By Hugo Vera — Staff Writer
San Jose State women’s basketball looks to shift the tide of what has proven to be an arduous season when it visits the University of Nebraska on Saturday.
The Spartans, having fallen to a 1-5 record following Thursday’s loss to the University of Colorado, should expect no shortage of challenges when facing the Big Ten Conference powerhouse Cornhuskers.
At the helm of this 3-5 Nebraska team is head coach Amy Williams, who has transformed the culture of Husker women’s basketball noticeably since assuming her position in 2017. Under her leadership, Williams has won 21 games in the past two years and has made an NCAA tournament appearance.
“We’re still in preseason mode and that means we’ll keep playing a lot of good schools outside our conference,” said Spartans head coach Jamie Craighead in a postgame press conference following the team’s loss to Pacific. “We just can’t into it afraid of anyone because we’ve beaten teams with better records before.”
Notable players that may help realize the Spartan’s first road win include sophomore forward Cydni Lewis and junior guard Fieme’a Hafoka. Lewis and Hafoka have proven themselves invaluable from behind the three point line, having accumulated field goals percentages of 0.373 and 0.408, respectively.
Other Spartan players to keep close on one’s radar include sophomore point guard Danae Marquez who forced a series of steal-turnovers in the games against Pacific and UC Irvine.
Despite being the clear underdogs in the upcoming matchup, the Spartans may be able to exploit recent weaknesses in the Cornhusker defense that have made headlines.
The Daily Nebraskan reports that Nebraska allowed no less than 23 turnovers when they last played the University of Louisville.
The Cornhuskers average 17 turnovers a game, ranking them in 204th place in the country for teams leading in turnovers.
However, it is worth noting that Nebraska’s last four opponents have all qualified for the 2018 NCAA women’s basketball tournament whereas San Jose State seldom plays top-ranked basketball programs.
Much like in case of their matchup against the University of San Francisco, the Spartans may find themselves in a war of 3-pointers. Lewis proved her sharpshooting kills in an explosive third quarter performance against University of the Pacific when she scored five field goals and three lay-ups.
On the other side of the court, Nebraska freshman guard Sam Haiby and senior forward Maddie Simon have field goal percentages of 0.465 and 0.467, respectively.
Haiby and Simon’s prowess from shooting midcourt propelled the Cornhuskers to crucial wins over Radford University and most notably the University of Kansas.
With both teams suffering from some of their lowest winning percentages in recent years, Sunday’s game is sure to have large expectations among Spartan and Husker coaches/players alike.
Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 a.m at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.
Follow Hugo on Twitter @HugoV_II