LaToya Howell

  Howell's Honors

• Tied for Third on Nebraska's Senior Single-Season Assist List (159, 2005-06)
• Tied for Eighth on Nebraska's Single-Season Assist List (159, 2005-06)
• Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West Conference (2001-02)
• Two-Time Mountain West Conference Player of the Week (Dec. 2, 2002; Dec. 30, 2002)
• Air Force Single-Season Assist Record (119, 2002-03)
• Air Force Single-Season Steals Record (90, 2001-02)
• Air Force Single-Game Scoring Record (38 vs. Minnesota, Nov. 30, 2002)
• Air Force Single-Game Assist Record (15 vs. UNLV, Jan. 30, 2003)
• Air Force Single-Game Steals Record (8 vs. UNLV, Feb. 23, 2003) 

The Personal Side
Full name: LaToya Bianca Howell
Major: Psychology 
Family: 
Parents, James and Sandra Howell
Sisters, LaTia, 19, LaTanya, 17
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
High School: Queen of Peace
Date of Birth: Nov. 7, 1982
Place of Birth: Chicago, Ill.

Senior (2005-06)
LaToya Howell closed her career on a strong note, leading Nebraska to seven wins in its last 10 games in 2005-06. The 5-5 guard from Chicago, Ill., helped the Huskers advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT for the first time in school history.

She finished the year with 159 assists to tie for the third-best total by a senior in school history, which also tied for the eighth-best overall mark by a Husker in a season.

Howell averaged 7.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.3 steals per game in three Postseason WNIT games. She hit two free throws with 26 seconds left to seal the Huskers' first-round WNIT win over Drake on March 16, and hit two free throws with 1:33 left to put NU up 67-65 at Wyoming in the second round.

She finished the season averaging 4.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, a team-leading 5.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Howell scored a Nebraska career-high 12 points at No. 10 Minnesota on Dec. 3, and had career-high 10-assist performances at Iowa State (Jan. 14) and against Oklahoma State on Senior Night in Lincoln (Feb. 21).

Howell pulled down a career-best nine rebounds to help the Huskers knock off NCAA Tournament-bound Missouri on March 1 in Columbia. She finished the season with a team-best 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, including a 23-to-7 ratio in three postseason tournament games.

She started 31 of 32 games for the Huskers as a senior, coming off the bench only against No. 24 Texas A&M on Feb. 11.

Junior (2004-05)
Howell appeared in 30 games with six starts in her first season on the court at Nebraska.

The 5-5 guard from Chicago, Ill., was a regular in Nebraska’s backcourt rotation, averaging better than 20 minutes per game while playing at both the one- and two-guard positions.

Howell closed the year averaging 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a team-leading 2.1 steals per game.

Howell’s 63 steals ranked as the highest individual total by a Husker since Nicole Kubik grabbed 108 steals for Nebraska in 1999-2000. In Big 12 play, Howell finished second in the league behind only Texas’ Tiffany Jackson with 2.5 steals per contest.

Howell posted career highs with five steals in back-to-back games against Missouri and Colorado to close the regular season.

Howell started NU’s first two Big 12 Conference games, before coming off the bench in the Huskers’ 103-99 triple overtime win over No. 2 Baylor. Howell sparked the Huskers against the eventual national champion Bears with nine points off the bench.

In NU’s 88-59 win over No. 14 Iowa State, Howell scored eight points, including six in the first half, while producing three rebounds and two steals. She added eight points, four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes off the bench against No. 10 Texas Tech on Jan. 19.

In NU’s win over Kansas, Howell knocked down her only three-point attempt and hit a free throw to score the first four points of Nebraska’s decisive 10-0 run midway through the second half. Howell’s spark helped turn a 39-37 NU lead with 11 minutes left into a 49-37 edge with 7:50 to play against KU.

Howell knocked down all six of her free throw attempts and snagged a pair of steals to help the Huskers to a 73-71 win over Oklahoma State on Feb 1.

She had a solid effort with nine points, three rebounds and four steals in 30 minutes of playing time against Kansas State on Feb. 23. She actually recorded four steals in all three meetings with the Wildcats.

After spending the entire 2003-04 season as a redshirt and missing Nebraska’s first two regular-season games in the Preseason WNIT, Howell finally played her first regular-season game as a Husker in the win over Northern Colorado and made her first start in the win over Washington State.

