Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1993)
---- Huskers advance to championship By Beau Finley Staff Reporter SAUNA, Kan. — Finally, An gela Beck has her team on the brink of a Big Eight title. Beck, Nebraska’s women’s bas ketball coach, will send the Comhuskers to the BigEightTour nament Championship for the first time in school history after a 66-64 victory over Oklahoma State at the Bicentennial Center on Sunday. Nebraska will play Kansas in the tournament’s championship game at 7 p.m. tonight. The game will be televised live by Prime Sports. Beck said the win was fitting for her team after their 21 -6 season. “We had a tremendous year, and these girls deserve it,” Beck said. The game was plagued by poor execution, as the Huskers commit ted 26 turnovers. But it was a Cow girl miscue that put Nebraska into position to win. With five seconds remaining in the game, Oklahoma State’s Staecy Coffey fouled Huskcr guard Mcggan Yedscna, sending her to the line with achancc to break a64 64 lie. Yedscna, a junior, hit both free throws to ice the Huskers’ first ever trip to the tournament final. Yedscna had been sidelined in Saturday’s win against Iowa State with a twisted ankle. Yedsena said the shots gave her a chance at redemption for her handicapped performance in Sunday’s contest. “I struggled the whole game with my ankle,” Yedscna said. “This was a chance to make up for the way I played the whole game.” Yedsena fnished with six points and six assists. Nebraska’s leading scorer, Karen Jennings, said she was con fident when Yedsena was fouled. “I knew she was going to make them,” Jennings said. Jennings, the 1993 Big Eight Player of the Year, said the tough victory gives her the opportunity to attain a goal she had set in her childhood. “This is a chance to make my dreams of winning a Big Eight championship come true,” Jennings said. “It was a blood bath out there, but we’re staying alive.” Beck said despite the Husker elation of being in the final, her team has a tough test ahead. “Wc don’t match up with Kan sas,” Beck said. “It’ll be a pretty big battle.” The Jay hawks and Huskers split two games this year, with each team winning on its home floor. Beck said it’s different playing Kansas in the postseason. “It’s not playing this freshman or thatonc.il’splaying a tradition,” Beck said. I Baseball Nationally ranked Husker Baseball I swings into action this week. I Come cheer on the Huskers as they take on Oral Roberts in the game called America's pastime. Hies., March 9,7 p.m. . Wed., March 10,1 p.m. f For ticket information, call 472-3111. Gymnasts win final home meet By Susie Arth Senior Reporter The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team used its final home meet to try some new tricks Sunday night in its victory over Penn State. The Comhuskers, who improved their record to 7-0, defeated Penn State 281.35 - 274.40 in front of 1,102 fans at the Bob Dcvaney Sports Cen ter. Husker coach Francis Allen said he had hoped to score around 283 points. “We did okay,” he said. “We smelled on a couple (events).” The vault gave the Huskers their biggest problems, where three Husker gymnasts scored an 8.85 or lower. Allen blamed poor mental prepa ration for his team’s subpar perfor mance. “It was hard to get them up,” Allen -« It was hard to get them up. Maybe we should get Danny Nee here to give them a pep talk. —Allen NU men's gymnastics coach -tt - said. “Maybe we should get Danny Nee here to give them a pep talk.” But Allen said he believed the performance was good enough to move his team up one notch in the ratings. “I wouldn ’l be surprised if this puts us at No. 1,” he said, “It should move us up.” The Huskers were led by Sumner Darling, who won thcall-around com petition with a 56.40. Darling’s performance was high lighted on the vault, where he per formed a first-time ever maneuver in the United Stales, called a hecht back flip, for a score of 9.45. Allen said he didn’t think Darling would ever be able to perform the skill. “Nobody I’ve ever heard of has ever done that,” he said. “Now it’s pretty legitimate. We might use it.” Four Huskers — Darling, Richard Grace, Josh Saegert and Dcnnii Harrison — competed in the all-' around. Allen said Darling has been plagued by injuries all season, and he was pleased to have him back. “If we’re going to have success, we need everyone back,” he said. Allen said he planned to use only Darling, Grace and Harrison in the all-around competition for the Big Eight and NCAA championships. NU sweeps Bobcats in weekend games By Tony West StaffReporter The Nebraska baseball team is learning, slowly. TheComhuskers won against Peru State at Buck Bellzer Field Saturday and again on Sunday to open their season with a 2-0 record. After beating the Bobcats Satur day 15-0 behind the combination of four pitchers hurling a no-hitter, the Huskers had to scrap in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday to gain a 14-13 victory. “Il took too much time for us to get in the flow (Sunday),” Nebraska coach John Sanders said. “We are in great shape, although we do need work in some areas. “We’re climbing the ladder.” Sanders said he was pleased that his team was able to bounce back on Sunday after being down 13-7 before their half of the seventh. Nebraska used