Coatney's Call: Iowa State Preview (Jan. 8)

I have rarely been rendered speechless, but Monday’s 94-50 Nebraska Women’s Basketball win at Vermont came close to leaving me without words. The Catamounts came into the game with the 14th best Relative Power Index (RPI) in the country and were picked pre-season to win the America East Conference. UVM had barely lost by five points at home to Oklahoma State earlier in the season, so I had fully anticipated a possession game late in the contest. The 12th-ranked Huskers got an All-American-caliber performance from Kelsey Griffin. She notched her fifth double-double of the season with 25 points and a career-high 16 rebounds as Nebraska completed the first perfect non-conference season in school history. Senior guard Kala Kuhlmann came off the bench to add a career-high tying 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including a career-best three-pointers. Now the Huskers jump into the ?meat-grinder’ of their schedule as Big 12 Conference play begins this Saturday night in Ames, Iowa as Nebraska faces the Iowa State Cyclones.

ISU tied a school record for wins last year, going 27-9 and advancing to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tourament. The Cyclones lost three senior starters and eight letterwinners and are playing with freshmen post players. However, Iowa State still has raced to a 12-1 record and is in the midst of an 11-game winning streak, including Tuesday night’s 68-43 win over South Dakota.

6-0 senior guard Alison Lacey is putting together some stupendous assist statistics this year. She leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.6) and is third in the league in assists/game (7.3/game). Lacey leads ISU in scoring (17.2 pg) and had 20 points in the last meeting with the Huskers in Ames in 2009.

6-1 junior wing Kelsey Bolte is second on the team in scoring (12.3 ppg). 5-7 sophomore Whitney Williams has moved into the starting lineup and adds 8.7 ppg. She is third in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (53%). 5-8 senior Denae Stuckey had a career high 13 points against South Dakota and adds 5.2 ppg and is second on the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg). 6-2 freshman center Cehlsea Poppens has started all but one game this season and adds 10.0 ppg and a team-leading 6.5 rpg. ISU has been buoyed by the return of the tallest player in school history. 6-7 freshman Anna Prins was the Colorado High School Player of the Year in 2009, but missed six games last month with a viral infection. She has played the last two games, including 10 points and two three-pointers against USD Tuesday night.

15th-year ISU head coach Bill Fennelly is the dean of Big 12 coaches. He has won two conference titles and taken the Cyclones to two Elite Eights.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with ISU 38-33, but ISU leads 17-14 in games played in Ames. NU has won but once in their last 12 trips to the Hilton Coliseum, an 82-72 Husker win in 2008. Iowa State swept the series with Nebraska last season.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and I for Nebraska Women’s Basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Saturday night at Iowa State begins with the Husker Courtside pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on KFGE 98.1 FM (Froggy 98) in Lincoln, KTWI 93.3 FM (Twister 93.3) in Omaha and available to our entire 21-station radio network. All Husker Women’s Basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com. I hope you can join us.

Go Big Red!

Matt