NU women fall
to Old Dominion
■ An 11-minute Husker
scoring drought in the
second half helped the Lady
Monarchs secure the win.
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
NORFOLK, Va. - Nebraska
proved it could survive a five
minute scoring drought and still
remain competitive.
But an 11-minute period without
a field goal in the second round of
the NCAA Tournament against the
No. 2 team in the nation might be a
little difficult for any team to over
come.
Despite mounting a comeback
and tying the game with 15 minutes
remaining, the Cornhuskers fell to
No. 2 Old Dominion 75-60 Sunday
night before a sold-out ODU
Fieldhouse and an ESPN2 national
television audience.
Nebraska came out of the half
time locker room looking like a team
that was supposed to be marching on
in the NCAA Tournament, scoring
14 of the first 18 points to tie the
score at 43 on a Nicole Kubik 3
pointer with 15:17 remaining in the
game. Nebraska's next field goal did
not come until the 4.11 mark.
The Lady Monarchs, with the
help of the 14,855 predominantly
ODU fans in attendance, took
advantage of the Huskers’ shooting
woes and went on an 18-4 run. NU’s
four points came from Kubik free
throws.
During that period, Nebraska
was zero for 12 from the field and
committed 10 turnovers.
“Any time you’re in a stretch
where you are going 0 for 12, you're
thinking you need to score some
how,” Kubik said. “We ran different
offenses - anything to get a score -
and the baskets weren’t dropping for
us.”
The Huskers connected on just
12 of 34 shots in the second half (35
percent) and finished the game
shooting just 39 percent.
It was the fifth-straight time NU
failed to shoot better than 40 percent
from the field.
Also, senior Anna DeForge, who
shot 42 percent on the season, fin
ished the ODU game connecting on
just 8 of 23 attempts for 34.8 per
cent. In Nebraska's 76-59 victory
over New Mexico on Friday, the two
time first-team All-Big 12 player
was 5 of 23 from the floor, making
Please see NCAA on 8
Gymnasts split duals
against Nittany Lions
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
Both the Nebraska men’s and
women’s gymnastic teams scored
well Saturday in dual meets against
Penn State, but the women were the
only ones who came away with a vic
tory.
The No. 13 women defeated the
No. 15 Nittany Lions 195.60
194.125 at State College, Penn.
Coach Dan Kendig said the meet was
a good way to conclude the regular
season.
“This is a tremendous win for us
heading into postseason,” Kendig
said. “I think a win like this puts us in
good position heading into the Big 12
Championships next week.”
A slew of career-high scores and
season-best marks helped the
Cornhuskers (11-4) score a season
high mark.
On the first event of the night. Misty
Oxford posted a school-record-tving
9.95 on the uneven bars. Her mark tied
the standard set by Shelly Bartlett in
1997 and Crystal Savage in 1989.
In addition to Oxford. Nicole
Wilkinson posted a 9.875 and Jess
Swift scored a career-best 9.85 while
NU scored a season-high 49.25 on
the event.
"We realh did a nice job on bar.-”
Kendig said It» got u> going and
-tarted the m. T.entnn..'
o ; car’-icd the m omen tun . ei
n the f! ■’ exercise wheiv heathei
u 9"5 i and \;n King 0 So ;• aP
•o. : . ureer Olm- .■, tj;v •;u^l.ers
around. Her 38.925 put her behind
Missy Leopoldus of PSU, who scored
39.10.
Kendig said the team's good per
formance was not unexpected.
“We put an emphasis on hitting
routines in practice,” Kendig said.
“We knew how important this meet
was because we lost one chance last
week (when the BYU meet was can
celed) to score better.”
The men also had high expecta
tions going into their meet with No. 5
Penn State.
“We knew we would have to per
form very well to win because it is a
tough place to score well,” said
Coach Francis Allen.
The Huskers scored above 230 for
the third consecutive meet, but fell to
Penn State 231.15-230.025, to dip to
10-5 on the year.
Senior Bill Mulholland and
sophomore Derek Leiter finished
second and third in the all-around
with scores of 57.375 and 57.30.
Penn State sophomore Mike Dutka
won the all-around with a 58.50.
Junior Marshall Nelson took first
on the horizontal bar with a 9.80 and
tied Dutka for first on the parallel
bars with a 9.80.
Leiter tied Dutka for first on the
floor exercise with a 9.75 and fin
ished third on the pommel horse,
vault parallel bars and horizontal oar.
Although the gymnast-, per
form *d well. Allen said the men were
apse' with the 'toss.
think this meet left a nad tasn
in ou: mouth." Kendig s.v.i. "We had
s >nv. opponunitie.-. and i thm) tin -
n .’ a ■ r o. :!i; g\ r and L oi : > be a’
:a. " a: :h . \ ha:'insmp
;: e ' iu d ^ _•
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
NU CENTER Venson Hamilton, left, forward Troy Piatkowski, center, and guard Mike Johnette sit on the bench
toward the end of the Huskers’ season-ending 74-65 loss to Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament Friday.
