LINCOLN - Natalie Romeo, lifelong California girl, glanced outside Nebraska's training complex at Tuesday's snowy scene and smiled.
"The first time it hit zero degrees last year, I think my eyelashes froze," said Romeo, the Nebraska basketball sharpshooter who grew up in the Bay Area.
The cold is perhaps good for one thing: It keeps Romeo swiping her key card on the entrance to NU's practice gym. There, she shoots and shoots 3-pointers as if she were in a game, with a quick release geared to beat those Big Ten defenders closing in.
The sophomore has been accurate - in spades. As Nebraska heads to Big Ten leader Purdue for a Wednesday night game, Romeo leads the league in made 3-pointers with 57, makes them at a 43.5 percent clip - which could break a single-season school record - and already has set the single-game school record for made 3-pointers with eight.
In league games, when the defense tightens, Romeo has been even better, making 48.1 percent. Should she continue on her current pace, she'd break the school record for 3-pointers made in a season, set by Kiera Hardy and one of NU's assistant coaches, Amy Stephens.
"Kids who are in the gym and consistently working on their shots, they deserve to make shots," NU coach Connie Yori said. "Natalie is that kind of kid. She deserves to make the shots because she takes the time. You always like to see good things happen to people who work hard. She's put the extra time in."
About two hours - and 1,000 shots - per day in the offseason. Romeo would shoot 500 3-pointers in the morning and 500 later in the day. During the season, it's about 200 3-pointers per day. Using a machine that catches the balls as they come out of the basket and feeds them to her, she usually picks out five spots on the floor from which to shoot. Sometimes she'll rotate freely around the arc to those spots, and sometimes she'll work on her shot from one spot over and over.
She has no idea, during these sessions, how many she makes.
"I don't like to see percentages," she said. "It's about the feel. I want to know what the ball feels like when it comes off my hands. It's muscle memory."
A Top 100 recruit out of Carondelet High School in Concord, California, Romeo was much more of a drive-first, drive-furious point guard. Her highlight films are full of daring takes to the rim for layups. She shot 3-pointers only when she was open. She made around 35 percent of her 3s in high school.
In college, she learned quickly she'd have to alter her plan.
"I realized how big the girls were," she said. "And they were a lot faster. I realized my height disadvantage, took it to heart and started working on my shooting. It might have, honestly, been the first game. I was so shocked. Those girls were huge!"
So she started shooting more in NU's practice gym. Romeo was streaky for most of her freshman year before catching fire late in the season. She made six in a 74-50 win over Minnesota. Then she tied the school record with seven in a Big Ten tournament win over Illinois. She made five more in the NCAA tournament loss to Syracuse.
"After Illinois, I felt pretty good, and I knew I could make them over and over," she said.
She's evolved into a more complete player, too. Still NU's quickest guard, Romeo gets to the basket with some regularity, and she's started to play better defense. She is now occasionally drawing the opponent's best scorer on some possessions.
But 3-point shooting is where she's made her mark. She hit eight in an 83-78 win over Penn State.
"I don't think I had the feeling I was going to come against Penn State and just kill it," she said. "And it was more like, I took them, I made them and 'Oh, nice.' "
In a key win over Rutgers, Romeo was cold for most of the game before hitting three in a row to start the fourth, scoring 13 in that quarter and looked like the best player on the floor.
Even if you think she's a little taller than she really is.
"It says I'm 5-7," she said, "but I'm 5-5, maybe 5-6."
Necessity was a mother of Romeo's 3-point evolution.
Nebraska at Purdue
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
PURDUE (14-3, 5-1)
F Bridget Perry, 6-2, Jr., 11.6
F Torrie Thornton, 6-0, Sr., 2.8
G Ashley Morrissette, 5-9, Jr., 12.5
G Andreona Keys, 5-10, So., 8.6
G April Wilson, 5-7, Sr., 15.2
NEBRASKA (12-5, 3-3)
C Jessica Shepard, 6-4, Fr., 20.0
F Allie Havers, 6-5, Jr., 7.1
G Kyndal Clark, 5-7, Sr., 5.1
G Natalie Romeo, 5-7, So., 15.6
G Rachel Theriot, 6-0, Sr., 12.1
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