Despite being limited somewhat while recovering from a severely sprained ankle suffered late in the first half of NU’s exhibition opener against Nebraska-Kearney, Howell scored a season-high 10 points, grabbed two rebounds and distributed three assists against Northern Colorado. She added seven points, a season-high six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win over Washington State. She dished out a season-best six assists in the win over Southeastern Louisiana.

2003-04 (Nebraska - Redshirt)
Howell sat out the 2003-04 season as a redshirt because of NCAA Division I transfer rules.

2002-03 (Air Force)
Howell averaged a team-high 17.4 points per game, while adding 7.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game.

A dangerous penetrator with the ability to get to the basket and draw fouls, Howell tied the Air Force single-game record with her 38-point performance against Minnesota. Against the Golden Gophers, Howell connected on 10-of-18 shots from the field and 17-of-18 free throw attempts.

Howell also set an Air Force record with 119 assists. She ended the year with three double-doubles, including 23 points and 11 assists against Sacramento State, 19 points and 10 assists against Winthrop and 15 points and 10 assists against Cal State Fullerton.

Along with being chosen as a two-time Mountain West Conference Player of the Week during the season, Howell set a school single-game record with 15 assists in a win over UNLV on Jan. 30.

For the season, Howell hit nearly 80 percent (110-138) of her free throw attempts, 34.1 percent (14-41) of her three-point attempts and 37.2 percent (86-231) of her overall field goal attempts.

2001-02 (Air Force)
One of the top newcomers in the Mountain West Conference, Howell led all freshmen in the league and ranked second on the team in scoring with 10.0 points per game. She added 3.9 assists and 3.2 steals per contest, while her 49 steals in Mountain West Conference games established a league record.

Howell set a school single-season record with 90 steals, including a single-game record eight steals against UNLV. She also finished one assist shy of the school single-season record, ending the year with 109 assists.

Howell erupted for a season-high 30 points against San Diego State to help her earn honorable-mention All-Mountain West Conference honors. She played in all 28 games with 17 starts for the Falcons.

During Mountain West Conference games, Howell led the Falcons by averaging a team-best 13.1 points per game, while ranking third on the team with 3.5 rebounds per game. She added 3.9 assists and 3.5 steals in league games only.

2000-01 (Air Force Academy Prep)
After completing her high school career, Howell attended the U.S. Air Force Academy's prep school. She led the Academy team to a school-record 19 victories and produced 48 team and individual records along the way.

Howell was named the team's most valuable player and earned MVP honors at the Husky Classic and the New Mexico Junior College Invitational.

High School
Howell chose to attend Air Force after completing a solid high school career at Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, Ill. A four-year letterwinner for Coach Lori Esser, Howell amassed more than 1,000 points in her career to rank as the second-leading scorer in school history.

Howell was a three-year all-area and all-conference selection and earned honorable-mention all-state honors after the 1999-2000 season.

Howell was also a three-year letterwinner in soccer and earned all-sectional honors on two occasions.

Personal
The daughter of James and Sandra Howell, LaToya has two younger sisters, LaTia, 19, and LaTanya, 17. LaToya was born on Nov. 7, 1982, in Chicago, Ill. Howell is majoring in psychology at Nebraska.

Howell's Career Statistics (Nebraska) 

Year

G-GS

FG-FGA

Pct.

3P-3PA

Pct.

FT-FTA

Pct.

TRB-Avg.

PF-D

A

TO

Blk

ST

Pts-Avg.

2004-05

30-6

26-88

.295

7-24

.292

52-70

.743

82-2.7

77-4

59

68

0

63

111-3.7

2005-06

32-32

36-132

.273

7-30

.241

51-67

.761

110-3.4

76-2

159

89

1

53

130-4.1

Career

62-38 

62-220

.282

14-54

.259

103-137

.752

192-3.1

153-6

218

157

1

116

241-3.9

Howell's Career Statistics (Air Force) 

Year

G-GS

FG-FGA

Pct.

3P-3PA

Pct.

FT-FTA

Pct.

TRB-Avg.

PF-D

A

TO

Blk

ST

Pts-Avg.

2001-02

28-17

93-246

.378

20-75

.267

75-89

.843

73-2.6

74-4

108

125

2

90

281-10.0

2002-03

17-17

86-231

.372

14-41

.341

110-138

.797

80-4.7

44-0

119

94

4

55

296-17.4

Career

45-34

179-477

.375

34-116

.293

185-227

.815

153-3.4

118-4

227

219

6

145

577-12.8