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LINCOLN — The four-team group headlined by No. 1 seed Nebraska includes plenty of recognizable characters for the Huskers and fans of women's basketball in Nebraska and Iowa.

Notably, the Huskers' 6:06 p.m. meeting Sunday in Minneapolis against No. 16 seed Northern Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament showcases a coaching matchup of definite interest.

Eighth-year NU coach Connie Yori and UNI's Tanya Warren have known each other since childhood. Warren, from Des Moines, and Yori, from Ankeny, Iowa, played on the same Creighton teams in the 1980s.

In fact, Yori's jersey No. 25 and Warren's No. 10 remain the only numbers retired by the CU program.

“It will be interesting,” Yori said. “We go way back.”

Warren, in her third season at Northern Iowa, started in coaching with stints at Omaha Duchesne and Boys Town. She served as an assistant at Iowa State and Missouri before returning to Creighton under Jim Flanery for three years in 2004.

Small world, isn't it? There's more.

Northern Iowa guard Mercedees Morgan graduated last year from Bellevue East and was second-team All-Nebraska as a senior. Senior guards Nicole Clausen and Lindsey Swanson attended Denison-Schleswig in western Iowa, and sophomore guard Jacqui Kalin graduated from Sioux City North.

Nebraska senior guard Kala Kuhlmann, of Charter Oak, Iowa, said she knows several of the Panthers, including Clausen, Erin Brocka of Allison, Iowa, and Danielle Wubbens of Rockford, Iowa.

“They'll work hard and they'll play as a team really well,” Kuhlmann said. “They're going to be smart. They're going to go after loose balls. They're a team that you've definitely got to prepare for.”

The Huskers (30-1) could get a scouting report from Creighton, which went 1-2 against UNI this season. The Panthers, in fact, beat CU 54-53 on Sunday in the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament to earn the NCAA berth.

At 17-15, UNI has won four straight to salvage a season that looked set for a fast finish 10 days ago.

Nebraska is 5-0 all time against Northern Iowa, but they haven't played since 2001. If the heavy-favorite Huskers win, they could then see Lincoln Southeast graduate Marissa Kastanek.

Kastanek was recently named freshman of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. She averages 10.5 points per game to help lead ninth-seeded North Carolina State (20-13) against No. 8 UCLA Sunday night at 8:30 in Minneapolis.

The Wolfpack won three games in three days last week as the sixth seed at the ACC tournament, losing in the final to Duke. UCLA has won 14 of 16 — with both losses to Stanford, including a 70-46 defeat Sunday in the Pac-10 tournament final.

The first-round winners meet Tuesday with a berth in the Sweet 16 at stake in Kansas City, Mo.

If seedings hold, Nebraska would face No. 4 Kentucky (25-7) on March 28 at the Sprint Center. Third-seeded Oklahoma (23-10) and No. 2 Notre Dame (27-5) also enter as favorites to reach Kansas City.

The Huskers aren't thinking past Northern Iowa, though they enjoyed the sight of that No. 1 next to their school on ESPN's selection show Monday night.

“It was nice,” senior guard Vonnie Turner said. “It could be every little girl's dream come true. To see that tonight and to have our fans see it, it says a lot about the program.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1031, mitch.sherman@owh.com

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