Nebraskan SPORTS
Seniors shooting for NCAA title
By Tony West
Staff Reporter,
The seniors on the Nebraska
women’s basketball team have been
waiting for success.
That wait may be over.
After trouncing Iowa State 89-40
Sunday, the Comhuskers moved a
step closer to gaining only the second
NCAA Tournament berth in the
team’s 19-year history.
“This is very exciting,” said senior
guard Sara Offringa, who scored 11
points in the Iowa State game. “This
is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Nebraska finished the Big Eight
season with a 10-4 record, one game
behind Colorado.
Offringa said she knew the Husk
crs had the talent to compete for a Big
Eight championship.
Former
Huskers
vie for
pro jobs
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
For nine former Nebraska football
players, the first stop on the road to the
NFL was Indianapolis.
Those Comhuskers who partici
t pated in the National Football
League's combines two weeks ago at
the Hoosier Dome were hoping to
leave an impression in the minds of
professional scouts.
The players who went to India
napolis last month included outside
linebackers Travis Hill and David
White, defensive tackle John Parrella,
comerback Kenny Wilhite, offensive
guard Will Shields, split end Tyrone
Hughes, punter Mike Sligge, fullback
Lance Lewis and I-back Derek Brown.
White said he was optimistic about
the combines, but said he would have
to wait until draft day on April 25 to
see what happened.
“They went fairly well, but I don’t
want to jinx myself,” White said.
Stigge, who helped Nebraska lead
the nation with a 41.7 yards-per-game
net punting average, said it was tough
for the punters to prove themselves in
Indianapolis.
“For me as a kicker, we didn’t do
a whole lot of things,” Stigge said. .
“They give you 10 punts, you kick
them and then you’re done. It was
like, OK, boom, you kick your 10 and
that’s it”
Stigge said the feeling at the com
See NFL on 8
— 44
All of our talent has been brewing In these past few
years. The talent has just finally come to a head.
—Offringa.
Nil guard
-|i -
“All of our talent has been brewing
in these past few years,” she said.
“The talent has just finally come to a
head.”
The Huskers will focus now on the
Big Eight Tournament, which begins
Saturday in Salina, Kan. Nebraska
will play Iowa State in a first-round
game at 6 p.m.
Nebraska forward RissaTaylorsaid
the tournament could be an opportu
nity for the Huskers to redeem them
selves.
r——————
“We wanted to win the Big Eight,”
Taylor said. “Once that dream was
shattered, our next goal was to make
an appearance in the NCAA Tourna
ment.”
Husker forward Karen Jennings,
Nebraska’s all-time leading scorer,
agreed.
“This season is everything I could
have asked for, but I want more,”
Jennings said. “One of my favorite
quotes is ‘If you think what you did
yesterday was good, then you won’t
accomplish anything today. I just
keep resetting my goals.”
Nebraska forward Kristi Ander
son, who played in her last home
game Sunday, said the Huskers could
even make some noise in the NCAA
Tournament.
“I feel we could win the Big Eight
Tournament and maybe make the Fi
nal Four,” she said. “Southwest Mis
souri State made it last year, and we
beat them this year.
“So I see no reason why we can’t
make it this year.”
Anderson said the team’s perfor
mance in the Big Eight and NCAA
tournaments would determine how
she would look back on her senior
year.
“Next weekend will determine if it
is really a dream season,” Anderson
said.
WOMEN’S
CONF. SEAS.
Colorado 12-2 24-2
Nebraska 10-4 20-6
Oklahoma State 9-5 21-7
Kansas 9-5 18-8
Missouri 8-6 19-7
Oklahoma 6-8 12-14
Iowa State 1-13 2-24
Kansas State 1-13 10-16
»*..■ wf.- ■
Scott Maurar/DN
^"1
. Kitey Tlmperley/DN
Nebraska’s Jenny Slade vaults in Monday’s Masters Classic. The Huskers finished second to Michigan State in the
three-team tournament.
Last event dooms N U m triangular
Late vaulting
lifts Spartans
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
The fifth annual Masters Clas
sic came down to one event for the
Comhusker women’s gymnastics
team Monday, and that event came
back to haunt them.
The Huskers, in frontof a crowd
of 1,291 fansat Bob Devaney Sports
Center, were leading Michigan
State 142.65-142.20 going into the
final event, the floor exercise, and
ended up losing the meet 190.35
190.75. Illinois finished third with
a score of 181.55.
