Wednesday, October 21, 1981
page 16
daily nebraskan
fullback
By Bob Asmussen
The injury situation for Nebraska appeared to be im
proved Tuesday with a return of fullback Phil Bates
to practice. The senior from Omaha injured his shoulder
last week in practice and re-injured it in Saturday's game
at Kansas State.
"Bates has been running all right," Coach Tom Osborne
said. "The big question will be how he holds up in the
game."
Other injuries that concern Osborne are a knee injury
to Roger Craig and Jamie Williams' strained knee liga
ments. "I guess Craig and Williams would have to be the most
questionable on Saturday's game," Osborne said. "They
are both going to try and practice Wednesday. Williams'
injury is the most severe."
Osborne said he knows the Tigers will be ready for
Saturday's game. He said he has been impressed most by
their defense.
"They play awfully hard on defense," Osborne said.
"They have a good front line and they appear to be
pretty good in the secondary."
Osborne said on offense he expected to see the ball
put in die air. The Tigers have used the passing of Mike
Hyde effectively this year.
"They've thrown the ball real well so far but they also
moved the ball fairly well on the ground. 1 imagine
they'll try to run and pass the ball about the same."
"It's going to be important for us to mix it up on of
fense," Osborne said. "I hope we play hard. Anything
less than a great effort won't be good enough to win.
We're going to have to play really well on defense."
nhnrne said that the fact that the game is on televis
ion won't have much effect on the team.
"Since the game is going to be played at 11:50 we'll
have to get up a little earlier," Osborne said. "Well have
to move everything up. The TV thing helps out the
athletic department. I'd like to see us get on maybe one
more time. I guess it will all depend on how we do."
Sports Information Director Don Bryant said the game
was what ABC calls a split national contest. The game
counts as a national appearance.
"It's better than the regional game but not quite as
good as a national game," Bryant said.
Bryant said the split national game paid S5 1 1 ,000 to
two teams. The Big Eight splits that into 10 shares,
two of which will go to Nebraska.
Green team set for women's basketball roster
By Ward W. Triplett III
If you're going by last year's team, the
Nebraska women's basketball team should
be entering this season with nine returnees
from a 18-13 team that qualified for AIAW
regionals.
But a series of strange events happened
before the Husker staff selected the final
team last Thursday. First, one of the start
ers on that team, forward Donna Unwin,
got married and moved to Arkansas. Then
back-up freshman center Susie Wickham
decided to attend a junior college.
With two unexpected vacancies to fill
last spring, Coach Colleen Matsuhara pro
ceeded with her first recruiting effort as a
head coach, signing six players and getting
commitment from one other. That same
April, a member of the 1980 recruiting
class informed Matsuhara that she, too,
would try out this year. After Thursday,
the team stood at 11 players, seven of
them freshmen.
"We've got an almost brand new club
here," Matsuhara said. "I was looking at
the team picture from last year and it's sort
of a shock."
The survivors from last year include
starters Kelli Benson, a 5-7 sophomore
from Grand Island; Kathy Hagerstrom, a
6-0 junior from DePere, Wis. (last year's
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leading scorer); and Janet Smith, a 6-2
senior from Omaha who is the Nebraska
career leading rebounder.
Leigh returning also
Also returning is Chris Leigh, a 5-9
junior from Springfield, Neb., who started
as a freshman but played both guard and
forward as a reserve last year.
Three-year starting guard Ami Beringer
from Hastings and sophomore reserve
Susan Keith didn't try out for the team
this year. Molly Shanahan, who backed up
Smith last year, failed to make the cut.
"We'll have seven new players this year,
and how good we'll be depends on how
quickly they get to know each other and
play our type of ball," Matsuhara said.
Before practice began Monday, the only
safe bets for starting positions were Hager
strom and Smith. Benson and Leigh will
contend with Crystal Coleman and Regina
Searcy for the guard spots. Coleman, 5-7,
was a Street and Smith all-American at
Lincoln High of East St. Louis, 111., and
scored 2,700 points during her years there.
