Athletics – Women’s Basketball
City Slicker, Country Girl Inspire Each Other By Randy York, ’71 They’re a year apart, but always together. Each knows what the other one is thinking and they laugh at punch lines before they’re even delivered. They’re roommates, teammates, best friends and push each other hard to improve on a daily basis. Lindsey Moore has no official designation as an assistant coach, but everyone around Nebraska’s No. 15-ranked (the week of Jan. 9) women’s basketball program knows the junior point guard plays a big role in the rapid rise and development of sophomore forward Jordan Hooper, the Big Ten Conference’s leading rebounder and second-lead-
Jordan Hooper grew up on a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. Photo by Matt Miller, Omaha World-Herald.
ing scorer. Moore pushes every button in Hooper’s head.
compared to where she grew up. It’s neat when two kids
She’s a confidante who spurs confidence. Moore is the city
love the game so much that they connect in other ways.”
slicker from suburban Seattle, and Hooper is the country
Moore says her Nebraska ranch experience “was awe-
girl whose home base of Alliance, Neb., is 36 miles from
some. It was really cool to see how Hooper grew up,” she
the ranch she grew up on in Sheridan County.
said. “It’s fun to see another environment and how people
In her third year as a starting point guard, Moore was
live and work. I’m not even close to anything like that. The
dealing the cards as a freshman to a veteran team that won
great part about going to Alliance and the ranch, you can
32 of 34 games and made the NCAA Sweet 16. A year
tell why she’s so excited and why she thinks that town is so
later, she helped guide Hooper through an adventuresome
awesome.”
but losing freshman season, and Nebraska Coach Con-
Let the record show that this dynamic Husker duo
nie Yori now gives Moore credit for helping mold Hooper
– Moore the 5-foot-9 guard and Hooper the 6-foot-2 for-
into the toughest scoring/rebounding threat in the Big Ten
ward – played one game last Easter weekend on the slab of
Conference.
concrete on the Hooper ranch – a court that’s wider than it
“Lindsey had a very mature basketball IQ when she
is long and has the full range and circumference
came here,” Yori said. “You talk about somebody that can
to accommodate 3-point shooting. The one-on-one battle
pick things up. She’s one of those kids where you tell them
went down to the wire. Final score: Country Girl 21, City
once, and she does it right 10 straight times. That’s rare,
Slicker 20. “Home-court advantage,” Hooper said. “We
and we’re really happy with the way she’s taken Jordan
didn’t play another game. We were both too tired.
under her wing. Of Hooper, Yori says: “She wants to do the right
“I love playing against Lindsey,” Hooper said. “She helps me every day, on the floor and off. We live together,
Lindsey Moore drives against Indiana.
think. But Moore is a persuasive leader, even convincing Hooper to take on the pressure of great expectations, so she could help the Huskers develop a championship mindset.
thing. She’s extremely coachable. If you tell her something,
so she never misses a chance to boost my confidence. At
she’s going to try to do it. She has a really good mind and
the beginning of this year, I didn’t have any confidence
sure – from Alliance and everywhere else,” Hooper said.
picks things up quickly, and I said that from the day she
shooting the ball. I’d shoot it and not know if it was going
“Now I can say it. I wanted to impress people every game.
walked on campus. She didn’t have the advantage of play-
in or out. I remember one night when I told her I didn’t
I still carry some of that pressure with me, but Lindsey’s
ing club basketball and knowing how much faster the game
have any confidence. She sat me right down, looked me in
helped me take it on. She’s helped me grow.”
would be played, so she was a little overwhelmed when she
the eye and said: ‘You need to have confidence in yourself
first got here. “Here’s a kid from (suburban) Seattle and another from Alliance,” Yori added, “and they’ve developed a good friendship, on and off the court. Lindsey even went out to Jordan’s ranch, and that’s a whole different world out there, 30 | GoodNUz | ATHLETICS
“I never wanted to tell people that I felt so much pres-
When a city slicker shares her vast basketball experi-
because I have all the confidence in the world in you.’
ences with an equally self-driven country girl, they end up
Hearing her say that and mean that was a big help. It
pushing each other, supporting each other and challenging
changed my mindset.”
each other.
A city slicker telling a country girl how to stay positive kind of goes against the grain of the way most Nebraskans