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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1988)
Nebraskan StlOftS PT Friday, March 18,1988 5 NU women’s team goal not yet fulfilled J.P. Caruso/Daily Nebraskan Nebraska’s Ann Halsne drives around a Kansas defender earlier this season. Probable Starters: Nebraska (22-6) Amy Stephens G Amy Bullock G Kim Harris q Ann Halsne F Maurtice Ivy F Southern California (21-7) Paula Pyers G Kalen Wright G Cherie Nelson C Holly Ford F Karon Howell F By Tim Hartmann Senior Reporter Reaching the NCAA Tournament has been a goal of the Nebraska women’s basketball team all season, but now that the Comhuskcrs have reached that goal, they want to take it one step further. “I don’t want to be just happy to be there — I want to go out there and beat Southern Cal,” Nebraska coach Angela Beck said. Nebraska faces Southern Califor nia Saturday at 9 p.m. CST at the California State-Dominguez Hills gym in Carson, Calif. The Huskers are the No. 5 seed in the NCAA West Region, while USC is seeded fourth. Beck said the game will be a battle between Nebraska’s speed and USC’s inside play. She said the Huskers will try to keep Cherie Nel son, the Trojans’ 6-foot-3 center, and the rest of USC off balance by using their speed advantage. “Basically what we plan to do this week is really gear it up,” Beck said. “(We want to) try to gear up our man to-man pressure and really rebound well.” Beck said rebounding will be a key for Nebraska because USC con nects on 44 percent of its shots from the field, which means there will be an abundance of offensive-rebound opportunities for the Trojans. “I think it’s very important that we limit their second shots,” she said. Beck said Nebraska is the team of the future. “We’re the team of '88 and they’re the team of'86,” she said. Beck said the key to stopping Nelson, who averages 24 points and 11 rebounds per game, w i 11 be to deny her the ball on offense and wear her out on defense. She said Nelson will sec a wide variety of coverages that will be originated by Nebraska center Kim Harris, forward Ann Halsne and guards Amy Bullock, Pam Fienc, Sabrina Brooks and Amy Stephens. USC coach Linda Sharp said that although Nelson is one of the best players the Trojans have ever had, she is not the only good player on their team. “I think we’ve got good balance,” Sharp said. “I don’t think we’re solely dependent on Cherie Nelson.” Sharp said Nebraska’s offense worries her. The Huskers are averag ing 82.5 points per game. “Defensively, I don’t want to al low them 82 points,” she said. “I think if we give them that many points we’re going to have a tough time winning.” USC is the home team in Saturday’s game, but the game is being played at Cal State-Domin guez Hillsbecause theTrojans’ home gym seats only 850 fans. But, Sharp said, playing at Cal State-Dominguez will not be a disad vantage because the Trojans played one game there earlier this season. “We’ve played a lot of games on the road this year, so I don’t think it will be a factor,” she said. “And the people that will be in the stands will be our fans.” Beck said USC’s tradition con cerns her, but she thinks the Huskers can put it out of their minds. The Trojans have made 10 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tourna ment and captured national champi onships in 1983 and 1984. “If tradition speaks, it’s going to be a very big hump for us to over come,” Beck said. “But I think we really enjoy the underdog effect. We’re looking forward to being the underdog because it’s been awhile since we have been.” Beck said the Nebraska players are excited to have the opportunity to play against a school with the tradi tion of USC. She said Brooks and Maurtice Ivy have always dreamed of playing the Trojans. Baseball team’s trip full of games, not fun By Steve Sipple Senior Reporter A 12-gamc trip to California and Hawaii won’t provide a vacation for the Nebraska baseball team. Nebraska, 13-1, will open the trip Saturday by playing 10 games in seven days while competing in the six-team Rainbow Easter Classic at Honolulu. The seven-day tournament’s field includes Lewis and Clark, Portland Slate, Washington, Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii. The Cornhuskers will then travel to Los Angeles to play two nine-inning games against Loyola-Marymount March 29-30 before open ing their Big Eight season April 2-3 against Iowa State at Ames, Iowa. “This trip poses a real challenge,” Nebraska coach John Sanders said. “The tournament has been in existence for at least 12 years, maybe more, and it always has a tough field. “You’re talking about a real lough 12 ball games.” Sanders said Lcwis-Clark, a Division II school that is Nebraska’s first-round opponent in the Rainbow Easter Classic, is “perennially tough” and beat about “30 of 40 Division I teams last year.” “It’s really a prominent tournament,” Sand ers said. “It gives us a real mini-peak in the season and it just happens to be played in Hawaii, not Alaska.” Sanders said Nebraska will be the team to beat throughout the tournament because of its No. 14 ranking. “We have the association of football which is really a prominent association,” Sanders said. “They remember football and baseball a lot, and we arc doing well in both these areas.” Joe Federico continues to lead the Huskers in hitting entering the trip. Federico, a senior designated hitter from Temple City, Calif., has a .560 batting average. Federico has 14 hits in 25 at-bats, including two home runs and 14 runs batted in. Freshman second baseman Mat6 Borgogno is second with an average of .448. Freshman outfielder Bobby Benjamin leads Nebraska in home runs