Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — Lindsey Moore didn't hit her growth spurt until eighth grade, so she spent hours as a kid practicing reverse layups, using the rim as a wedge between her and taller defenders.
So those pinball-wizard shots the Nebraska point guard made late in road wins at Iowa and Wisconsin weren't flukes. When Moore careens toward the baseline, spins the ball hard off the corner of the backboard and watches it tumble into the net, well, that's her plan.
"If this was a gymnastics meet — in terms of difficulty — those are 10s," coach Connie Yori said. "She has a tendency to make difficult plays. But that's what point guards have to do. They have to take tougher shots."
And Moore's been making them, too. She scored 16 second-half points in a 77-72 win at Iowa. She scored 12 of NU's last 18 in a 75-69 win against Wisconsin. In both, Yori scrapped her usual motion offense and called plays for Moore to create.
"It was like: 'OK, get us a good shot,'" said Moore, who's averaging 17.6 points per Big Ten game.
As No. 20 NU (15-2) heads to No. 10 Ohio State (17-1) — which features All-Big Ten point guard Samantha Prahalis — for a 5 p.m. Thursday game, Moore might have to do that again.
Quite a change from two years ago when Moore, as a freshman, was a pass-first-almost-pass-exclusive point guard for NU's 32-2 team. Back then, Yori recalled, reporters wondered if Moore could score at all.
"She's evolved," Yori said.
Moore had no choice. Last year, injuries left her and Jordan Hooper — then just a raw freshman — as NU's only scoring threats. Moore averaged 14 shots in conference play. One night, in a 77-61 loss to Kansas, she took 21 shots, scored 33 points and kept the Huskers from a complete meltdown.
Lessons learned from a losing season translated into leadership this year. Freshman guard Tear'a Laudermill arrived on campus this summer and saw Moore take immediate control in open-gym sessions, putting a group of freshmen — the Huskers play six regularly — quickly in their place.
"She's the best role model," Laudermill said.
Hooper — the much quieter half of Nebraska's scoring duo — further unpacked Moore's role.
"She's like a second or fourth or fifth or however many coaches we have," Hooper said before settling on her preferred title of "second head coach on the floor."
"Sometimes she yells at us a little. Gets a little bit on us. But we need that. The coach can't be everywhere at once. Lindsey's pretty much always in the game. She pretty much is everywhere at once."
Moore's versatility will be tested by the flashy Prahalis, a senior who averages 18.2 points and 6.8 assists per game. Another Buckeye guard, Tayler Hill, leads the Big Ten in scoring with 21.4 points per game.
"Really, really good 1-2 punch. 2-1 punch. However you want to call it." Yori said of Prahalis and Hill. "Montana-to-Rice or Rice-to-Montana. It can go either way with them."
Prahalis gets more of the attention because of her campus celebrity — her nickname is "Styles P" and she dated former OSU men's star Evan Turner — and her no-look passes, from which several YouTube videos have been made.
Moore could compile a few highlight reels of her own with that spinning layup.
"She puts a lot of English on her shots," Yori said, "I know that."
• NOTES: Yori said Adri Maurer is finished for the season after back surgery and can not apply for a medical hardship because she played in too many games. ... Rebecca Woodbury was able to practice a little on her injured ankle after missing Sunday's Penn State game, but Yori wasn't sure if or how much she'd play at Ohio State. ... The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten in points per game (77.6), scoring margin (plus-18) and field-goal shooting (47.1 percent).
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