Sports
Cornhusker track teams win triangular
oy oara exjuuct
Staff Reporter
Sammie Gdowski has said the mile
run is not her best event, but she
proved Saturday that it isn’t exactly
her worst either.
Gdowski qualified for the NCAA
Indoor Track and Field Champion
ships by winning the mile run in 4:41.35
minutes during a triangular meet at
during a triangular meet at the Bob
Dcvancy Sports Center on Saturday.
Gdowski’s performance helped the
Nebraska women claim the meet’s
team title. The Comhuskers won the
meet with 93 points, while Arkansas
finished second with 43. Drake was
third with 14.
Nebraska also claimed the title in
the men’s competition, scoring 81
points. Arkansas finished second with
64 points, while Drake was third with
14.
Although Gdowski said the mile
really isn’t “her” race, Nebraska coach
Gary Pepin said she has the experi
ence and strength to run a variety of
distances.
“You’d have to be a pretty solid
runner to beat her at almost any dis
tance,” Pepin said. “She can even
run a good 800 meters, but she im
proves as the distance is greater.” •
Gdowski said her goal for the mile
was just to run a good time.
“I had a specific pace in mind and
just tried to slick to that,” she said. ‘‘I
wanted to run it in 4:40, but I’ll take
the 4:41.”
Pepin said the 3,000-meter run is
an “even better” race forGdowski.
Gdowski said her next goal is to
get a good time in the 3,000.
“I’ve never run a good time in the
3,000 indoors,” she said. “I always
do well outdoors, but I want to get a
good time inside.”
She also won the 1,000-metcr run
Saturday in 2:49.57.
Gdowski is one of three Husker
women who have qualified for the
NCAA championships. High jumper
Mcrcdy Porter qualified Saturday with
a jump of 6 feet, 3/4 inches, and
Ximcna Restrcpo qualified in the 400
with a time of 53.35.
Restrcpo already had qualified for
the 400 on Jan. 27.
Nebraska’s Kim Walker won the
200 in 24.56 seconds, which was good
enough for a provisional national
qualifying time. Provisional times are
set up so that if not enough competi
tors reach the actual qualifying times
in a given year, there will still be a full
slate of competitors at the national
meet.
Other Husker champions on the
women’s team were Maureen Dunn
in the long jump, Anne Brouzet in the
shot pul, Tranquil Wilson in the 600,
Fran tenBensel in the 800 and Katie
Fletcher in the 3,000.
Four Husker men set provisional
qualifying times. Jacques van Rensburg
won the mile in 4:03.56; Tamas Molnar
won the 200 in 21.38; Dieudonne
Kwizera won the 800 in 1:49.81; and
Anthony Adkison won the 55 in 6.26.
The additional men’s champions
were Jeff Hooper in the shot put,
Todd Stanton in the 55-meter hurdles,
Jerry Marsce in the 600, and the 1,600
relay team of Ken Waller, Marsce,
Keith Logan and Molnar.
Scales proves
ability to teams,
coaches, himself
By Chris Hopfensperger
Staff Reporter
Clifford Scales had something to
prove Saturday against Kansas State.
Scales, who had to match up with
pre-season Big Eight Player of the
Year Steve Hen
son, wanted to
prove his ability to,
among others,
himself. He did just
that during Ne
braska’s 74-71 win
against the Wild
cats at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen
ter.
‘ ‘I’ve been looking forward to this
matchup for three years,” Scales said.
‘‘I’m not sure if I showed it in the
past, but I would like to, hopefully,
maybe further myself in basketball.
‘‘To do that you have to compete
against the best athletes, the best
players; the (Anthony) Peelers, the
Hensons, the (Kevin) Pritchards, and
I felt that until I showed I could do it
against them, my work is not done.”
Scales proved what he was made
of, dishing out five assists and scoring
a game- and season-high 25 points,
twice his season average, while hold
ing Henson to 14 points and forcing
him to commit five turnovers.
‘‘I tried to get my teammates the
ball,” Scales said, ‘‘but as far as
defense, it was a one-on-one duel.”