Nebraska coach Rick Walton
said he was surprised with the low
scores his team received on the
floor exercise.
The highest scores the Huskers
received on the floor exercise were
two 9.6’s by Jennifer Hawkinson
and Nicole Duval.
And while the Huskers were
busy on the floor exercise, Michi
gan State used the opportunity to
shine on the vault, tallying high
scores of 9.7 and 9.8.
“I think we did a better job on
the floor exercise than the scores
indicated,” he said. “But they were
doing the judging and I was doing
the watching.
“Being the last team upon floor,
I thought we would have an advan
tage. It didn’t work out.”
Walton said he had to give the
Spartans, who defeated the Husk
ers earlier this season in East Lan
sing, Mich., credit for pulling to
gether on the vault.
“They landed on their feet,” he
said.
Perhaps the Huskers’ biggest
downfall was on the bars, Walton
said, where two gymnasts fell.
“We lost the meet on the bars,”
he said. “We had two falls at one
half (point) each.”
Walton said he was pleased with
the performance of his uppcrclass
See HUSKERS on 8
Brown, Chandler impressive on and off playing fields
Farewell to the Big Ds.
No, I’m not referring to Dallas and
I’m not talking about defense.
I’m talking about two great
Comhusker athletes.
This year Nebraska will be forced
to bid its farewells to two class acts,
Derrick Chandler and Derek Brown.
Neither of them stuck around for
very long, but both have left their
marks on Comhusker athletics.
Brown came into Nebraska as a
young pup, but he played like a vet
eran. He had a strong work ethic. He
had speed. He had raw talent. He used
those skills to become one of the best
running backs in the country. And he
used his talent to help lead the Husk
ers to two Big Eight Championships.
Chandler came to Nebraska as a
streetwise, junior-college transfer. He
was intimidating. He was quick. He
knew how to play the game. He used
his experience to become one of the
best centers in the Big Eight and lead
Nebraska to twoof its most successful
seasons ever.
Nebraska has already said goodbye
to Brown. He bypassed his senior year
to play in the NFL. And on Sunday,
Chandler will play his last game in the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
At least the record books are there
to log both of the Big Ds’ accomplish
ments.
Brown left Nebraska ranking fourth
on Nebraska’s all-time rushing list.
He was named the Associated Press’
Big Eight Offensive Player of the
Year this season. And he, along with
teammate Calvin Jones, made up the
“We-Backs,” who were the first
Husker pair to each rush for more than
1,000 yards in a single season.
As for Chandler, his two years at
Nebraska were enough to give him
some records. Last season, his 91
Susie
Arth
blocked shots set a record for the most
blocked shots in a season. And on
Dec. 21,1991, Chandler set a record
for the most blocked shots in a single
game with seven.
Both Big Ds will presumably move
on to bigger and better things.
Brown has already announced that
he would beeligible for the NFL’spro
draft. And Chandler has spoken of
playing in the pros, loo—if not in the
NBA, at least in Europe.
But both will be missed dearly
long after their departures.
Sure, Calvin Jones can probably
take up most of the slack for Brown’s
early exit. But nonetheless, a speedy
backfield threat is gone.
And Amos Gregory will give the
Huskers another big body in the middle
after Chandler leaves. But whatabout
the excitement, the outstretched arms
and the intimidation factor that Chan
dler brought into the game?
But perhaps the biggest thing that
the two Ds will take with them is
class.
Both athletes provided landmarks
in my life.
My first sports story ever was on
Brown, and I will never forget his
willingness to help me out. He actu
ally met me and the interview lasted
more than an hour. The framed article
still sits on top of my desk and the
autograph he wrote to my younger
brother still hangs on his wall.
Likewise, my first basketball story
ever featured Chandler after a Huskcr
win over Missouri-Kansas City. I re
member leaving the interview think
ing that if everyone was as nice as
Chandler, the job would be easy.
But soon it became all too clear
that these two athletes were the ex
ceptions rather than the rule.
I missed the chance to say goodbye
to Brown, but I’m preparing for the
goodbye to Chandler.
When his name gets announced,
when he does the elbow smack with
Andre Woolridcc, when he goes up
for the jump ball and when he throws
down his final dunk. I’ll file it all
away in my memory bank.
Because it will be the final time
Husker fans gel to say goodbye to a
class act.
Arth Is a senior news-editorial major and
a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter.