with six and junior third baseman Ron Crowe has 22 RBIs. Benjamin is second in the RBI category. Joel Sealer, a senior from Millard South, leads the Nebraska pitchers with a 1.50 earned run average. Sealer has pitched 12 innings, giving up two runs, striking out 12 and walking 15. Nebraska has outscorcd opponents 187-49 this year and has hit .313 while giving upa .194 average. Huskcr pitchers have earned a 3.62 ERA, while opponents have combined for a 15.86 ERA. NU ready for spring break in San Diego By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter A trip to California during spring break will provide the Nebraska men’s and women’s tennis teams with some golden opportunities. Nebraska coach Kerry McDer mott said he hopes the Comhusker men gain some momentum from participating in the San Diego Team Tourney today through Sunday be cause they open their Big Eight sea son April 1 against Iowa State. Ne braska will also face U.S. Interna tional in San Diego on Monday and will participate in the Califomia-Irv ine MarriottTennis Classic Thursday through Sunday in Irvine, Calif. McDermott said Nebraska will enter the San Diego tournament as the top seed even though the Buskers finished second to the Toreros in last year’s competition. The remaining teams participating in the three-day tournament include Washington, Iowa, Northern Arizona, Dartmouth, Baylor and Yale. McDermott said San Diego, Dart mouth, Yale and Bradley are the teams to beat in the tournament. He said Nebraska will enter the tourna ment with revenge on its mind be cause of the second-place finish to the Toreros last year. “It should be a good tournament.” McDermott said. “We feel we are the more dominant team there, though.” McDermott said San Diego has an advantage entering the tournament because it is used to playing on its outdoor courts. He said Nebraska will try to overcome that advantage by using the experience it acquired on outdoor courts earlier this season in the San Diego Intercollegiate Tournament and the Corpus Christi Invite. “We have been playing outdoors, and we arc a lot mpre prepared to play,” McDermott said. McDermott said U.S. Interna tional, whom the Huskers will face Monday, is a solid team that excels in dual competition. He said the Soar ing Gulls arc comparable to South west Missouri State, a team which Nebraska defeated 6-3 earlier this season. “They’re a good team and they should provide us with a good dual match,” McDermott said. “I feel that they are a strong team, but I also feel we should beat them 6-3. They will provide us with some good matches, and we will have to play well to win.” McDermott said the San Diego Team Tourney will provide Ne braska with good preparation and momentum entering the match against U.S. International. He said he is not worried about the Huskcrs being tired after the tournament. McDermott and Califomia-Irvinc coach Greg Patton said the Marriott Classic is one of the premier tourna ments this season. The teams partici pating in the four-day tournament include Duke, Harvard, Mississippi, Washington, Wichita State, Dart mouth, Fresno State, Minnesota, Utah, Weber State, Yale, Division II powerhouses Chapman and Califor nia Poly San Luis Obispos, and Claremont McKenna-Harvcy Mudd Scripps, the No. 1-rated team in Division III. Patton said there are three premier tournaments — the Corpus Christi Invite, the Blue-Gray Tournament in Montgomery, Ala., and the Marriott Classic — throughout the season. Patton said the Marriott Classic is , a tough tournament because several | teams v/hich are included among lac ( top three squads in their conferences are competing. , Patton said the No. 6-ranked Ant- i eaters will enter the tournament with ' pressure because they arc the top ranked team. ( But, he said, Califomia-Irvine’s 1 team enjoys the pressure. I “There is more pressure on us by playing on our home court, but we like the pressure,” Patton said. McDermott said he hopes Ne braska can gain momentum in San Diego and carry it throughout the Marriott Classic. “If we have a good San Diego Tournament, it will boost our confi dence for the Marriott Classic,” McDermott said. “We are hoping to get a good draw in Irvine and have a fairly good first-round match. I feel we have the ability to go pretty far in the tournament, but it depends on where and when we play.” Patton said he hopes his 13-3 Antcaters, who have already beaten eight teams among the nation’s top 20, gain momentum in the Marriott Classic and carry it throughout the rest of the season. “It is the start of the second half of )ur season for us,” Patton said. “We tope we can win the tournament and establish ourselves as one of the top ":ve teams in the nation. We need the nomentum for the next three weeks o get us a high seed in the NCAA tournament.” Patton said the tournament is a rhance for fans to watch tennis teams Tom around the nation. He said he topes those fans are “turned on to tennis. McDermott said the Marriott Classic will give him a chance to see how other teams in the Big Eight compare to the Huskers. Califomia Irvine beat Kansas 7-2 earlier this year, and Duke beat Oklahoma 54. McDermott said the trip will be a good opportunity for Nebraska to get in a lot of good matches and a chance to prepare for the upcoming Big Eight schedule. NU basketball recruits honored Two recruits who were signed by Nebsasfot basketball coach Danny Nee during the early signing period last No vember haw earned postseason honors. BaPreis Owens, a 6~foot-9 center bom Mansfield, Ohio,pt was named an honorable-men tion All-America by USA To day. Carl Hayes, a 6-7 forward from Chicago, was named to Illinois second-team all-state squad.