Coatney's Call: Albany Preview - Dec. 30

#13 Huskers Aim To Collar Great Danes<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Nebraska’s 77-63 win over then-No. 5 LSU last week at the Devaney Center was a signature victory for a team that has started the season on a school-record 11-game winning streak.  Individually, 6-2 senior forward Kelsey Griffin’s performance was a signature effort in her stellar career.  Griffin  dominated the team picked in the pre-season to win the Southeastern Conference.  She scored a game-high 30 points and tied her career high with 14 rebounds.  Griffin was named Big 12 Player of the Week and Nebraska gained its second-ever win over a top-five team, joining 2005’s triple-overtime win over then-No. 2 and eventual national champion Baylor.   The Huskers close out their four-game homestand with a rare mid-week, mid-afternoon game against the Albany Great Danes this Wednesday in Lincoln.  The game was moved to a 3:05 p.m. start time to allow fans to also watch Nebraska’s Holiday Bowl football game against Arizona later that night.
 
Albany is trying to rebound from a 6-25 season and a last place finish in the America East Conference in 2008-09.  The two top scorers from last season transferred during the off-season, so the Great Danes are rebuilding with a squad that has 10 freshman and sophomores.  The only senior on the team is a player that will be familiar to local prep fans.  5-8 senior guard Charity Iromuanya was a high school teammate of Husker guard Dominique Kelley at Lincoln Northeast High.  When Iromuanya  was a junior and Kelley a sophomore, they led the Rockets to a perfect 24-0 record and a Nebraska Class A State Championship. Iromuanya leads Albany in scoring (10.6 ppg) and steals and is the team captain.  She is one of three UA players to start all ten games this season.
 
Albany is a perfect 5-0 at home and a pair of freshmen have helped the Great Danes (6-4) to as many wins as UA managed all of last season.  6-0 forward Julie Forster leads all America East Conference freshmen in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and is second on the team in scoring (9.6 ppg).  She had a career high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds in UA’s 63-52 victory over Fairfield last Wednesday.  6-2 freshman forward Keyana Williams  has started every game and adds 4.6 ppg and 4.9 rpg.  She was named conference Rookie of the Week last week.  Williams just missed a double-double with 9 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs, in a 53-49 win over Army on December 19. 
5-4 sophomore point guard Felicia Johnson  leads the team in assists and scored a career-best 17 points in the win over Fairfield last week.  She has started all 10 games this season and adds 9.5 ppg.   5-10 junior wing Kim Clements rounds out Albany’s probable starting lineup.  She adds 2.6 ppg.
 
Eighth-year Albany Head Coach Trina Patterson started the season on the disabled list as she partially tore her right Achilles’ tendon while running sprints with her players in practice.  She was named the 2007-08 America East Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Great Danes to a school-record 10 league wins.  The former Trina Thomas was a team captain for the 1986-87 Virginia team that went 26-5 and made the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Patterson changed her offensive philosophy this season and installed the triangle offense.  Patterson is said to have adopted the triangle from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who, coincidentally, played one season at Albany.
 
While this will be the first meeting between the Huskers and Great Danes, it will be the first of two games this week between Nebraska and teams from the America East Conference.  NU faces Albany, picked to finish last in the America East, Wednesday before traveling to Burlington to face the pre-season favorite in the league, the Vermont Catamounts on Monday, January 4.
 

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and I for Nebraska Women’s Basketball on the Husker Sports Network.  Our radio broadcast Wednesday afternoon against Albany begins with the Husker Courtside pre-game show at 2:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 3:05 p.m. on KLNC 105.3 FM (WOW-FM) in Lincoln and KTWI 93.3 FM (Twister 93.3) in Omaha. All Husker Women’s Basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on huskers.com.  I hope you can join us.  

 

 

Go Big Red!  Matt