tuesday, january 13, 1981
daily nebraskan
page 1 1
Team effort spells success for women's basketball
By Ward Wright Triplett III
The UNL women's basketball team
lacks the height and the one or two players
that most teams have who can dictate a
game's pace by putting in 20 or more
points every night. Despite this, Saturday's
76-70 win against St. Louis raised the
team's record to a respectable 8-4.
The reason, according to Coach Colleen
Matsuhara, is that the team has been able
to depend on somebody to come through
in every situation, and because of
Matsuhara's allowance of playing time,
anyone of the ten may be the top players
on a given night, ft may not develop any
stars or national scoring leaders, but it has
produced a winning record.
From this group, one who stands out is
Janet Smith, the tallest player on the team
at 6-2. Smith recently became the leading
career reboundcr for the young Husker
program, and as a junior, still has a yar to
go. As a scorer, a 12-point average places
her second only to Kathy Ilagerstrom, and
a 34-point performance against Central
Missouri last week on 17 of 20 field goal
attempts was the best ever by a Nebraskan.
Team effort important
Still, Smith falls into a pattern as being
a part of a team that doesn't dwell on
individual performance.
Does being the leading rebounder in
Nebraska's history mean anything to her?
The answer was a simple "no".
Smith said she never set any personal
goals for the season and doesn't intend to.
In fact, she even downplays the 34 point
game, as she was quick to point out that
Hagerstrom added 21 points in that
contest.
"Their tallest player was only 6-0, and
they went down to 5-10 after that," Smith,
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Janet Smith
a social science major, said. "We were just
able to get inside on them better than
other teams we've played, plus Ami
Beiringer was hitting from the outside to
keep them honest so they weren't able to
guard us too close. That's why that
happened."
The best thing about UNL basketball
this year, according to Smith, is the team's
ability to work together.
"It's a great team this year. We all get
along real well, everybody likes everybody,
it's great. We have a coach that works with
us, cares about us, and nobody has any
gripes. There's no dissension that I know of
on our team, and on a major college team
that's just unheard of. It's just a lot of fun
to play this year."
Smith's basketball career began as a
sophomore at Omaha Burke, when her
height caught the attention of Bulldog
Coach Karen Petersen, who asked her to
try out for the team.
"She just said, hey, you're tall, and it
seemed like fun, so I went ahead and play
ed." Smith recalled.
After situating Smith in the starting
center position her junior year, Peterson
surrounded her with enough good players
by the next season so that Smith led the
team to an impressive 20-5 record and a
state title. A scholarship to UNL follow
ed, and after learning to sit on the bench as
a freshman, Smith became known as one of
the team's leading players last year.
"Last year we played a slow down
control game, now we play a running
control." Smith said of the teams' differ
ences. "We're not really any taller, but we
have a quick, snappy offense this year, and
our defense is getting good in that we're in
a lot better condition to do that now."
Well balanced scoring
Like Matsuhara, Smith felt the team's
strongest point is that the scoring is so well
balanced.
"Last year, teams knew that if they
could stop Dianne (DelVigna) they could
pretty much shut us down. This time they
know that anybody on the floor could
score a lot, and it's tough to defend a team
like that," Smith said.
"We're a lot better now than we were
when we first started. There are only three
people who aren't sophomores or fresh
men, so it took a little getting used to, but
now we know what we're doing, and at the
rate we're going, we should be at a peak
when the time for regionals come."
The one thing that troubles Smith, as
well as several other players, is the lack of
attention displayed by students and basket
ball fans of the Lincoln area.
"Basically, it's a 'who wants to see the
women play thing,' " Smith said, "and
when crowds are there, they're usually so
dead. Once against Northwestern, we had a
real exciting game going and the crowd just
wouldn't get into it. They were mostly
there to see the guys play right after. We
even get heckled sometimes by our own
fans. It's real disappointing and it just
irritates you after a while."
A consistent winning record and a good
showing in the upcoming Big Eight tourna
ment this weekend might help bolster
attendance a little, Smith said.
"I think we can win the Big Eight this
year. I know we'll go to regionals and I
think we have a possibility at nationals. If
that happens, I'm sure we'll get more peo
ple." While admitting that she is satisfied with
her early season accomplishments, but add
ing that she can always do better, Smith
said next season will be her last year of
basketball. After graduation she plans to
become a history teacher.
"I love the game, but basketball is just a
way to an education to me," Smith said. "I
know I may upset some people by saying
that, but that's the way it is."
UNO wrestling tourney
onNETVthis weekend
Taped coverage of wrestling competi
tion from the UNO fieldhouse will be tele
vised on Sports Nebraska over all stations
of the Nebraska ETV Network Saturday at
7:30 p.m.
Featuring finals action taped earlier in
the day, the coverage includes eight teams
from seven area colleges-Chadron State
College, Kearney State College, Nebraska program is produced and directed by Bill
Wesleyan, two teams from UNO, Coe Scollon from UNO Television.
Transfer players start classes
College in Iowa; Huron College in South
Dakota and Lincoln University in Missouri.
UNO assistant wrestling coach Harry
Gaylor will provide the color commentary
for the program.
The UNO Invitational is produced by
UNO Television for Sports Nebraska. The
Two future Nebraska
football players attended
their first day of classes at
UNL Monday.
Defensive tackle Kevin
Waechter and punter Grant
Campbell are junior college
transfers enrolled at mid
year. They will be eligible to
play this fall.
Waechter followed his
brother, Henry, a regular
UNL defensive tackle from
Waldorf, Iowa, Junior
College. Campbell transfer
red from Rex Junior College
in Rexburg, Idaho.
Second-year junior
college players are allowed
to compete the following
year, but first-year transfers
are required to sit out a
year.
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3
Career Planning and Placement
Spring Semester
Orientation
For students who plan to utilize career
planning services this semester, two
meetings will be held in room 232 of the
Nebraska Union on:
January 14 Wednesday 3:30
January 15 Thursday 330
Topics to bo covorod:
on campus interviews
resume preparation
interview preparation
'general orientation to career
planning facilities
You only need to attend one meeting.
