Sports
[Husker women lose to Athletes in Action
Player's return
doesn't bring win
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Editor
Mcggan Ycdscna had two points
and no rebounds in the Cornhuskers’
98-85 loss to Athletes In Action
Wednesday night. But she finished
the game with a steal, seven assists
and — most importantly — 32 min
utes.
With five minutes remaining in
the first half, Yedsena crashed to the
court. She pounded on the floor in
pain, before being carried off. For the
rest of the half she sat on the bench
with her ankle wrapped in ice.
On the court, Athletes In Action
went from three points ahead to as
many as 10. Nebraska trailed 54-46 at
halftime.
The future was cloudy for the
Huskers.
“Our season would be quite differ
ent without her,” Nebraska women’s
basketball coach Angela Beck said.
But as halftime wound down,
Ycdscna joined the rest of the Husk
ers in drills.
With Ywlspna nn lh/> flr»r\r N*».
braska battled back to close the gap to
four. But her presence was not enough
to shut down the outside shooting of
Jennifer Azzi.
Azzi, who led the Athletes In Action
team with 40 points, finished the game
6 of 9 from three-point range,
f It was a career night for the All
American who graduated from Stan
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“Usually, anywhere from 15 to 25
is my range,” she said. “The most I’ve
ever scored is 31.”
Trailing by 10, Nebraska’s Karen
Jennings went on a rampage. The 6
foot-2 junior scored 10 straight points.
Grabbing an errant three-point attempt
from Yedscna, Jennings pul the ball
in to cut the lead to four.
Azzi responded with two three
pointers to put Athletes In Action up
90-83.
Athletes In Action finished the game
with a 10-2 run for the final margin.
The game was closer than the score
indicated, Azzi said.
“1 think we played well tonight,”
she said. “Had we been off we would
have lost.”
See ATHLETES on 14
European guard
opts for road life
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
Jennifer Azzi traded life in Europe
for life on the American road.
Now she’s a road warrior.
Azzi, the former Stanford women’s ,
basketball guard who led the Cardi
nal to a national title in 1990, scored
40 points Wednesday night and led
Athletes in Action to a 98-85 exhibi
tion win against Nebraska.
Just a year ago, Azzi was playing
professional basketball in Italy and
hating every minute of it.
“I guess 1 wasn’t ready lor the
mentality over there,” Azzi said. “You
live and die through the way you play
on the court, and I can’t stand that.
There’s more to me than basketball.”
Coming out of college in 1990,
Azzi looked like a sure bet to star in
Europe or anywhere else. She received
the Naismith Player of the Year award
and broke virtually every Stanford
record in her senior year.
But it didn’t take long for her to
realize that Europe wasn’t the place
for her career to blossom, and she left
after her first season.
“It’s just that you’re in another
country, you don’t speak the language,”
she said. “And our team was losing
when 1 came over there, so there was
that pressure.”
After the European disappointment,
it took a call from Athletes in Action
Coach Marcia Burton to lure her back
into organized basketball.
“She called this year, and 1 wanted
something different,” Azzi said. “I
didn’t want the hardcore pressure,
competitive, eam-your-moncy type
job.”
Now, as the point guard for Ath
letes in Action, Azzi is traveling across
the country. The Nebraska stop
Wednesday was the 10th of a 21
gamc trip in November for the team,
which represents Campus Crusade for
Christ.
Azzi said she doesn’t mind the
travel.
“It’s just been great,” Azzi said.
“I’ve told different people that it’s the
* See AZZI on 14
Michelle Paulman/DN
Nebraska’s Kristi Anderson tosses a rebound over Kay Konerza of the Athletes in Action
touring team during the Huskers’ 98-85 loss in exhibition game action Wednesday night.
Nebraska coach Angela Beck said Husker trouble with the transition game contributed to the
loss.
Phog should roll into Devaney Sports Center
Perhaps the sign floating atop Allen
Fieldhousc in Lawrence, Kan., Satur
day night said it all:
“BEWARE OF THE PHOG”
At first, I admit, it left me utterly
phoggy. What phog? I didn’t see any
phog — much less fog — before
Kansas’ exhibition with High Five
America.
No, my ignorance was washed away
when I realized that it was the F.C.
“Phog” Allen Ficldhouse, named af
ter the winningest coach in Kansas
basketball history.
