Vince D’Adamo
Husker Invite
stirs hunger
for records
When you go to party, hors
d'ouevres and cocktails are always
a good way to get things warmed
up. But after awhile, everyone hun
gers for the main course.
The first three meets of the Ne
braska men's and women's track
and field seasons have been that ap
petizer. a prelude for this weekend's
showcase event.
i ne c.srci-annuai crank ;sevigne
Husker Invitational is the real meal
with more than 700 athletes repre
senting 75 teams competing.
Although some Comhusker ath
letes have had good early season
outings, the intensity of those meets
have been short of earthshaking.
But if history is any indication,
records could fall at the Bob
Devanev Sports Center track this
weekend like a boxer hitting the
canvas after a right cross from
Evander Holyfield. If you attend the
meet remember this, records will go
down, and they will go down hard.
Since record-breaking feats hap
pen every Husker Invite, this year
will be no different. It's only a ques
tion of whom and in which event.
To prove my point, look no further
than last season's invite.
Does E1CLA shot putter Valeyta
Althouse's name ring a bell? It
should. Althouse set the NCAA
shot put record at last year's Frank
Sevigne.
On NU's side, how' about Joe
Laster? Laster broke the Husker In
vite long jump record. Or Tressa Th
ompson? She eclipsed the Husker
school record in the shot put.
After a toss of 57 feet 5l/2 inches
at the Nebraska Open, Thompson
said she planned on setting the
NCAA record in two weeks.
So now is her time — that
throw was two weeks ago. If Th
ompson sets the mark, she might
as well be proclaimed a prophet.
If you are looking for fraudu
lent talent, avoid the Devaney Cen
ter track.
At last year’s Husker Invite, 21
NCAA automatic marks and 88
provisional qualifying times were
achieved.
“The main purpose is to bring
in teams from across the country to
compete at a real high level.” NU
Coach Gary Pepin said.
If an athlete sets a record this
weekend, the accomplishment
could be a springboard for the re
mainder of the season, NU sprinter
Tom Fish said.
“I’ll look to see where I'm
stacked up.”
After Saturday, some athletes
will earn the right to pack their bags
for the NCAA Indoor Champion
ships, March 7 and 8 in Indianapo
lis. And it won’t be to see the famed
Indianapolis 500 racetrack.
D’Adamo is a senior broad
casting major and Daily Nebras
kan staff reporter.
Huskers run over at CU
I -;
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
BOULDER. Colo. — When Colo
rado beat Nebraska on Jan. 4 in Lin
coln the Buffaloes broke the
Comhuskers nine-game win streak.
Colorado's 73-52 victory over NU
Wednesday night in Boulder, Colo.,
broke the Huskers’ hearts this time.
Nebraska Coach Angela Beck said
she was very disappointed in the per
formance of the Huskers (16-2 over
all and 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference),
whose team has never won at the
Coors Event Center.
‘'Em really upset with how we
played," Beck said. “I'm very disap
pointed with this loss. We had a chance
to come in here and be tied for the Big
12 lead and we just choked. We had a
lack of leadership
tonight.”
With the win
and Kansas’ lost
to Missouri
Wednesday night
the Buffaloes (13
7 and 7-2) moved
into a three-way
tie for first in the
North Division _ .
with the BeCK
Jayhawks.
The Buffs showed a lot of leader
ship from their senior posts Raegan
Scott and Erin Scholz. Scholz finished
the game with 14 points, 12 of which
came in the second half. While Scott
scored 13. eight coming in the first
half. CU had five players score double
figures.
"We never established a post game
tonight,” Beck said. “The worst about
it is this is the worst we ever looked."
The Buffaloes opened the game
with a 9-2 run as the Huskers hit just
one of their first seven shots.
Nebraska junior Anna DeForge,
who led the Huskers with 17 points
said the Buffaloes opening run and
NU’s 10 first half turnovers, killed the
team's confidence.
"We couldn't get anything to go
our way,’’ DeForge said. “The turn
overs really killed us and then we lost
-—I
!
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our confidence. Once we lost our con
fidence it went downhill from there."
CU Coach Ceal Barry was also dis
appointed with the Buffaloes turn
overs. Colorado finished the game
with 20 turnovers, down from the sea
son-high 26 they had last month in
Lincoln.
Barry said she was pleased with the
way the Buffaloes defense limited the
Huskers to making just one of seven
3-point shots.
"Our defensive intensity was really
better this game.” Barry said. "We're
doing a better job of reading situa
tions."
Matt Miller/DN
VENSON HAMILTON battles CU’s Dennis Griffin for the ball in Nebraska’s 77-69 win Wednesday night.
NU snaps skid with 8-point win
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
By turning Saturday’s wrong into
Wednesday night’s right, the Nebraska
basketball team reversed its recent for
tune and snapped a four-game losing
skid at the hands of No. 15 Colorado.
Four days to mull a 28-tumover,
overtime loss to No. 1 Kansas left the
Cornhuskers with careful hands
Wednesday night at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. Nebraska committed
just four turnovers in first half and 11
for the game — tying a season low —
to down Colorado 77-69 before a
crowd of 12,398.
“We've really been talking about
that for the last two days,” Nebraska
Coach Danny Nee said. “This is just a
good win for us. I felt we had to win
this game. We had to start winning at
home.”
NU (12-9 overall and 4-5 in the Big
12 Conference) equalled its league win
total from a year ago and denied the
Buffaloes (16-5 and 7-2) a share of Big
12 lead. The victory, Nebraska’s first
since Jan. 18, gives the Huskers valu
able momentum heading into
Saturday’s visit to No. 23 Texas Tech,
the last of four straight ranked oppo
nents.
“It feels good,” said Husker center
Mikki Moore, who scored 14 points
in 36 minutes. “But we know we can’t
savor it right now, because we’re still
behind from all the losses that we had.
We just use this as motivation and go
from here.”
Point guard Tyronn Lue scored 20
of his team-high 22 points in the sec
ond half — including 11 in the final
four minutes — and forward Larry
Florence added 14 points and 11 re
bounds.
“We took care of the ball a lot bet
ter tonight,” said Lue, who had two
turnovers after committing 10 against
Kansas on Saturday. “I thought we
showed a lot of heart. We stayed
strong, and we executed when we had
to.”
Colorado’s Chauncey Billups con
nected for a career-high 35 points, hit
ting 7 of 11 3-pointers, but no other
Buffalo scored more than nine points.
Billups credited Lue for providing the
knockout punch Wednesday night.
“He’s a great player,” Billups said.
“There’s nobody in the league as fast
as him. I feel that they are the second
best team in the Big 12, talent-wise.”
NU led 31-27 at intermission and
never trailed in the second half. After
a Charlie Melvin free throw cut the
Husker lead to 64-61. Lue drilled a 3
from the top of the key with 3:23 left.
Despite two long 3-pointers from
Billups in the last 90 seconds. CU
never came closer than three points.
Two Florence free throws with 12 sec
onds to play iced the win.
For the last 16 minutes of the
games, NU played without guard
Cookie Belcher, who left for locker
room after Martice Moore accidentally
jabbed him in the face.
Nebraska shot 59.3 percent from
the field in the second half after a 31.1 -
percent effort before halftime. For the
game, Colorado sank just 40.7 percent
of its shots.
NU held the Buffs to just one field
goal during a 13'/2-minute stretch in
the first half after CU took an early 10
2 lead.
"Colorado’s a really good basket
ball team," Nee said. "They deserve
their ranking. We just needed a win
against a quality basketball team, and
we got it."