utah, and UCLA, but Wednesday night’s game was the first ranked opponent the Huskers faced this season.
Mar 24, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers cheerleaders during the game BYU Cougars during the second half of a women
A scoring explosion started off the game as the Huskers made 8 of its first 11 shots and led Duke 22-9. At the half the Huskers led by just one point, 28-27. Then with a little over 5 minutes left in the game, Duke moved to within two points of the Huskers, but only managed to make two more baskets the rest of the way. Nebraska sealed the deal by scoring 8 more points and the win, 60-54!
Duke was playing without their All American Elizabeth Williams, and they still out rebounded the Huskers 47-34, but after all, Duke does lead the nation in rebounds. Huskers held the Blue Devils to just 31% scoring while they scored 38% of their shots. Junior Guard Rachel Theriot led the Huskers with 17 points, making 6 of her 15 shots (three of them 3-pointers) and she also had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and one block. Senior Forward, Hailie Sample ended the night with 16 points, and Senior Forward, Emily Cady scored 13 points.
Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yori has this team going in the right direction. Yori has been coaching at Nebraska since 2002, and has led the Huskers to 248 victories with 142 defeats. She was twice named Big Ten Coach of the Year (2013,2014). She has also led the Huskers to a school record 10 post-season appearances. The Huskers are fortunate to have this Creighton graduate as their head coach. Here’s to the start of another great year for the Lady Huskers with Post-Season dreams!
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Lady Huskers take the court again when they play against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. The game will be televised on the SEC Network at 2:00 pm CST. Later in the week the Huskers will face in-state rival Creighton at the D.J. Sokol Arena on Thursday, December 11, at 8:05 pm CST. The game will be televised on Fox Sports One.