Nebraskan QPOPTQ
Monday, Match 1,1993 X '
Nebraska women demolish Iowa State
By Derek Samson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska women took a final
step in preparation for the Big Eight
Tournament by crushing Iowa State
89-40 in their final regular-season
game Sunday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
“I was worried about all the dis
tractions,” coach Angela Beck said.
“This team is pretty mature, though.
They did what we set out to do today.”
The last-place Cyclones did not
weigh as heavy on the minds of the
players as did performing well to pre
pare for the Big Eight Tournament,
which begins Saturday in Salina, Kan.
“Our plans were pretty well set.
We wanted to prepare for the tourna
ment,” Beck said. “We wanted to
work on certain areas like our free
throw shooting.”
Beck said most of her objectives
were accomplished in the win. Ne
braska hit 21 of 26 free throws, caused
39 Cyclone turnovers and edged Iowa
State 51-49 in the rebounding col
umn.
“We focused on executing,and we
wanted to get the confidence going
into the tournament,” Nebraska guard
Meggan Yedsena said. ‘This is going
to give us momentum.”
The Huskers blew the game open
early, going on 19-0 run and increas
ing their lead to 26-4 with 9:13 re
maining in the first half. The Cy
clones committed 22 turnovers in the
first half as Nebraska took a 45-18
lead into the locker room.
Karen Jennings scored 12 points,
and Kristi Anderson pulled down eight
rebounds for Nebraska in the half.
-44
This team believes they
can win the Big Eight
(Tournament). I don’t
think (Nebraska) is
going to fall on their
face.
\
—Beck
NU women's coach
-tf -
“We had good distribution of the
ball,” Beck said. “Everything we
wanted to occur did occur.”
Nebraska kept rolling in the sec
ond half as Rissa Taylor scored 11 of
Nebraska’s first 19 points over a 5:56
span.
Jennings finished with a game
high 21 points while Nafeesah Brown
added 14. Jennings played her last
home game along with three other
seniors: Anderson, Taylor and Sara
Offringa.
Anderson finished with a career
high 10 points, while Offringa and
Taylor each added 11.
“They’ve gone from 2-12 in the
Big Eight as freshmen to being tied
for second,” Beck said. “They ’ ve done
an outstanding job of putting us on the
map.”
The goal of the Huskers’ second
straight 20-win season was accom
plished with the victory, as Nebraska
improved to 20-6 overall and 10-4 in
the Big Eight.
Iowa State finished the regular sea
son at 1-13 in the Big Eight and 2-24
overall.
“This is a nice way to end the
regular season, but I like playing in
the close games a lot better,” said
Yedsena, who dished out nine assists.
“I’d much rather have the Colorado or
Missouri-type game than this.”
The Comhuskers finished tied for
second in the conference, one game
behind Colorado. They will play Iowa
State Saturday at 6 p.m. in the first
round of the tournament.
Other tournament pairings include
No. 1 Colorado against No. 8 Kansas
State, No. 3 Oklahoma Stale against
No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 4 Kansas
against No. 5 Missouri.
Beck said her team has as good a
chance as any.
“I think we are playing as good as
any team in the Big Eight,” Beck said.
‘This team believes they can win the
See NU WOMEN on 8
NU throws
all punches
to knock out
Iowa State
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
After this weekend’s game between Ne
braska and Iowa State, one might think that
die Comhuskers boxed their way to a men’s
basketball victory Saturday.
“Every time they put us to the canvas, we
popped back up and kept fighting,” Ne
braska coach Danny Nee said.
“I felt after we got over the hump that
there was no way that they could get back off
the canvas and come back and win,”
Comhusker center Derrick Chandler added.
But Iowa State fought the Huskers to the
wire before Nebraska escaped with a 91-87
win at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
For the third time this season, the Huskers
were able to win a conference home game in
the final minute, this one coming down to a
Nebraska defensive stand in the game’s last
10 seconds in front of 14,520 fans.
After the Huskers eliminated a seven
point deficit with less than six minutes re
maining in the game, Nebraska went on a 20
9 run, capped by a slashing layup by Husker
guard Eric Piatkowski with 10 seconds left
to give Nebraska a 89-87 lead.
After an Iowa State timeout, the Cy
clones tried to set up a last-second shot, but
a steal and layup by Husker reserve guard
Erick Strickland sealed the win for Ne
braska.
The Huskers, who improved to 7-5 in
league play and 19-8 overall, were able to
avenge their worst loss of the Big Eight
season, a96-69 trouncing to Iowa State three
weeks prior in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa State dropped to 0-6 in conference
road games this season, while falling to 6-6
in Big Ei§ht play and 17-9 overall.
Nee said his team didn't want to get swept
by Iowa State.
“There’s a lot of pride; we got our
See CIRCUS on 8
Nebraska’s Erick Strickland pushes the ball upcourt in Saturday’s game
against Iowa State. The Cornhuskers improved their record to 19-8 with
the 91-87 victory over the Cyclones.