Scales said the win - which was
Nebraska’s first Big Eight victory of
the season - was a big one.
u iceis real goou. oy no means
was it a national championship, but it
was a step in the right direction.
“We’re taking it one game at a
time, and this shows what we can
do,” Scales said.
Husker basketball coach Danny
Nee praised Scales’ performance.
“I thought Clifford Scales really
had a hell of a game,” Nee said. “I
think he came out looking for his
game and looking for his offense.
“He was on.”
Scales, who averages 12.5 points a
game, shot 76 percent from the floor,
including 4 of 5 from three-point range.
“I don’t know,” Scales said. “I
have no idea (where the three-point
ers came from).
“During halftime Coach Nee was
talking about the /one they had, and
he said if you reverse the ball enough
times the top of the key would be
open. 1 don’t know if it was open, but
I took it, and fortunately I hit the
shots.”
Kansas State coach Lon Kruger
also was impressed with Scales’ per
formance.
“Scales shot awfully well,” Kruger
said. “He hit some open jumpers and
some guarded jumpers — he had an
outstanding ball game.”
The win, which upped the Huskers
record to 8-11 overall and 1-5 in the
Big Eight, was a needed boost for the
Cornhuskcrs, who now return to the
road to play Colorado and No. 1
ranked Missouri.
Butch Ireland/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska forward Carl Hayes shoots over Kansas State’s
Tony Massop.
Huskers end losing streak,
post 74-71 win over KSU
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Before Saturday’s game against
Kansas State, the Nebraska men’s
basketball team was 0-5 in the Big
Eight.
Saturday afternoon, Nebraska guard
Clifford Scales decided to change all
that...w ith some help by the rest of the
Comhuskers and a rowdy crowd of
12,274 at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
Scales led the Huskers with 25
points, and center Rich King pulled
down 10 rebounds as Nebraska beat
the Wildcats 74-71 for its first confer
ence win this season.
King and Dapreis Owens each
scored 11 points for Nebraska, and
Richard van Poclgcest added 10.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said every
nlavnrr.nnirihiilrvi in snmn wav in ihn
win.
“We’re just very, very excited,”
Nee said. “We needed this in the
worst way, and I was just so pleased
with so many guys. It was a team
victory, from my standpoint.”
But Nee couldn’i help singling out
Scales’ performance.
“I thought Scales was a force
today,” he said. “I think Clifford just
came out looking for his game and his
offense. He was attacking the basket.
He played great.”
The game was nearly a repeat of
last year’s game against Kansas State
in Lincoln, when the Wildcats over
came a large deficit to beat Nebraska.
The Huskcrs led throughout the
game, ex tending their lead to as much
as 14 points. During one first-half
stretch, Nebraska oulscored Kansas
State 19-4.
But the Wildcats chipped away at
Nebraska’s lead, culling it to 34-32
with 3:03 remaining in the first half.
But Kansas State never led - until
the second half.
The Wildcats took their first lead
of the game on a three-point jump
shot by guard Steve Henson with 3:42
remaining. The shot made the score
65-63.
The teams traded leads unul Owens
connected on a reverse layup with 35
seconds left, which put the Huskers
ahead for good. Carl Hayes sank two
free throws to ensure Nebraska’s win.
Nee admitted that he was worried
when Kansas State took the lead.
“But I just wanted to stay calm
and keep encouraging our guys and
be positive with them,” he said. “I
didn’t want to let them know how
scared I really was.”
Kansas State had two seconds left
to attempt a three-point shot to lie the
game, but the ball fell harmlessly into
Scales’ hands.
i/ ... ...i.. ....
ivi oaiu iiv/uiaaiva a vaiij ouv
cess affected the Wildcats.
‘ ‘There was a big deficit early, but
we fought and got back into it,” he
said. “We scrambled around and got
back into the game, but we didn’t do
the things we had to do to finish it.
“There were a lot of chances at the
end — it was 63-60 for a long time --
but we couldn’t get it down.”