three-run seventh and eighth innings and a Robert Perry double in the bottom of the ninth scored Troy Brohawn with the win ning run. “We showed a lot of poise when our backs were to the wall,” Sanders said. “This was a good come from-behind win, although I wish it didn’t have to be that way.” Sanders said the weekend was a good learning experience for his team and a chance for him to evaluate talent. Nebraska used nirte pitchers in the two games. “It was positive that we got to see several pitchers and several position players,” Sanders said. “It was a very productive weekend from that point.” The Huskers will resume play with three games against Oral Roberts on Tuesday and Wednesday. booners Continued from Page 7 Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs said there were a couple of reasons why the Sooners fell. “We played with some intensity, but Nebraska was more intense than we were,” Tubbs said. “We didn’t make some of the plays we needed to down the stretch, and Nebraska did | make the plays.” Oklahoma’sTenry Evans scored a game-high 23 points, but Johnson and Husker guard Eric Piatkowski scored 19 apiece along with 15 each from Chandler and Chubick. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said he was pleased to hit the 20-win pla teau for the third lime in his tenure at Nebraska. “The 20-9 season is a great season for Nebraska,” he said. With the win, the Huskers finished in a lie for second place in the league standings with Oklahoma State and Iowa Slate. In the tiebreaker, Nebraska will receive the No. 4 seed and play fifth seeded Kansas State in next weekend’s Big Eight Tournament. “One of our goals for the season was to get to the 20-win plateau; we hit that now, so now we’ll just lay our ears back and go after K-Statc on Friday,” Chubick said. . ■ " ■! c^yJ.T Thomas Jewelers 1 he Smart Choice Lincoln's Largest and Finest Collection of Quality Diamond Bridal Sets. The A.T. Thomas Guarantee Assures You of... •Diamond Quality •Precise modem cut for maximum brilliance •Protection against diamond loss •L4ieumc iraae-in vaiue ^ CTXZ* T 1 •Lifetime cleaning and inspection f (JfO/T23S fcWGlGl*S •Money back-satisfaction guarantee Open Sundays East Park Plaza 220 N. 66th -SJrUKls KKlErS Men swimmers shatter mark, women miss Big Eight title From Staff Reports Nebraska’s men shattered the scoring record and the women barely missed a title at the Big EighlS wimming and DivingCham pionships this weekend. The Comhusker men scored 726 points and won their 14th consecu tive conference title, easily outdis tancing second-place Kansas (628). Nebraska’s Justin Finney was named the meet’s outstanding per former for wins in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly. Bjorn Moller won the 1,650 freestyle, Gary Albertyn won the 200 backstroke and Alan Kelsey won the 100 freestyle to help lead Nebraska. On the women’s side, Kansas out-dueled Nebraska down the stretch, winning the meet in the last event with a team total of 685 points. The Comhuskcrs finished with 679.5 points. Jane Glazcbrook set a Big Eight ,, record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:59.70. Other winners Saturday for Nebraska included Cheryl Kartye in the 3-meter spring board and Melanie Dodd in the 50 and 200-yard frccstyles. Nebraska coach Cal Bentz said he was pleased with the perfor mance of the women’s team. “We believed we could win all the way down to the last event,’* Bent/ said. “I’m very pleased with the way this team has stood up against adversity.” Last Chance meet provides Huskers with trip to NCAA From Staff Reports Nebraska’s Kevin Coleman won the shot put with a throw of 64 feet, 2 1/2 inches at the Husker Last Chance Track and Field meet Sat urday at the Bob Dcvaney Sports Center. Other First-place Finishes for the Comhuskcr men included Chad Muma in the triple jump, Willie Hiblcr in the 55-meter hurdles and TravisGrant in the 200-meter dash. Hibler’s time of 7.35 seconds was an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. For the Nebraska women, win ners included Nicola Martial in the triple jump, Paulette Mitchell in the shot pul, Beck Lund in the 3,000-metcr run and the 400-mctcr relay team. Martial, Mitchell and the relay team all set provisional qualify ing marks with their performances. Nebraska will close out its in door track season Friday and Satur day at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis. NU softball team goes 3-2 at Texas A & M Invitational From Start Reports The Nebraska softball team opened its season by posting a 3-2 record at the Aggie Invitational in College StalionVTexas, this week end. The Comhuskers, who started the tournament by winning their first two games against Creighton and Northeast Louisiana, dropped two of three games on Saturday. In the final game Saturday, two two-run innings lifted Kansas to a 4*1 win over die Huskers. Nebraska pitcher Jody Splichal compiled a 2*1 record in the tour nament, including a win overTexas San Antonio on Saturday in which she surrendered only one run and four hits. In that game, the Husk ers’ Saundra Brown homered to lift Nebraska to a 4-1 win. The Huskcrs’other pitcher,Cody Dusenbery, posted a 1-1 record. Duscnbcry was tlte winning pitcher in Nebraska’s 14-7 tournament opening win over Creighton Fri day.