Piatkowski pilots win over Cyclones
By Beau Finley
Staff Reporter
In November, Eric Piatkowski was nomi
nated for the prestigious John Wooden award
for the country’s best basketball player.
On Saturday, he showed why.
The Nebraska men’s basketball team
defeated Iowa State 91-87 in front of 14,520
fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center
Saturday to take sole possession of third
place in the Big Eight standings.
And when crunch time came, Piatkowski
was clutch.
The junior from Rapid City, S.D. scored
a game-high 24 points, including five points
in the last minute and the game-winning shot
with 10 seconds to play.
Piatkowski said he was emotional as the
Cyclone showdown approached.
“I was a little nervous before the game but
......
once it began, I was jacked up,” Piatkowski
said. “I was thinking that everything would
be going down.”
It looked like that might be the case as
Piatkowski hit his first four shots, two of
which were three-point goals. He finished
the first half with 14 points.
But it was the second half that truly
brought Piatkowski into the spotlight.
With one minute left to play and the
Comhuskers down 86-84, Piatkowski was
fouled on a three-point shot that narrowly
missed being an opportunity for a four-point
play.
O- Piatkowski made all three free throws to
put the Huskers up by one point.
After the Cyclones’ Loren Meyer tied the
game at 87, it was Piatkowski who broke the
deadlock with a gliding, game-winning layup
to put the Huskers ahead for good.
Despite his performance, Piatkowski said
he wondered during the game if the Huskers
would be able to pull out a victory.
“At times, we’d try this and that and they
adjusted to it,” Piatkowski said. “It was hard
todo different things. They’re a good team
Piatkowski said the 96-69 beating that
Huskers took in Ames, Iowa earlier this year
wasn’t as motivating for him as the fact that
the Cyclone starters were still on the floor
with two minutes to play in that game.
“It’s been in the back of my mind since
then,” Piatkowski said. “I didn ’t think it was
a very classy move.”
Piatkowski said he used the decision by
Iowa State coach Johnny Orr to prepare him
for Saturday’s showdown.
“I was extra fired up about (the game),”
>Piatkowski said. “Each time I see (Orr), I
think about it.”
_
Track teams
overcome flu,
perform well
in Big Eight
By John Adkisson
Senior Editor
Battling through sickness, the Nebraska
women’s track and field team stifled the com
petition to win their 14th straight conference
title this weekend.
Led by sprinters Shanelle Porter and Kwani
Stewart, the Comhuskers won the team title
with 160 points and easily outdistanced sec
ond-place Kansas State at the Big Eight Indoor
Championships at Ames, Iowa.
The Nebraska roeiu the meet’s defending
champions, finished second behind Iowa State
145-112.
Husker coach Gary Pepin said both teams
overcame the flu bug and performed well over
the course of the two-day meet.
“When we got done and on the bus the first
night, I thought I’d entered the coughing ward
of a hospital,” Pepin said. “So considering that,
I thought both teams had a heck of a meet.”
Porter, a junior, won the 55-meter dash with
a time of 7.03 seconds, won the 200-meter dash
in 24.21 and won the 400-meter dash in 53.21.
She was also a part of Nebraska’s winning
1.600-meter relay team.
Stewart won the 55-meter hurdles with a
time of 8.08, beating teammate Cris Hall, who
came in second with a time of 8.11.
Pepin said Porter and Stewart were major
parts of the Nebraska victory.
“If you put those two with (Husker distance
specialist) Theresa Stelling, they’d probably
gel third place in the Big Eight between the
three of them,” Pepin said.
Stelling finished second in the 3,000 meter
run with a time of 9:26.38. She also placed
second in the mile.
Other first-place finishers for Nebraska in
cluded triple-jumper Nicola Martial, who won
with a jump of 40 feet, 2 inches.
Pepm said Nebraska’s men performed well,
but couldn’t keep up with Iowa State in the
meet’s distance events.
“I was looking at the scores and Iowa Stale
scored enough just in the distance and middle
distance events to win the meet,” Pepin said.
Nebraska’s best showing came in the shot
put, where senior Kevin Coleman won with a
throw of 64-6. Coleman beat teammate Andy
Meyer, who placed third with a throw of 60-o.
Husker Robert Thomas won both the long
jump and triple jump, finished fifth in the 55
meter dash and was named the men’s Most
Valuable Performer of the meet.
“Robert turned in an excellent performance,”
Pepin said. “He’s had a little bit of heel bruise,
so he overcame that really well.”
Other winners for Nebraska’s men included
Pat Trainor in the 600-meter dash and the
1,600-meter relay team, which won with a time
of 3:09.30.
Pepin said competing in a hostile environ
ment would help his young teams down the
road.
“For a lot of our freshmen and sophomores,
this was the first time they were really in a
battle,” Pepin said. “To go in there and domi
nate the whole thing, it was special to see our
team do that.”