Jace Henderson

Jace Henderson joined the Nebraska women's basketball program as a graduate assistant manager in August 2022 and was elevated to a full-time role as director of player personnel, development and influence in the summer of 2023.

In her first season as a full-timer on Nebraska's staff in 2023-24, the Big Red captured a first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Texas A&M after claiming a No. 6 seed in March Madness. The victory followed Nebraska's run to its first Big Ten Championship Game appearance since 2014.

The tough Huskers secured a win over Purdue before notching double-digit wins over NCAA Tournament-bound Michigan State and Maryland to set up a third showdown with No. 3 Iowa in the title game. The Huskers controlled the action in much of the contest and took the Hawkeyes to overtime before falling 94-89 in the championship. Despite the setback, the Huskers booked their second NCAA Tournament ticket in the past three seasons while making their fourth consecutive postseason tournament appearance.

Nebraska finished with a 23-12 overall record that included an 11-7 Big Ten mark to take fifth in the final conference regular-season standings. Nebraska's regular season was highlighted by an 82-79 win over then-No. 2 Iowa in front of a sellout crowd of more than 15,000 at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Feb. 11). The victory over the Hawkeyes matched the highest-ranked team the Huskers have ever defeated. It was one of five wins over NCAA Tournament teams the Huskers notched from Feb. 6 through the end of the season, as Nebraska went 9-4 down the stretch with road losses to No. 2 Ohio State and No. 12 Oregon State, along with a loss to No. 3 Iowa in Minneapolis. Nebraska's only other setback was a one-point loss at Illinois, which advanced to the WBIT Championship Game.

During Nebraska's late-season surge, the Huskers completed a season sweep of NCAA Tournament-bound Michigan (Feb. 6) and their first-ever sweep of NCAA-bound Maryland (March 9) in the Big Ten Tournament. The Huskers also locked up a season sweep of NCAA Tournament-bound Michigan State (March 8), and a three-game season sweep of WNIT Great Eight participant Purdue (Feb. 17, March 7). The Big Red added a 19-point home win over WNIT semifinalist Minnesota (Feb. 24).

The Huskers finished No. 25 in the regular-season NET rankings with 17 of their 23 victories coming against postseason tournament qualifiers, including eight wins over NCAA Tournament teams, three over WBIT qualifiers and six over WNIT teams.

Nebraska's success in 2023-24 came despite losing projected starting guard Allison Weidner to a season-ending injury in mid-October, and an injury to returning starter and graduate guard Maddie Krull prior to the start of the season. Krull's injury not only kept her out of the first three games, it limited her contributions throughout the season. The Huskers also were hindered by an injury to reserve post Annika Stewart that limited her training and kept her out of the lineup for eight games early in the season.

Despite the challenges, Nebraska continued to improve throughout the season in large part to the consistency of first-team All-Big Ten center Alexis Markowski and the leadership of second-team All-Big Ten guard Jaz Shelley. Two of the top players at their positions in the country, Markowski and Shelley both claimed All-Big Ten honors for the third consecutive seasons before earning spots on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.

Nebraska's most experienced players also got help from a pair of award-winning freshmen. Natalie Potts emerged as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after capturing eight Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week awards during the season. She added honorable-mention All-Big Ten accolades from the conference media while being joined on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team by Logan Nissley.

In addition to the individual awards won by the Huskers, Nebraska's success also came out in the record book, including a school-record 292 made three-pointers while ranking second in school history with a plus-7.8 rebound margin. The 2023-24 Huskers also ranked fifth in school history with 2,533 points, fourth in total rebounds (1,431) and third in assists (580).

Nebraska also continued to be one of the biggest draws in all of women's college basketball with an average home attendance of 6,088 to rank 15th in NCAA Division I. It marked the 14th consecutive season the Huskers have ranked in the top 25 nationally in average home attendance. Every game in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament drew more than 18,000 fans at the Target Center in Minneapolis, while NU's Big Ten Tournament Championship Game appearance attracted 4.77 million viewers on CBS - the highest TV ratings for a women's basketball game on the network in well over two decades.

Henderson served as an assistant coach at Montana in 2020-21, after spending 2019-20 as a graduate assistant with the Lady Griz.

 

She was a standout student-athlete at Montana spending four years as a women's basketball player after competing in 15 matches as a setter for the volleyball team as a true freshman in 2014-15.

 

As a basketball senior in 2018-19, Henderson earned second-team All-Big Sky honors by averaging 12.0 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists. She hit a Big Sky-best 56.1 percent of her field goal attempts as a senior. 

 

Henderson was a two-time team MVP and a three-time Most Inspirational Player. Overall, she played 111 games with 56 starts, totaling 722 points, 583 rebounds and 185 assists.

 

Henderson joined the Lady Griz in Missoula after an outstanding career as a multi-sport athlete at Billings Senior High School. She was the 2012 and 2013 Gatorade Montana Volleyball Player of the Year - the first two-time winner in state history. She led Billings to back-to-back state titles as a junior and senior. She also finished in the top four in throws three times at the Class AA state track and field meet.  Her father, Brian, was the women's basketball coach at Rocky Mountain College in Billings for 13 seasons.

 

She earned her bachelor's degree in organizational communication from Montana in 2019, before claiming her master's degree in public administration in 2022.