Huskers look to future
By Sam McKewon
Senior Reporter
There may be a silver lining m the
black-cloud ending for the Nebraska
men's basketball team.
After losing to .Arkansas 74-65 in
the first round of the NCAA
Tournament, the Cornhuskers
expressed their disappointment, but
also looked forward to next season.
“Just getting here, we look at our
year as successful.” Nebraska Coach
Danny Nee said. "But we’re really
looking forward to making that next
step.”
The Huskers could possibly return
all five starters from a team that went
20-12 this season and finished fourth
in the Big 12 Conference. NU also
will return all three players who saw
considerable time off the bench.
One player who is unsure about
returning next season is junior point
guard Tyronn Lue. A first-team All
Big 12 selection, Lue must make a
decision between staying for his
senior season or opting for the NBA
draft.
Forward Andy Markowski said
getting Lue back would make the
u
If he decides to stay,
we ’ll have one of the best teams
in Husker history
Andy Markowski
NU forward
Huskers a force to be reckoned with
nationally.
“Right now, 1 think it’s 50/50
whether or not he stays,” Markowski
said. “He’s got to sit down with some
people and find out what’s best for
him.
“If he decides to stay, we’ll have
one of the best teams in Husker histo
ry”
If Lue goes to the NBA,
Markowski said, NU would have to
fmd a player to run the point. Possible
candidates include sophomore guard
Cookie Belcher, freshmen Rodney
Williams and Todd Smith, and junior
college recruit Rodney Fields.
“I’m confident the coaching staff
would either go out and find someone
to play the point guard position or
adapt somebody to do it,” Markowski
said. “Somebody like Cookie could
do it, but he's more suited for the two
guard position ”
Next season, one problem that
Nebraska may not have is depth. This
season, NU played only an eight-man
rotation throughout the season.
Next year, Markowski said, NU
will have all of its scholarships filled
and players will be fighting for play
ing time.
“The time isn’t guaranteed to any
one because we’ll have so many guys
going for it,” Markowski said. “We’ll
have a good nucleus; it’ll be whoever
plays hardest in the summer that plays
next season.”
tour tracksters are All-Amencans
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
For only the second time in 12
years, neither the Nebraska men s nor
womens track team finished in the top
10 at the NCAA Indoor Track
Championships at the RCA Dome in
Indianapolis.
But four of the eight Cornhusker
athietes competing in the meet
returned to Lincoln as All-Americans
- including three of the four NU men.
Behind their performances, the
men finished 14th.
junior high jumper Shane Lave
finished in third place with a iumfl of"
feet, 5 inches just 1 inch belli no
freshman Rerun Evans of Arkansa
h was the best finish for Law. the
tour-tune All-American at the V L.-V
Indoor meet
">hane had a lot of m.s.'-e.' ana
cca.-n t \<r- consistent NL 1 iea..
' oaw . Pepin vnd "but he \va.
a'-,* t .w r in • he<g‘n ■.weiieso"
Shane, and I know he’s happy with
where he placed.”
Senior Scott Warren also finished
third, and he earned All-America hon
ors in the 35-pound weight throw for
the second straight year.
Warren's toss of 67-4% was a per
sonal best and also an improvement
over last year's fifth-place finish.
“I’m happy with my placing with
how far 1 threw,” Warren said. “I'm a
little disappointed because it's my
senior year and I'm only a 67-foot
weight thrower.
Long jumper Chris Wright
entered the meet with the third-best
jump m the nation this year at 26 feet,
but he was unable to match his earlier
mark .and 1’inisheti sixth
The senior irom Nassau. Bahamas,
had a 'limp oi'24-s ’.
“He Pad nm worst meet of tire
ndo- r sensor and tins tsn'i me place
1 c d- that ” !Jepin sai :
Net;: : N>re '! iu.>! missed
a....; .’i... 'he '-me c .too. ; i;
T mt“ -me. r-eliimnar time m ■ .3
The Husker women had only one
All-American and finished in 43rd
place, their worst NCAA Indoor finish
ever.
Senior Meka Rembert didn't
advance to the finals of the 55-meter
hurdles but did advance in the 400
meter dash.
The Kentucky transfer finished in
fifth place, earning All -American hon
ors with a time of 54.01.
“In the quarter. 1 was so happy to
know 1 made it in (the finals).''
Rembert said. “Now i am reads for the
400 hurdles outdoors."
Senior Christina Blackmer fin
ished l,v-!l in the 5.000 meters, sopho
more Dai hi a Ingram finished 14: m
the long jump, and s. p ho more Kim
Stewart fnnsned ! 6th ;n the n >ie w.uk
Big If conference for leva.- w >n
ti>v. omen national titte endmg
Louisiana State's ru; of six suaigh:
Il'i-e
..on - -. - w v nit. mei ot oe.o
in ' .v . f'o-'p '. o. *o e.
>nd
