Nebraska women’s basketball opened its 2024-25 campaign with a convincing 88-48 win over Omaha on Monday afternoon.
The Huskers improved to 48-3 all-time in their season-opener at home, including six consecutive victories.
The annual Life Skills Sportsmanship Pep Rally preceded the game and saw students from 75 schools across Nebraska pack the lower bowl of Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The 8,106 in attendance was the second-highest season-opening mark for a Nebraska women’s basketball game in program history, just behind the 9,750 when the program opened the arena.
“We want to do everything we possibly can to connect these incredibly talented women to the youth in our state,” Coach Amy Williams said. “To hear from our athletes, to hear messages, to hear how they are responding to positives and negatives that come into their lives.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Markowski Breaks Record
Senior Alexis Markowski tied for a game-high with 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win. It was the 41st double-double of her career, breaking the program record held by two legendary Huskers, Jordan Hooper and Kelsey Griffin.
The three-time All-Big Ten center grew up watching Hooper and Griffin.
“It is hard to put into words,” Markowski said. “They really inspired me to want to play here. I try not to worry about my stats. I just want to win. Being compared to those two ladies just doesn’t feel real. Younger me wouldn’t believe it. I really am so blessed and lucky to play for this program and this state.”
Markowski scored the first basket of the game 13 seconds in. Her tenth rebound came with the team leading by 37 points, diving for a loose ball with 6:45 left in the game before passing off to Natalie Potts for a breakaway layup.
“It tells how consistent she has been in her career,” Williams said. “I thought she set the tone for us.”
Balanced Scoring
Nebraska had six players score in double figures in the game led by Markowski and Potts with 14 apiece.
The Huskers finished the second quarter on a 19-2 run and outscored Omaha 26-4 in the second quarter.
Nebraska’s first 3-pointer of the game came with 5:22 in the second quarter, from the 6-3 freshman from Croatia, Petra Bozan. Bozan finished 2-of-2 from 3-point range and scored 12 points on 5-of-7 from the field overall.
Freshman Britt Prince was near perfect in her first regular season game as a Husker. The highly-touted recruit from Elkhorn North started the game and went 4-of-6 from the field, scoring 10 points and dishing out five assists with just one turnover. She finished with a game-high plus/minus of plus-40.
In her return to the starting lineup after missing 55 games due to injury, redshirt junior Allison Weidner scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Uncharacteristic Turnovers
It wasn’t a perfect game, despite winning by 40 points. The Huskers had 20 turnovers and dished out just 18 assists.
Against a better opponent, that might get you beat, and it isn’t how you want to play. In the post-game press conference, Williams said she wasn’t overly concerned because they were things that are fixable.
“I am not excited about it,” Williams said of the turnovers. “Three seconds in the lane, a couple of them, offensive fouls where we just maybe got a little antsy and plowed someone over, moving screens and things that were not the typical things we see out of our team in practice on a daily basis. I don’t like it, but I think it is something we can definitely take care of and improve upon.”
The Huskers will look to improve to 2-0 on the season when they face Southern Louisiana at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday.
