I-1
Gregg Madsen
Willoughby
steps up again
when it counts
You could almost feel it coming.
Nebraska sophomore Andy
Markowski made a short jumper to
cut Iowa State’s lead to 61-57 with
3:28 left in the second half.
But the Cyclones’ Dedric
Willoughby was still in the game,
and you knew what was going to
happen.
The 13,623 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center Wednesday
night cautiously rose to their feet,
everyone hoping Willoughby
wouldn’t get the ball. They knew
what would happen if he did.
For a moment it looked like the
Comhuskers would get a chance to
cut the game to one point when
Kenny Pratt missed from 3-point
range. But the Cyclones got one of
their few rebounds of the night and
Willoughby made NU pay.
inen itnappenea.
’WfQV 2:35 left in the game, the 6
foot-3 Senior let a high-arching 3 fly,
and after it scorched the bottom of
the net, the stunned crowd sat back
down. The Cyclones went up by
seven. The Huskers never recovered.
Willoughby then sank two free
throws with 11 seconds left to seal
the No. 11 Cyclones’ 77-67 victory.
In two seasons at Iowa State,
Willoughby has made a habit of ter
rorizing the Huskers.
When Iowa State demolished
Nebraska 74-59 last year in Ames,
he made a career-high seven 3
pointers. He nailed six of eight
Wednesday night and finished the
game with 21 points.
His performance becomes even
more amazing when you consider
he played the final 20 minutes with
a strained hamstring.
“I was kind of stiff,” Willoughby
said of his injury. “I just needed to be
out there to get die guys pumped up.”
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Willoughby stepped up to lead the
Cyclones when they needed a boost.
With 6:08 left in the first half,
Iowa State’s Kelvin Cato went to
the bench with three fouls and
Willoughby went into a zone. He
nailed four 3-pointers, hushing the
crowd and helping the Cyclones to
a seven-point halftime advantage.
Willoughby can take control of
any game, and against NU he
showed why. He played through
pain, and once again proved he is
deadly when the pressure is on.
This season he has played
through a sprained wrist, two dif
ferent strains on his left hamstring
and a twisted ankle.
But Willoughby said his latest
ailment wouldn’t affect him long.
It’s a safe bet he’ll be hitting game
winning shots and leading the Cy
clones for the rest of the season.
You can already feel it coming.
Madsen is a junior news-edi
torial major and a Daily Nebras
kan staff reporter.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
A good game tonight against
Iowa State will help ease the pain
ful memories of last Jan. 30, a date
McPherson
tnai iNeDrasKa
point guard
Sheila
McPherson will
never forget.
Tonight at
7, McPherson
will be on the
basketball court
as the 15-1
Cornhuskers
play the Cy
clones at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.
A year ago, McPherson spent
the night of Jan. 30 waiting for a
phone call from her twin sister, Sh
annon, a point guard for the Indi
ana University-Purdue University at
Indianapolis basketball team.
Shannon was returning to India
napolis with her team following a
road game.
Sheila spent that Jan. 30 evening
in her dorm room studying and tak
ing notes about the events of the
day, including Magic Johnson’s re
turn to the NBA. Finally, around 11
she fell asleep.
The call never came.
Instead, she was awakened in
her room by NU Coach Angela
Beck four hours later. Beck told her
to call home immediately.
McPherson’s early morning con
versation with her father is still
clouded in her mind, but the phrases
“van ride home from the game,”
“lost control,” “crash,” and “Shan
non dead” still are vivid.
“When I was told to call my dad,
it was in the back of my mind that it
was Shannon, but I was anxiously
hoping it wasn’t,” McPherson said.
“It didn’t hit me for a long time that
she was actually dead.”
Shannon and Sheila McPherson
grew up in Indianapolis, and not
only did they share the bond as
twins, but a passion for basketball.
Even though Shannon was re
cniited by Division I schools out
of high school, the two stayed to
gether going to Division II IUPUI
where they got to play with each
other for one more season.
After their freshman season at
IUPUI, Shannon became pregnant
and took a year off from school to
have her son, Kendall.
Sheila went on to play for
Wabash Valley (111.) Community
College. Wabash played Lincoln
(111.) Junior College during the sea
son, and McPherson played against
NU point guard LaToya Doage.
Beck was at the game watching
Doage but the 5-foot-5 McPherson
Please see SHEILA on 8
Ryan Soderlin/DN
MIKKI MOORE shoots over Iowa State’s Klay Edwards Wednesday.
