Nebraska women take potent 3-point shooting, impressive resume into NCAA Tournament meeting with Gonzaga

It’s March in Nebraska – which for most fans means it’s time for spring football.

For the rest, there’s the pleasant distraction of seeing the Cornhuskers in the Women’s NCAA Tournament.

Moments after Nebraska was paired with Gonzaga in a first-round game, athletic director Trev Alberts – a former UN linebacker – got on the bandwagon.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know much about women’s basketball.” Alberts said Sunday night.

“But what I do know is about effort, I know about toughness, I know about grit, I know about togetherness, and I know about discipline and fundamentals. This team has it,” Alberts said.

The Cornhuskers also have a tough assignment on Friday afternoon, facing a surging Gonzaga team in a first-round game in Louisville, Kentucky.

Tip-off is at 12:30 PDT at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville. The winner will almost certainly face a daunting second-round game against the top seed in the Wichita Region, the host Louisville Cardinals.

Football is still king at the University of Nebraska, even though the Cornhuskers haven’t won a title of any kind in more than two decades.

The men’s basketball program has danced only once since 1998, another reason the women’s selection show drew more than 1,000 fans to Nebraska’s home gym, the Pinnacle Bank Arena.

There’s been a lot to cheer for this season.

Under fifth-year coach Amy Williams, the Cornhuskers are 24-8 overall and 11-7 in the rugged Big Ten Conference, which sent six teams to the tournament.

Nebraska’s 24 wins are tied for fourth-most in program history and come one season after the Huskers went just 13-13.

Nebraska is back in the tournament for the first time since 2018, but according to reports, the Cornhuskers were disappointed that their résumé (three wins against top 10 teams) didn’t merit better than an 8 seed.

Williams managed to hide her disappointment.

“At this point, we know that every single team that’s in this NCAA Tournament is just going to be a very quality opponent, so we didn’t get ourselves too bogged down with seeds,” Williams said.

The Cornhuskers are balanced, with four players averaging double-figure scoring but with no one averaging more than Jaz Shelley’s 13.1 points.

Shelley, a sophomore guard from Australia who’s played on her country’s Under-19 international team, shoots 41% on 3-pointers. She’s only 5-foot-9, but averages 6.5 rebounds.

Alexis Markowski, a 6-3 freshman from Lincoln, Nebraska, averages 12.8 points and a team-high eight boards.

The Cornhuskers are deep, with seven players averaging at least 19 minutes. Among them is Eastern Washington transfer Bella Cravens, a junior forward.

They also dealt with a major distraction: the midseason suspension of an assistant coach and the removal of starting player.

In mid-February, the athletic department announced the suspension of associate head coach Chuck Love for what it termed a “personnel matter.”

Five hours later, a university spokesperson announced that sophomore Ashley Scoggin – the team’s top 3-point shooter – was no longer on the team.

The Cornhuskers weathered the storm, winning five straight before losing to Iowa in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament.

The Cornhuskers put up 759 long-range shots – ninth-most in the country – making 35.6% of them.

“They play in a tough conference and have done well,” Gonzaga Coach Lisa Fortier said.