Nel>raskan
Tuesday, March 14,1988
Beck hoping for player’s quick recovery
By Tim Hartmann
Senior Reporter
Without guard Amy Stephens, the Nebraska
women’s basketball team’s “machine” would
spend a lot of time in the repair shop.
Nebraska coach Angela Beck said that is
why she is hoping Stephens will recover soon
from injuries from an m
automobile accident
she was in Sunday
night. Stephens was
treated for neck and
back pains after she
ran into a light pole
while driving her car
on West A Street.
Beck said she Stephens
thinks Stephens will return to practice Wednes
day, three days before the Comhuskcrs face
Southern California in the opening round of the
NCAA Tournament at California State-Dom
inguez Hills University in Carson, Calif. The
game begins at 7 p.m.
“Knowing Amy Stephens, she’ll be back,”
Beck said.
Beck said Stephens’ return is critical be
cause the 5-foot-8 junior is “like the chassis” of
Nebraska’s offense. She said Stephens teams
with Maurticc Ivy to give the Huskcrs a power
ful offensive threat.
“Ivy is the spark plug of our team,” Beck
said. “She supplies the offensive power and
she’s a flashy type of player. Amy keeps things
working, and without her, our engine wouldn’t
run.”
.Stephens is the only player to start in all 28
of Nebraska’s games this season. She leads the
Huskers in steals with 72 and ranks second in
scoring with an average of 15.9 points per
game. She has also connected on a Big Eight
leading 86.2 percent of her free throws this
season.
Those performances earned Stephens sec
ond-team all-conference honors for the second
consecutive season this year.
Stephens said she is happy to be recognized
as one of the top players in the conference, hut
she is more concerned with Nebraska’s suc
cess.
“All the individual honors — whether
they’re for myself, Maurticc, Kim (Harris) or
Coach Beck—arc nice, but the team is the most
important thing,” Stephens said. “They’re just
icing on the cake.”
Stephens said she had to make a difficult
change since becoming a Husker three years
ago. She said the change occurred when former
Nebraska coach Kelly Hill resigned and Beck
replaced her.
“It was just one of those things that you had
to adjust to, but most of the change has been I or
the better,” she said.
Stephens said she is not surprised by
Nebraska’s success this season. The Huskcrs,
who finished with a 16-13 mark last year,
captured their first Big Eight title and earned
their first NCAA Tournament bid this year
while compiling a 22-6 record.
‘She has something that
a lot of players haven’t
got. Most players either
have a little desire and
a lot of ability or great
desire and a little abil
ity, but Amy has both. ’
—Beck
i§ mu imi mhhmi mm i i 1i
“We knew we we’re going to be a lot belter
lhan last year,” Stephens said. “We have a lot
more depth; we have a lot more players that can
come in and play. Plus, our inside game is much
stronger.”
Stephens said the Huskcrs are excited about
playing in the 40-tcam NCAA tournament
because it means the team has accomplished
almost everything it’s hoped to. She said Ne
braska wanted to win the Big Eight’s regular
season title and the conference tournament and
receive an NCAA bid, but the Huskers lost lo
Kansas 87-84 in the semifinals of the Big Eight
tournament, ending their hopes of accomplish
ing all three goals.
Stephens said the loss to the Jayhawks isn’t
a big deal because the Huskers have reached the
NCAA tournament.
“That’s the final step: to go to the NCA A’s,”
Stephens said.
Beck said she is confident Stephens will
finish this season strong because of the inten
sity and hard work she puts into her game.
“She has something that a lot of players
haven’t got,” Beck said. “Most players cither
have a little desire and a lot of ability or great
desire and a little ability, but Amy has both.
Because of this, Beck said, Stephens is a
pleasure to coach.
“She typifies the Nebraska work ethic,”
Beck said.
Beck said Stephens usually covers the
opponent’s best offensive player because she is
a hard worker and is fundamentally sound.
“1 like to play defense,” Stephens said. “I
find it challenging and I do my best to slop
them.”
Husker baseball team splits doubleheader
By Steve Sipple
Senior Reporter
A weekend split with nationally
ranked Arkansas left the Nebraska
baseball team angry.
Nebraska split a doublcheadcr
with the Razorbacks Sunday in Fay
etteville, Ark., losing the first game
7-4 and winning the second 8-5.
“I heard some of our guys after the
second game say that we should have
won both games,” Nebraska coach
John Sanders said. “That’s the atti
tude we had.”
Sanders said the Comhuskers,
who improved to 12-1, played solid
baseball.
“I’m not pleased with the fact that
we split, but I’m pleased we played
well in both games,” Sanders said.
Sanders said one reason he wasn’t
totally satisfied was that Nebraska
had a chance to record a sweep. The
Huskers led 3-1 after the first game’s
first inning behind Marcel Johnson’s
double and Shawn Buchanan’s triple.
Nebraska carried a 4-1 lead into the
sixth inning of the seven inning
contest.
But Arkansas exploded for six
sixth-inning runs to seal the victory.
Husker pitcher Joel Sealer started
the first game and pitched the first
five innings of the second game,
giving up only one run on one hit. Phil
Goguen began the sixth inning and
yielded a solo home run to Greg
D’Alexander. After a walk and a
groundout, Bill Dawson pounded a
single to pull the Ra/orbacks to 4-3.
Dale Kistaitis then relieved
Gogucn and gave up a run on an error
by Husker second baseman Bruce
Wobken. After working Arkansas’
Randy Bobb to a two-ball, no-strike
count, freshman Mike Zajeski came
in and gave up a two-run double to
Bobb. Kelly Zanc then smacked a
solo home run to give Arkansas a 7
4 lead.
