Imagine if Kentucky had brought back their entire Starting 5...for four years straight. Essentially, we're doing some variation of this and it didn't occur to me until now how sort of ridiculous that is. But that's the scoop here.
The expectations couldn't be higher and the real test is going to be whether the women can rise to the occasion or whether Nebraska State will wilt until the pressure.
The regular season ended with a #2 seed in the Big 12 tourney, but the Pronghorns rolled through the tournament knocking off Iowa State, the top seed in the conference final. They go into the NCAAs with a record of 29-5.
Spoiler
Code:
#1 NEBRASKA STATE PRONGHORNS Schedule
Date Opponent Record RPI Result Score Record
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11/10/13 vs. Brown 19-10 75 W 85-42 1-0
11/11/13 vs. Illinois State 16-16 84 W 96-67 2-0
11/12/13 vs. #15 VCU 26-6 14 W 92-76 3-0
11/13/13 vs. #12 Houston 24-8 25 L 79-75 3-1
11/20/13 at #4 Towson 30-2 12 W 83-67 4-1
11/22/13 Jackson State 15-15 173 W 86-68 5-1
11/26/13 at #6 Connecticut 29-4 2 W 103-68 6-1
12/01/13 Michigan 17-14 58 W 96-50 7-1
12/04/13 at Portland 18-17 105 W 79-70 8-1
12/07/13 Arizona State 14-16 127 W 95-72 9-1
12/13/13 Pittsburgh 22-11 28 W 81-48 10-1
12/22/13 at Wyoming 23-9 99 L 92-82 10-2
12/30/13 South Florida 15-16 65 W 98-65 11-2
01/05/14 at North Dakota State 20-10 143 W 99-69 12-2
01/10/14 CCNY 16-15 280 W 98-82 13-2
01/15/14 at Texas Tech 16-15 30 W 89-41 14-2 (1-0)
01/18/14 Kansas State 12-18 72 L 62-59 14-3 (1-1)
01/22/14 at Kansas 13-19 43 W 94-64 15-3 (2-1)
01/25/14 Texas Christian 11-21 97 W 98-61 16-3 (3-1)
01/29/14 at Texas Christian 11-21 97 W 79-72 17-3 (4-1)
02/01/14 Oklahoma State 18-13 38 W 92-85 18-3 (5-1)
02/05/14 West Virginia 21-10 13 W 96-71 19-3 (6-1)
02/08/14 at Kansas State 12-18 72 W 90-60 20-3 (7-1)
02/12/14 Texas Tech 16-15 30 W 82-76 21-3 (8-1)
02/15/14 #5 Iowa State 28-4 3 L 92-81 21-4 (8-2)
02/19/14 at Oklahoma State 18-13 38 W 112-77 22-4 (9-2)
02/22/14 at #24 Oklahoma 23-9 21 W 107-90 23-4 (10-2)
02/26/14 at #21 Southern Methodist 22-8 56 L 79-76 23-5 (10-3)
03/01/14 Baylor 14-16 60 W 86-78 24-5 (11-3)
03/05/14 Kansas 13-19 43 W 91-68 25-5 (12-3)
03/08/14 at #7 Texas 26-4 11 W 94-92 26-5 (13-3)
03/13/14 vs. Kansas 13-19 43 W 67-59 27-5
03/14/14 vs. #24 Oklahoma 23-9 21 W 107-101 28-5
03/15/14 vs. #5 Iowa State 28-4 3 W 80-73 29-5
The SEC led the field with 7 bids, Big East & Big 12 had 6, Big Ten and ACC had 5 apiece.
We earned the #1 seed in the Midwest region and will play the winner of a play-in game.
NCAA TOURNAMENT
1st round: 16) Eastern Illinois, (W 80-43)
2nd round: 9) Kentucky (W, 80-62)
Sweet 16: 4) Houston (W, 90-79)
Elite 8: 7) NC State (W, 93-81)
FINAL FOUR
It's going to be a Big 12 party, apparently.
1) Iowa State 1) Nebraska State 1) North Carolina 5) West Virginia
We face off against West Virginia in the other semi-final. We only played them once this year, it was in Kearney and we beat them 96-71. But of course, none of that matters right now. They're 25-10 and boast four scorers averaging in double figures including Elizabeth Hill, who is putting down over 20 PPG, more than anyone on our team individually.
