Sports
Thursday, December 7, 1995 Page 9
Trevor Parks
Seniors should
end year with
Final Four win
The pain finally will go away
after one hit by Lisa Reitsma or
Allison Weston off a set by Christy
Johnson.
The pain that has existed since
a little after 9 p.m. on Dec. 10. That
is the pain of the Nebraska volley
ball team as it plays host to the
Central Regional this weekend.
And guess what, in the regional
semifinal the Cornhuskers play
host to Penn State — the team that
caused that pain last season.
The Nittany Lions are the team
that took a free trip to Austin,
Texas, and the Final Four and left
the Cornhuskers at home wonder
ing, “Why not us?” If Nebraska can
avenge last year’s Penn State loss
this time around, some pain can go
away.
The road won’t be easy because
of the other semifinal matches,
Ohio State and UCLA. These two
teams were in Austin for the Final
Four last season, while Nebraska
sat at home and pondered next year.
But let’s face it. Nebraska
should beat those teams and march
to Amherst, Mass., and be in this
year’s Final Four. No falling short
and waiting at home for next year.
For the three seniors —Weston,
Johnson and Billie Winsett — this
is their last shot. All season long,
the seniors have been the driving
force in Nebraska’s quest to reach
the Final Four for the first time
since 1990.
They don’t want to end up with
tears in their eyes in the pressroom
after any match in Lincoln. They
don’t want to be forced to sit there
and remember another great sea
son that ended in defeat, short of
the Final Four.
Last year, Kelly Aspegren and
Peggy Meyer found out that feel
ing all too well, as that is how their
Nebraska volleyball career ended.
Coach Terry Pettit knows how
important this weekend is. In prac
tice he stressed how the match of
the year would be Friday against
Penn State. Get by the Nittany Li
ons and move on to Saturday. Win
Saturday and move on to that Fi
nal Four.
The identity of the three seniors
is that they are Nebraska volley
ball players and not just your nor
mal college student walking
around campus. But to become a
great volleyball player and be re
membered years later, you must
make the Final Four.
Success defines all athletic ca
reers, and without making the Fi
nal Four, these seniors would con
sider their careers a big disappoint
ment.
For right now, though, Nebraska
fans should count on seeing
Johnson, Winsett and Weston end
ing their careers on the court of the
Mullins Center in Amherst.
And not in the NU Coliseum
pressroom.
Parks is a senior news-editorial maj or,
a Dally Nebraskan senior reporter and
colnmnist
Alford wants his shot at hoops
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
As the Fiesta Bowl nears, former
Nebraska tight end Eric Alford
doesn’t want to be out on the field
helping the Comhuskers capture their
second consecutive national champi
onship.
{-i Instead, Alford
wants to be on the
basketball court,
helping the
Husker basketball
team in the Big
Eight.
Aitora, wno
caught a two
... . point conversion
Aliora pass in last year’s
Orange Bowl, said he would attempt
to walk on Coach Danny Nee’s team
for the second semester.
“Right now. I’m planning on go
JayCalderon/DN
Nebraska’s Erick Strickland applies defensive pressure during Nebraska’s 88-67 win over
Creighton Wednesday night.
NU overcomes another slow start
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Editor
OMAHA — An early scare
from the Creighton basketball team
Wednesday night turned out to be
nothing more than a short-lived gut
check for Nebraska.
Playing before the 14th largest
crowd ever to watch a Creighton
home game, the Bluejays gave the
9,060 fans in attendance at the
Civic Auditorium a surprising treat
for about four minutes.
But down 10-0, Nebraska re
grouped quickly and blindsided the
Bluejays, scoring 44 of the first
half’s final 57 points en route to
an 88-67 victory.
With its sixth straight win over
Nebraska’s only other Division I
school, the Huskers improved to 6
0, their second best start ever in
Coach Danny Nee’s 10-year career.
The Huskers began 7-0 in 1992.
“I was pleased with our ability
to get down like we did and come
back,” Nee said. “It was just a hard
fought game, and winning on the
road is very difficult.”
After misfiring on its first five
attempts, Nebraska hit 17 of its fi
nal 26 shots from the field in the
first half. The Huskers
outrebounded Creighton 51-33 for
the game and shot 47.8 percent to
Creighton’s 37.9 percent.
“/ was pleased with our ability to get down
like we did and come back. ”
DANNY NEE
NU basketball coach
Nebraska was led by its three
most experienced seniors, Jaron
Boone, Erick Strickland and
Terrance Badgett, each of whom
grew up in Omaha.
Boone led all scorers with 20
points and dished out seven assists.
Strickland added 19 points, four
assists and grabbed nine rebounds.
Badgett, who has come off the
bench in each of Nebraska’s six
wins, sewed 10 consecutive sec
ond-half points and finished with
a season-nigh 17 points in 15 min
utes.