ISU drills
NU; streak
reaches 3
.3K3sgjgBLjS *
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Nebraska extinguished Kelvin Cato
on Wednesday night but found no an
swers for the rest of the Iowa State
basketball team’s firepower.
Dedric Willoughby drilled his sixth
3-pointer with 2:35 remaining in the
game to sink Nebraska’s hopes for a
comeback after the Cyclones took con
trol with a 15-0 run late in the first half
and early in the second half.
The 77-67 loss, NU’s third-straight
Big 12 Conference defeat, sends Ne
braska reeling into Saturday’s visit to
Lawrence, Kan., where top-ranked,
21-0 Kansas awaits.
“I thought Iowa State played a
strong basketball game,” Nebraska
Coach Danny Nee said after the Husk
ers’ sixth-straight loss to ISU before a
season-high crowd of 13,623 at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center. “When we
made our run, Iowa State broke us
down.”
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NU (11-8 overall and 3-4 in the
league) used only seven players
Wednesday because of Larry Florence’s
season-long knee problems. Point
guard Tyronn Lue scored 15 of his 17
points after halftime, but ISU sizzled
from the field, hitting 72 percent of its
second-half shots and shooting 57 per
cent for the game.
The llth-ranked Cyclones (14-3
and 5-2) also made 9 of 13 3-point
shots and sank 18 free throws to NU’s
two, negating a 40-19 Husker rebound
ing edge. Nebraska center Mikki
Moore scored 13 points, blocked four
shots and nearly out-rebounded ISU by
himself, tying a career high with 15
boards.
Moore played a large part in Cato’s
demise. The highly regarded 6-foot-11
Cyclone center scored just nine points
in 18 minutes, drawing his third foul
Please see ISU on 8
JNebraska lomadoes make NVA debut
Six former Huskers
play first pro volleyball
match Saturday.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
Living up to high expectations is
nothing new to Christy Johnson and
Kate Cmich.
The former Nebraska volleyball
players helped the Comhuskers domi
nate opponents on their way to win
ning the national championship in 1995.
That NU team relied not only on its
talent, but the support it received from
an established program and more than
4,000 fans per home match.
Things will be a little different the
next time they take the court.
When Johnson and Cmich’s new
team, the Nebraska Tornadoes of the
National Volleyball Association — a
women’s professional volleyball league
— makes its debut at 7 Saturday night
against the St. Louis Spirits at Omaha
Burke High School, the team will not
hold such advantages.
Instead, it will be attempting to cre
ate them.
Promoting a new franchise,
strengthening a new league and secur
ing a dedicated fan base are three things
that are almost as important to the Tor
nadoes as winning their first match.
Despite shouldering high expecta
tions, Johnson is confident that the Tor
nadoes — which also includes former
NU players Allison Weston, Kelly
Aspegren, Virginia Stahr and Rachel
Errthum — will get the job done.
“I was kind of leery at first about the
amount of support we were going to
get,” Johnson said. “But we’ve been
spreading the word and I think anybody
in this area who’s into volleyball knows
about it.”
The high level of volleyball knowl
edge and interest in the state brought
the struggling NVA to Nebraska. For
merly a five-team league consisting of
four teams from California and one
from Utah, the NVA is attempting to
redefine itself in its fourth season.
The 1997 version of the NVA in
cludes two three-team conferences. In
the Midwest Conference, the Torna
does will face St. Louis — a team led
by former Husker and Olympian Lori
Endicott — and the Iowa Blizzard. Out
west, the Colorado Thunder, Arizona
Flames and the Utah Golden Spikers
make up the Pacific Conference.
The teams were assembled in De
cember, with each franchise drafting
two players before holding tryouts to
fill the remaining roster positions.
Names on the league’s six team roster’s
include 12 Olympians and NCAA All
Americans.
NVA teams practice just once a
week because of outside time commit
ments of their players.
“We don’t have to train like we used
to,” Johnson said, “so it’s a little more
relaxed. But we’re going to take it se
riously. This is going to be a competi
tive league.”
The NVA season begins Feb. 1 and
will conclude with the championship
match on May 10. Each team will play
five home and away series with each
league team for a total of 10 matches.
Tornadoes owner Gary Wyma —
who owns interest in every team in the
league — and general manager Ron
Hoffman are counting on a positive
response from area volleyball fans to
help jump-start interest in the NVA.
“The support for volleyball around
here is tremendous,” Hoffman said.
“The people in this area have always
demonstrated a love for volleyball.”