LINCOLN — Makenzie Helms felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and thought, yep, this must be the place.
So the Nebraska women’s basketball team picked up its first commit for the 2019 recruiting class. Helms, a 5-foot-8 guard from East Haven, Connecticut, attended the Huskers’ 69-64 overtime loss to Michigan last week. She loved the game, coach Amy Williams, her future teammates and the atmosphere.
“I’ve always thought to myself that, if I get that feeling, I’m not going to keep schools waiting,” said Helms, who said she averages 17 points and eight assists for East Haven. She played her two previous years at The Loomis Chaffee School, a boarding school in Connecticut.
That was before Helms’ recruiting took off while she played AAU ball out of New York City, two hours southwest of her home in Connecticut. On the Nike EYBL circuit, Helms got the attention of Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgetown, Yale, Penn, Kentucky, Wake Forest and Syracuse, among others. NU assistant Chuck Love saw Helms at a tournament, Helms said. Love told Williams. Williams contacted Helms. And Helms included Nebraska in her series of unofficial visits.
She’d never been to Nebraska or anywhere close to it.
“But my dad told me never to cross off a school because of distance,” Helms said.
Originally, Helms had planned to play 12 miles from home. She committed as a sophomore to Quinnipiac because her grandpa, who’d been diagnosed with cancer, wanted to see her play in college. She reopened her recruiting process not long after he passed away.
“Most schools told me I was crazy for committing to Quinnipiac,” Helms said. “They were happy I’d reopened my recruiting process.”
Nebraska’s offense – which emphasizes ball screens, movement and 3-point shooters – intrigued Helms.
“I love the system that she runs,” Helms said of Williams. “She sets a lot of screens and that’s what I’m looking for. I think I’m going to fit well in it.”
A student with a 4.5 GPA, Helms said she wants to be on the “pre-med track” at Nebraska. She also wants to be a big part of Husker hoops going forward. At the game it was already a family, as she and her family were greeted by all the parents of current Nebraska players.
“That was nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Helms said.
By the time Helms enrolls, current guards Hannah Whitish, Bria Stallworth and Nicea Eliely will be seniors, Taylor Kissinger will be a junior 2018 guard signees Sam Haiby and Leigha Brown will be sophomores.