“We have a silent confidence,”
Strickland said. “We have started
slow all season. I don’t know what
it is, but we know we will find the
groove sometime. We have got to
find a way to start off faster.”
A media timeout with 15:51 to
play in the first half interrupted the
beginning of Nebraska’s explosion,
which was ignited by a Bernard
Gamer layup 3:59 into the game.
After the timeout, Nebraska struck
quickly, tying the game at 13 on a
Boone 3-pointer with 13:30 re
maining in the half.
From the 14:05 mark to the 2:06
point in the opening half, Nebraska
outscored the 2-1 Bluejays 31-3
and led 44-23 at halftime.
“Nebraska is a team that needs
a lot of improvement,” Nee said.
“We have a lot of potential. We
have to get that chemistry and work
it all together and get going.”
Nebraska extended its lead to 28
points at 60-32 after a Strickland
3-pointer with 12:50 left in the
game. But behind the play of fresh
man Rodney Buford, who led the
Bluejays with 19 points and Kevin
Mungin, a freshman from
Papillion, Creighton scored 10
straight points to pull to within 60
42.
But Badgett buried the
Bluejays, hitting three jumpers, a
tip-in and a layup to put Nebraska
up 7047 with 8*33 to play.
“I had to be able to be a senior
and step up,” Badgett said. “It was
a great feeling.”
ing out for basketball,” Alford said.
“If this semester finishes up all right,
I plan to be out on the court. I think I
should have stuck with basketball and
not football from the starts
But assistant basketball coach
Jimmy Williams, who said the Daily
Nebraskan report was the first he had
heard about Alford’s interest, said his
chances were slim.
“I know right now it would be very
difficult for someone to come out in
the middle of the year — having
missed most of the year,” Williams
said. “He would have to play catch
up. I’ve known guys to come in and
be a part of the scout team, but to
come in and play would be, not im
possible, but improbable.
“Right now, we’re having enough
trouble getting players with scholar
ships on the floor.”
The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder aver
aged 30 points and 10 rebounds a
‘77/ talk to Danny Nee about it. Hopefully, if I can
play second semester, I could be back to old form
by the time the Big Eight season came around. ”
ERIC ALFORD
Former Nebraska tight end
game as a senior at High Point Cen
tral High School in Highpoint, N.C.
He went to Garden City (Kan.)
Junior College and played only foot
ball his first year. But he returned to
his favorite sport as a sophomore,
averaging 12 points a game as a full
time starter.
“Football has always just been
there,” Alford said. “I don’t miss it
very much. Basketball has always
been my love. It doesn’t bother me to
watch football, but it does basketball.
I don’t go to any (Nebraska) basket
ball games because I would want to
be out there too much. I miss basket
ball a lot more than football.”
Alford said it could help his
chances that center Chris Sallee’s eli
gibility will expire after the first se
mester.
“The reason I want to do it isn’t
because Sallee isn’t going to be
there,” Alford said. “But I think that
See ALFORD on 11
Huskers get
additional
commitment
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska football team has
picked up its fourth oral commitment
of the fall season.
David Webber, a 6-foot-2, 275
pound offensive guard from
Hazelwood East High School in St.
Louis gave an oral commitment Tues
day to play football for the
Comhuskers, his coach said Wednes
day.
Nebraska’s other three commit
ments came from Willie Miller, a full
back from Bellevue West, Russ
Hochstein, a guard from Hartington
Cedar Catholic, and DeAngelo Evans,
a running back at Wichita Collegiate
(Kan.).
Rich Gorzynski, Webber’s coach,
said the recent success of the
Cornhuskers had a big impact on
Webber’s decision to play football at
Nebraska.
Webber played both offensive
See WEBBER on 10
NU overcomes
Kent St. with
tough team play
By, Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
Before Wednesday night’s
women’s basketball game against
Nebraska, Kent State coach Bob
Lindsay said he wanted to have
Comhusker junior Tina McClain on
his team.
But after 5-1 Nebraska’s 80-71
win, Lindsay probably had seen
enough of McClain’s performance.
McClain scored 16 points against
the 2-2 Golden Flashes, while grab
bing seven rebounds and dishing out
five assists.
But Nebraska coach Angela Beck
said McClain’s success was not on the
offensive end of the court, but the
defensive. McClain limited Amy
Sherry, Kent State’s leading scorer, to
14 points and eight rebounds. Sherry
had been averaging 20.7 points and
10.3 rebounds.
“Tina had a great game,” Beck -
said. “This was probably one of her j
better games ever. We felt we had to
keep Amy Sherry down to around 14
points, and Tina limited her to 6-of
17 shooting.”
Beck said Nebraska’s win, how
See BECK on 11