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.