The Nebraska women’s basketball team returns to the Pinnacle Bank Arena court on Thursday for its third game in five days. Nebraska hosts Penn State at 7 p.m.
That follows wins against Purdue on Sunday and Rutgers on Tuesday, and precedes Sunday’s road trip to play Maryland.
“It’s a lot, especially with a busy schedule with school just back,†said Nebraska point guard Jaz Shelley of the current stretch of games. “But it’s awesome to have different people step up off the bench. Bodies are tired and we’re all tired, but to have Allison (Weidner) give us that spark and MicCole (Cayton) give us that spark, it’s nice to know we can fall back on our bench players who have been working as hard as us at practice every day.â€
Penn State (9-11, 3-7 Big Ten) has lost four straight games but will have had several days to prepare for the Huskers. Nebraska needed a big fourth quarter to beat Rutgers 50-38 on Tuesday.
The Huskers’ solid defense helped them overcome one of its worst three-point shooting games of the season, with Nebraska having its worst three-point percentage (19%) and its third-fewest made three-pointers (six).
Nebraska coach Amy Williams likes that the Huskers were able to win a game with its defense and rebounding, which it will also need to win upcoming games against No. 17 Maryland and No. 23 Ohio State.
Nebraska had to play three games this week as it works to make up two games it had to postpone last month due to COVID-19 cases for the Huskers.
But Nebraska has aspirations of playing in the NCAA Tournament in March, and if that happens it may have to play twice in three days.
“We’re choosing to really embrace this as an incredible opportunity to prepare us for the potential of postseason and knowing that when you get into a Big Ten Tournament, or hopefully postseason tournament, you’re going to be having to play back-to-back days,†Williams said. “This is kind of the consequence of us having a little bit of a break in the midst of our season, so we’re choosing to embrace it and use that to our advantage.â€
Photos: Husker women seek three-game winning streak as Rutgers comes to town