Kansas State guard Jean Dcrouill
ere led ail scorers with 29 points,
hitting lo of 23 from the field --
including two three-point shots -- and
7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Henson added 14 and Askia Jones
scored 10 for the Wildcats, now 12
10 overall and 2-4 in the Big Eight.
Nebraska, 8-11 and 1-5, will play
Colorado on Wednesday night in
Boulder, Colo. Kansas State will face
Missouri on Thursday night in Man
hattan, Kan.
Nee said the win will aid the Husk
ers’ confidence through the rest of the
season.
“Now you can slop writing about
us being 0-5 in the conference,” he
added, directed at members of the
media.
The reporters laughed. Nee didn’t.
Lady Buffs down Nebraska, 75-74
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
A long-shot comeback fell one long
shot short in the Nebraska women’s
basketball team’s 75-74 loss to Colo
rado on Saturday afternoon before
1,341 spectators at the Bob Dcvancy
Sports Center.
Nebraska devoured an 18-point
deficit in the last six minutes to close
to 75-72. The Comhuskers then had a
chance to tie with a three-point shot
with 10 seconds left. Huskcr coach
Angela Beck, however, said that long
shot wasn’t the team’s best option.
Kim Yancey, who has made 13 of
the Huskcrs’ 15 three-pointers this
season, already had fouled out. Beck
put in Sara Offringa, who has hit the
other two, just in case the Lady Buffs
fell like giving the Husker freshman
an open jump shot, but the coach said
the plan was to work the ball inside.
“We don’t have a three-point
shooter,” she said. “It would have
been a Hail Mary for us.”
Beck said she was hoping for a
quick shot and a foul; if lhal didn’t
happen, Nebraska would go for the
foul again. But the Huskers were slow
in gelling the ball upcourt, and Sarah
Muller’s unconicstcd jumper went in
with :03 left. A Colorado player walked
out of bounds with the ball to pre
serve the Lady Buffs’ fourth-straight
victory over Nebraska.
“I don’t think that lost us the game,”
she said. “Not showing up at 12:30
lost us the game.”
Colorado, now 12-9 overall and 5
3 in the Big Eight, jumped to a 13-4
lead in the first six minutes. Nebraska,
capped by a steal and short jumper by
LecAnna Hicsland, came back to lie
the game, 15-15, but after a Colorado
timeout the defending conference
champions controlled thchalf on their
way to a 48-30 lead.
Colorado coach Ccal Barry shuttled
in 12 players, seven of them fresh
men, all of whom played physically
(56 fouls were called in the game).
Two seniors, Annan Wilson and Benita
Martin, controlled the Lady Buffs on
offense.
Martin led Colorado with 18 points,
and Wilson spent most of the day near
the ball with 11 points, 10 assists,
eight turnovers, seven steals and a
couple dives over the press table.
Beck had to move Yancey to point
guard to run the offense, which kept
Yancey from getting open for shots.
The Lady Buffs, who entered the
game hitting 64 percent of their free
throws corrfpared to 67 percent for the
Huskers, gained a huge advantage at
the free-throw line. Colorado hit 12
of 12 free throws for the period, while
Nebraska missed 10 of 16, including
the front end of three one-and-ones.
Ann Halsnc, who led Nebraska
with 17 points and eight rebounds,
said she and her teammates had trouble
getting on track partly because of
19 first-half turnovers and poor shoot
ing. Whenever the Huskcrs could gain
momentum, an errant pass or missed
free throw swung the game back to
the Lady Buffs.
Both teams coasted through the
first 14 minutes of the second half.
Then, with six minutes left, Nebraska
started playing almost flawlessly. For
the next five minutes, the Huskers
outscored the Lady Buffs, 21-4.
“We decided at about the 10-minutc
mark we were sick of this,” Halsne
said.
Halsne scored 16 points in the last
five minutes, and Wilson fouled out
with 2:36 left. The women’s crowd
and early arrivals for the men’s game
started to cheer again.
But the comeback was a long shot,
and the game was still a loss for the
Huskcrs, something Beck knew well.
“I think it says a lot to come back
the way we did,” she said. “Not
being able to finish it off hurts.”