Spoiler
Code:
Nebraska State 82, West Virginia 62
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West Virginia (25-11, 10-6):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Amber Otoole C 22 0-3 0-0 4 5 2 4 0
Amiya Myers PF 25 3-7 1-4 1 7 2 3 7
Olivia Lopez PF 23 1-8 0-1 2 10 0 5 2
Elizabeth Hill SG 33 5-21 10-13 0 9 1 2 23
Ruby Homan PG 32 2-6 0-0 1 2 3 4 6
Aaliyah Boatright PG 21 2-5 2-2 1 2 3 2 6
Hayley Ray SF 21 5-8 0-0 1 4 1 1 13
Kassidy Castle SG 6 2-6 0-0 0 0 1 2 5
Elyse Koon C 16 0-1 0-0 1 3 1 3 0
Turnovers: 15 (A.Otoole 2, A.Myers 1, O.Lopez 2, E.Hill
1, R.Homan 2, A.Boatright 2, H.Ray 1, K.Castle 2,
E.Koon 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Myers 2, E.Koon 1)
Steals: 5 (E.Hill 2, A.Boatright 1, K.Castle 2)
3P FGs: 9-20 (E.Hill 3-7, R.Homan 2-3, A.Boatright 0-3,
H.Ray 3-4, K.Castle 1-3)
Nebraska State (34-5, 13-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Yuming Jiang C 20 0-2 0-0 4 9 1 4 0
Nadziejan Adamicz PF 33 8-13 3-8 1 14 5 3 19
Sydnee Castel SF 29 5-13 6-6 4 10 1 3 16
Lucy Ensfield SG 27 7-12 1-2 0 0 2 4 15
Mariam O'Brien PG 33 2-11 0-0 2 11 12 2 4
Lea Thierauf SF 20 4-6 2-5 0 2 0 1 12
Andee Hooper PG 12 1-2 4-5 1 3 1 1 6
Mia Miele SG 7 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
Gabrielle Jackson PF 13 2-2 4-4 0 1 1 0 9
Gabriella Richie C 5 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Turnovers: 12 (Y.Jiang 2, N.Adamicz 2, M.O'Brien 3,
L.Thierauf 3, A.Hooper 1, M.Miele 1)
Blocked Shots: 11 (N.Adamicz 9, S.Castel 1, M.O'Brien 1)
Steals: 6 (Y.Jiang 1, S.Castel 2, M.O'Brien 1, A.Hooper
2)
3P FGs: 3-15 (Y.Jiang 0-2, M.O'Brien 0-7, L.Thierauf
2-4, A.Hooper 0-1, G.Jackson 1-1)
Player of Game: PF Nadziejan Adamicz (BRASKA)
The national title game will be a rematch of last year's title game between Nebraska State and North Carolina.
Spoiler
Code:
North Carolina 87, Nebraska State 59
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Nebraska State (34-6, 13-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Yuming Jiang C 29 3-5 0-1 4 13 1 3 6
Nadziejan Adamicz PF 32 5-16 1-2 4 14 2 2 11
Sydnee Castel SF 21 3-5 0-0 0 3 3 4 6
Lucy Ensfield SG 32 6-16 4-6 0 0 0 0 16
Mariam O'Brien PG 33 1-4 2-2 2 4 11 2 4
Lea Thierauf SF 18 3-8 4-4 0 2 0 0 12
Andee Hooper PG 10 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 2 2
Mia Miele SG 6 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Gabrielle Jackson PF 13 0-2 0-1 0 0 0 1 0
Gabriella Richie C 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Iris Harris C 1 0-0 2-2 0 1 0 0 2
Turnovers: 17 (Y.Jiang 2, N.Adamicz 2, S.Castel 1,
L.Ensfield 4, M.O'Brien 3, L.Thierauf 1, A.Hooper 1,
M.Miele 2, G.Richie 1)
Blocked Shots: 9 (N.Adamicz 3, S.Castel 1, M.O'Brien 3,
L.Thierauf 1, A.Hooper 1)
Steals: 3 (L.Thierauf 2, G.Jackson 1)
3P FGs: 2-11 (Y.Jiang 0-1, M.O'Brien 0-2, L.Thierauf
2-6, A.Hooper 0-1, G.Jackson 0-1)
North Carolina (36-2, 12-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Ruby Pounds C 31 2-2 0-1 4 10 3 3 4
Ekwueme Saro-Wiwa PF 33 7-11 6-8 3 8 2 3 20
Adeline Dowdell SF 33 6-20 0-0 2 3 2 0 18
Emily Wolfinger SG 32 8-16 0-0 0 5 5 1 21
Emmy Rosenberg PG 26 5-13 3-4 3 6 0 5 13
Sofia Bowers C 19 1-3 0-0 0 5 2 2 2
Abbie Peterson SF 12 3-4 0-0 0 3 3 2 7
Mackenzie Shealy PG 7 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 2
Kamila Sedlacek PF 5 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 0 0
Wilson Ng C 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
T. Yashkevich PF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 10 (E.Saro-Wiwa 4, E.Wolfinger 2,
E.Rosenberg 3, M.Shealy 1)
Blocked Shots: 7 (R.Pounds 2, E.Saro-Wiwa 4, S.Bowers 1)
Steals: 9 (E.Saro-Wiwa 2, A.Dowdell 1, E.Wolfinger 5,
E.Rosenberg 1)
3P FGs: 12-31 (A.Dowdell 6-17, E.Wolfinger 5-11,
E.Rosenberg 0-1, A.Peterson 1-1, T.Yashkevich 0-1)
Player of Game: SG Emily Wolfinger (UNC)
UNC claims their first title since 1986 and we go home on the losing end.