It wasn’t a nice week for the Nebraska women’s basketball team.

Despite an 85-48 win over North Alabama last Tuesday, it came with the price of losing the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Natalie Potts to the season with a torn ACL. With that sad news in mind, the Huskers dropped their rivalry game to Creighton 80-74 for their eighth loss in the series in the last nine years.

Alexis Markowski and five-star freshmen Britt Prins formed the dynamic duo for NU as Markowski scored a team-high 26 points with 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Prince did her best to replace Potts’ lagging production with 20 points and six rebounds.

As Nebraska comes to grips with Potts’ injury and makes a plan without her in the lineup, NU will face its third Summit League opponent of the year.

Here’s everything you need to know as the Huskers welcome home to Kansas City on Tuesday night.

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Kansas City Scout

Head Coach: Dionneh Jackson-Durrett | 3rd season | 23-47 (.329) School Record | Assistant coaching stops at Texas, Mississippi State, George Mason and Southeast Missouri State.

Record from 2023-2024: 12-20 (3-13 top, T-8th) | Big East Defensive and Sportsmanship Player of the Year | 2x complete newcomers team, 1x complete first-year team | Did not qualify for the postseason.

All-time series: Nebraska leads 5-1 (November 14, 2017, last game, 80-60 NU)

Fun fact: Kansas City head coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett was a first-round WNBA draft pick of the Detroit Shock in 2007 after an All-American career at Oklahoma.

Main returns: Alayna Contreras, G, Jr. | Elauni Bennett, G, Soph. | Tamia Ugass, F, Sr. | Kelby Bannerman, F, Sr. | Lisa Thomas, G, Sr. | Emani Bennett, G, Soph.

Most important additions: Chloe Dallas, F/C, Jr. (Wabash Valley) | Ana Oliveira Dias, G, Soph. (Salt Lake CC) | Kaia Ponder, F, Jr. (states Morgan).

Main starting points: Nariyah Simmons, G, Sr. (Austin Peay) | Dominique Phillips, F (eligibility).

Outlook: Dionnah Jackson-Durrett is a rising star in the coaching industry, but has struggled to get things going at Kansas City during her first stint as head coach. Jackson-Durrett came over from Texas as head coach after three seasons and has just six conference victories, but led the Roos to the semifinals of the Summit League Championship in her first seasons after a win over No. 2 seed North Dakota State.

Expectations aren’t much higher heading into season three for Jackson-Durrett, as Kansas City was picked eighth in the Summit League preseason poll despite a half-dozen key returners from last season’s 12-20 team. Alayna Contreras was named to the Summit League All-Newcomer Team last year and is leading the team through six games with 12.5 points per game. She and returning sophomore Emani Bennett are the scoring duo for the Roos, as Bennett has averaged 12.3 points per game.

6-foot-4 forward Tamia Ugass has increased her average to 8.6 points per game with a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game, while three other scorers added five points per game. The weakness of this Roos team is how one-dimensional they have played the first six games. They’ve only made 60 shots from three-point land all season, which equates to just nine shots for 15%.

Look for Husker head coach Amy Williams and her team to emphasize perimeter defense to force Kansas City inside the three-point line. The post battle should also be entertaining between Markowski and Ugass. The key to victory for the Roos will be Ugass and whether they can penetrate to create scoring chances.

I don’t see that happening though, as Nebraska should sail past this.

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