Kistaitis, now 0-1, took the loss
for Nebraska, even though he yielded
an unearned run. Ray Harris, 3-0,
earned the victory.
Husker pitching coach Tom Pratt
said he remains confident with all his
relievers. He said Gogucn, who en
tered the game with a 2.57 earned run
average, will bounce back.
“It’s just one of those things,”
Pratt said. “That’s baseball. I’ve got
a lot of confidence in him, and we’re
going to put him right back in there.”
In the second game, Pat Leinen
went the full nine innings and gave up
five runson eight hits. Leinen, now 2
0, struck out four and walked six.
Last season, Leinen started two
games and pitched 18.2 innings,
compiling a 6.75 ERA. This season
he has already started three games
and pitched 16 innings with a 3.38
ERA.
Pratt said Leinen has improved
because of increased physical and
mental maturity.
‘‘I’ve just seen a big improvement
in hisovcrall growth,” Pratt said. “He
has worked hard and hasn’t given up.
He’s a winner - that’s all there is to
it.”
Bobby Edwards, 2-2, took the loss
for Arkansas.
Offensively, the Huskers were led
in the second game by catcher Tim
Pettengill. Pcttengill, a senior from
Carmichael, Calif., had three hits in
five at bats, scored one run and
knocked inanolher. Johnson,a junior
from Vallejo, Calif., went 2-for-2,
scored a run and had two RBIs in the
first game.
Nebraska moved from No. 20 to
No. 14 in this week’s Collegiate
Bascball/ESPN national poll. Arkan
sas fell from No. 8 to No. 15.
The Huskers will play Kearney
State today at 1:30 p.m. in a nine
inning game at Buck Bcllzcr Field.
Sanders said Nebraska can ’ t afford to
look past the Antelopes because they
have everything to gain and nothing
to lose.
“We’re very mindful of that
against non-Division I teams,” he
said.
Eric Oragory/Daily Nebraa*an
residence hall room.
fc #
Accident gives skier new life goal
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
A 1986 skiing accident that al
most tore Susie Shane’s leg off
i convinced the University of Ne
Ibraska-Lintoln junior to begin bicy
cling.
Shane, who just returned from a
National Cycling Camp at the
Olympic Training Center in Colo
rado Springs, Colo., said her left leg
was hanging by patches of skin and
Itlie femoral artery after she suffered
an accident during the FIS Down
hill Skiing competition in January
1986. She said the accident oc
curred while she was skiing 70
miles per hour.
Shane said the accident caused
her to give up skiing and take up
bicycle racing because of the reha
bilitation process involved. She
said the injury forced her to live on
pain killers for nearly a year be
cause she had to undergo two recon
structive operations.
Shane, from Morgantown, W.
Va , decided to give up skiing dur
ing a drive from California —
wnere she originally went to reha
bilitate her knee — to her parents*
house in Omaha. She said the deci
sion ended 22 months of depression
brought on by the accident
“I really think my accident was a
blessing in disguise,” Shane said.
“My accident made me find out
who i was and I have grown from
the experience. It was an incredible
feeling to realize that at any mo
ment, I couldn’t be attached to
sports any more.”
Shane said the accident in
creased her interest in medicine
because it taught her how to respect
and take care of her body. It also
made her mentally lough for bicy
cling, she said.
“I believe in living on the edge
and when I do anything, I throw
everything in at once,” Shane said.
“In one split second, you can lose
everything. I don’t take anything
for granted, and I have learned to
live life to the fullest. It was a
traumatic event to realize some
thing terrible really isn’t so terrible.
I have also learned that if I want
something there is no excuse to not
getting it and just to go out and do
Shane said she was originally
invited to Colorado Springs last
October. Because she had only been
cycling for two months, she said,
she was shocked to be invited and
even more surprised by her sixth
place finish that earned her a repeat
trip there.
Shane, a former gymnast who
competed with Mary Lou Retton
when she was 9, said the cycling
camp was beneficial because eve
rybody worked together. The expe
rience she gained from working
with other Olympic hopefuls was
incredible, she said.
Shane said she overcomes not
having a cycling coach by training
and building her confidence on her
own. She said the strategy has
a ,o1 about race tactics.
“A person doesn’t have to be the |
fastest bicyclist in the field to win a
race,” Shane said. “If a person is a
smart racer, they can beat out a
person faster than them. If a person
knows when to stay in the pack or
when to break out and if they arc a
smart rider, they can win the race.
“This is something that is hard to
learn.”
Shane’s current training sched
ule includes riding 30 to 50 miles
per day. She said she doesn’t mind
training in cold weather, but wind,
discourteous Lincoln drivers and a
lack of decent roads make her an
gry.
Shane said she hopes to compete
on the U.S. Bicycling Team in the
1992 Olympics. She said that al
though she had the same dream
while she was skiing, her goals as a
bike lacer exist for a different rea
son.
“I am not so attached to bicy
cling as I was skiing,” Shane said.
“Bicycling has become a means of
expressing myself. My dream now
is a (beam of expression of myself.”
Shane plans to transfer to San
Diego State University at the end of
this semester so she can train and
obtain her degree in premedic ine
and psychology. She said she wants
to enter medical school after she
obtains her undergraduate degree
so she can become an orthopedic
surgeon or a sports medicine reha
bilitator.
“I love to challenge myself to the
fullest,” Shane said.
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