Searcy, a teammate of Coleman at Lincoln
is 5-9 and played forward, but Matsuhara
plans on using her as a guard.
The fifth guard is Cathy Owen, a 5-6
product of Buena High in Ventura, Calif.,
who is also a solid starting contender. The
forwards include the third Lincoln High
Tigerette to sign with the Huskers, 5-10
Debra Powell. Powell earned honorable
mention on Street and Smith 's all-American
team. Terri Parriott, 5-11, was a team
mate of Owen at Buena, and Margie Ruetz,
another 5-11 player, hails from Minnesota.
Ruetz opts for job
Ruetz was recruited last year, but opted
to concentrate on studies instead. Sonjia
Nelson, a 6-0 Kansas City native, is expect
ed to take over Shanahan's role as Smith's
back-up. Nelson had been playing AAU
ball since graduating from Central High in
1979.
The seventh Husker recruit, Lincoln
High all-stater Lisa Phipps, told Matsuhara
at the start of the school year that she was
going to stick with her full-time job, and
thus not try out at all.
The Huskers main concern is to get the
new players to learn Matsuhara's philo
sophy and work on pressure defense to
compensate for the team's lack of height,
the coach said.
"I believe we're going to be the smallest
team in the Big Eight again. That means
we're going to have to rely a tremendous
amount on our transition games and de
fense," she said.
While Searcy, Powell and Coleman were
at Lincoln High, the school amassed a 61-1
record the last two years. Buena was also a
successful squad.
"We're very glad to have these five play
ers coming from schools with winning
traditions," Matsuhara said. "I'm hoping
that they already have the fundamentals
down firm so we can get to work from
there."
One major difference between last year
and this year is that all 1 1 players can get
up and down the court in a hum, Matsuh
ara said. The Huskers will start installing a
fast break right away, she said.
Nebraska, which has switched from the
AIAW to NCAA for post -season action this
year, begins its season Nov. 20 against
Pacific Christian at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
Women need slick shots
to get to golf nationals
Daily Nebraskan photo
Nebraska's KeHi Benson (21) dims toward the basket in last years game against
Northwestern in Uie Husker lactational.
By Kevin Warneke
With the end of the fall season rapidly
approaching, the UNL women's golf team
will have to do some slick shooting if it is
going to end the season on a strong note.
The squad will participate in the Kansas
University Invitational Thursday and
Friday. Coach Jerry Fisher lists Missouri
and Stephens College as tough teams stand
ing in the way of Nebraska's quest for the
No. 1 spot.
"Missouri just defeated us in their own
invite and now have defeated us two times
to our one," Fisher said. t4We played even
with teams on two of the three rounds of
the invite, but on that other round, they
defeated us by 15 strokes."
Fisher said it would have been difficult
for anyone in the NCAA to have beaten
Missouri on the day of its good round
when it defeated Nebraska by 15 strokes.
But, he said, Missouri is not unbeatable
"If we are able to shoot at 3 15 or under
team-wise, we should be able to win it,"
Fisher said. "Anytime a team wants to win
they have to have one golfer play outstand
ing and the others shoot around 80s.w
One aspect in the team's game that
Fisher is worried about is its inability to hit
greens in regulation.
By not hitting the greens in regulations,
the golfers are often faced with the situat
ion where they have to chip and one-putt
for pars, which can be extremely hard to
do, Fisher said.
The top five spots on the team will have
a different look this week as Jan Stanard
has moved up to the No. 1 spot, followed
by Robin Scherer at the No. 2 spot and
Shelly Godeken at No. 3. Cathy Nelson
and Carin Roberts will be battling to retain
their varsity spots as they will be qualifying
with Kim Davis and Lori Miller for the No.
4 and 5 spots during the week.
Competition for spots on the team is
one of our strong points,M Fisher said. "We
don't have one golfer that stands out ahead
of the rest."
Fisher said the ultimate goal for the
team will be to make it to nationals.
'The way we are playing now , we won't
make it," Fisher said. "We need each
player to improve one and a half to two
strokes per match up until then."
The squad ends its fall season Nov. 10 at
the Oklahoma Invitational which is in
Mexico.
