Nebraska Women

Nebraska's women's basketball history began shortly after the rules of basketball were published by James Naismith – in March 1898, Louise Pound captained NU against a team from Council Bluffs in the school's first women's athletic competition. Pound remained influential after graduating, managing a varsity squad that faced opposition from across the Midwest over the next decade. Despite its popularity throughout the school and region, university administration ended the program in 1910 because it felt athletic competition was "inadvisable" for women's health. NU did not officially sponsor another women's sport for sixty years.

The university established several women's club teams in the early 1970s that became varsity programs after the 1972 enactment of Title IX. Volunteer head coach George Nicodemus led Nebraska's first varsity season of women's basketball competition, finishing 22–9 and reaching the second round of the 1975 AIAW Tournament. Nicodemus departed after two years; his replacement, Marcia Walker, resigned midway through the 1977–78 season after conflicts with players and administration. Nebraska hired Lorrie Gallagher, a California native who brought four starters from Feather River College. The hard-nosed coach spent two years in Lincoln and led the Cornhuskers to back-to-back twenty-three-win seasons, a school record until 2010.

Nebraska struggled through Colleen Matsuhara and Kelly Hill's three-year tenures, making a single postseason appearance and failing to place higher than fourth in the new Big Eight regular season (prior to 1982–83, the Big Eight held a midseason tournament but did not sponsor a regular-season championship).

NU hired twenty-nine-year-old Angela Beck in 1986 and within two years reached its first NCAA Division I tournament. Beck's early teams were led by Alliance native Maurtice Ivy, who became the program's first 2,000-point scorer during a 1988 Big Eight championship run. Karen Jennings broke most of Ivy's scoring records in the early 1990s, twice being named Big Eight player of the year and winning the Wade Trophy as the country's best player in 1992–93. She led Nebraska to its first men's or women's NCAA basketball tournament victory in 1993 and was a member of the inaugural Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame class.

Beck resigned after the 1996–97 season to coach the San Jose Lasers of the short-lived American Basketball League. NU hired veteran head coach Paul Sanderford, five years removed from taking Western Kentucky to the national championship game. Sanderford's hiring stirred controversy amid an administrative push to hire more female coaches, and his initial base salary of $120,000 was significantly more than his predecessor earned. After reaching three consecutive NCAA tournaments, Sanderford's program suffered back-to-back losing seasons and the unexpected exit of three high-profile players in 2002. Months later, he announced his immediate resignation for health reasons, undergoing a heart operation the same week.

Athletic director Bill Byrne led a brief coaching search that ended with the hiring of Connie Yori from nearby Creighton. A depleted Nebraska roster struggled through Yori's first season, finishing 8–20 and last in the Big 12.

Yori steadily built Nebraska into a national contender, beginning a stretch of seven consecutive postseason berths with a WNIT appearance in 2004, highlighted by a triple-overtime win over eventual national champion Baylor. Kiera Hardy and sophomore Kelsey Griffin led NU back to the NCAA tournament in 2007. Yori's rebuild culminated in a 2009–10 season that ranks as the best in school history. NU started 30–0 and became the first Big 12 men's or women's basketball team to complete an undefeated regular season. Nebraska celebrated its Big 12 title, clinched days prior, in front of the first sellout crowd at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in program history. The Cornhuskers reached the regional semifinals for the first time, but were upset by Kentucky to finish 32–2. Griffin, returning from a medical redshirt, was a national player of the year finalist and Yori was named national coach of the year.

Nebraska missed the postseason the year after Griffin's graduation, but followed with four consecutive seasons of at least twenty wins. Jordan Hooper led Nebraska in its first three seasons in the Big Ten, earning first-team All-America honors in 2013–14, the same season NU won its first conference tournament.

In February 2016, athletic director Shawn Eichorst ordered an administrative officer to be present at every women's basketball team event following allegations against Yori. She resigned two months later, with Eichorst concluding Yori had mistreated her players and fostered a "negative, dysfunctional culture" that included asking support staff to testify on her behalf in court. She departed after fourteen seasons with eighty-nine more wins than any coach before her.

Days later, Nebraska hired Amy Williams, a program alumnus who played guard under Beck and Sanderford. Williams began her head coaching career at NAIA Rogers State, starting the program from scratch, later winning two Summit League championships and the 2016 WNIT with South Dakota. After a 7–22 debut season, Williams led NU to the NCAA tournament in 2018 and was named the Big Ten's coach of the year. The Cornhuskers went just 13–13 in a COVID-19 shortened 2020–21 season, but were invited to the WNIT in the first of six consecutive postseason appearances. NU reached the Big Ten championship game in 2024 and defeated Texas A&M in the opening round for its first NCAA tournament win in over a decade.