The phog was the essence of “Phog”
Allen, who took Dr. James Naismilh’s
invention and transformed it into 24
conference titles and one national title
in the first half of this century. The
phog was the spirit of those — Ted
Owens, the second-winningcst Kan
sas coach; Larry Brown and Roy
Williams — who have carried it into
modem Kansas basketball success.
I thought back to good ‘ol Lincoln.
The basketball arena wasn’t named
after Joe Cipriano or the infamous
Moe Iba. No, it was named after a
very good football coach, Bob Deva
ney.
More importantly Saturday night,
I found out the “phog” was the spirit
f_: _*_____J_ . ~
of the crowd and the eerie, tranquil,
bam house feeling of Allen Fieldhousc.
All that tradition, all that spirit, all
that “phog” was packed into one arena
In short, the phog was something
much more than Dead Dog Alley.
§Todd
Cooper
I found that out while waiting
approximately one hour to watch all
this tradition packed into one bitter,
cruel battle with archrival High Five
America.
I had never seen fans hate a touring
exhibition team the way the Jayhawk
supporters despised High Five. With
a passion, some Kansas fans gave
High Five the high one as they en
tered the fieldhousc.
This scene was unbelievable. More
than 10,000 fans packed Allen field
house to see an exhibition. 1 was told
15,000 of the same Hawk-wild fans
packed Kansas' first practice at mid
night Oct. 15.
I remember going lo midnight
madness at the Bob Devancy Sports
Center three years ago. Approximately
2,000 fans attended and watched a
tired, ragged team battle in an in
trasquad scrimmage.
Monday night, approximately 7,000
fans packed Dcvaneyland to watch
the Huskers battle the same High Fivers
(not so despised, afterall). Not bad,
but not quite the same as Kansas.
But my awe-struck feeling was
compounded Saturday with a glossy
gaze at the Jayhawk cheerleaders’
coordinated cheers.
The only lime I’ve noticed the
cheerleaders at Nebraska athletic
contests is when that giddy gang of
guys collaborated for a geeky group
high-five.
That gaze Saturday night was inter
rupted by an incredibly automatic,
coordinated shout of “Roy.” The fans
went into an uproar when Roy Wil
liams, the classiest coach in the Big
Eight, trotted onto the arena floor.
For some reason, I’ve never quite
heard Danny Nee’s first name mut
tered in unison. Bisyllabic first names
aren’t conducive to chants.
Anyway, Williams greeted their
shouts with waves and smiles. He
turned to the crowd and threw out two
rather flashy “sixth man” t-shirts, then
handed the third shirt to a man in a
wheelchair at courtsidc.
I’ve seen Dead Dog Alley T-shirts,
and the hounds that wear them. Enough
said.
The Jayhawks came out to an up
roar comparable to Memorial Sta
dium on Saturdays in Lincoln. In
unison, the fans rose and stood through
the national anthem.
The anthem was followed by
Kansas’ traditional, tranquil and rather
eerie “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” chant. It
was more rhythmic than the Semi
nole War chant, more methodical than
that chop, and more melodious than a
Neil Sedaka song.
Let’s just say I only know the
words to “Dear Old Nebraska U."
I remember five guys in wigs and
Hawaiian shirts doing that last year in
Lincoln.
Now in a stupor, I became even
more befuddled when newspapers were
passed my way. The entire student
section rattled and waved their pa
pers, mocking the evil High Fivers.
l stood with tnc students as mgn
Five controlled the tip-off. High Five’s
rather coordinated, well-executed
offense was interrupted by Kansas
fans’ chants of “defense.” When
Alonzo Jamison scored the first hoop,
I sat down, obviously, remembering
Lincoln. All I could see from then on
was a rather large heinie.
Nope, the Kansas fans didn’t take
a scat after the first hoop. They re- .
mained standing for the entire first
half.
I’ve seen Huskcr fans stand and
stretch at halftime.
1 simply couldn’t stand it anymore
Saturday night. My friends and 1 left
that game at halftime.
To tell the truth, I had had enough
of the phog. My head was cloudy.
This was unlike anything I had ever
seen before. It was beyond gimmicks
and glitz. It was something Husker
hoops fans could aspire to.
It was an essence.
It was tradition.
It was phog.
Cooper Is ■ sophomore news-editorial
major and the Daily Nebraskan sports senior
reporter.
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