Wisconsin
pounds NU
in Alaska
From staff reports
It was a long trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, for
the Nebraska men’s basketball team for the Top
of World Classic.
Chances are good it’ll be an even longer trip
back.
Hamilton
The Comhuskers end
ed the tournament with a 1
2 record and a sixth-place
finish. In its final game,
NU lost to Wisconsin 78
41 on Sunday night It’s the
worst regular-season loss
the Huskers have suffered
since a 93-53 loss to
Oklahoma State in the
1994-95 season.
NU fell behind 8-0
early in the ballgame and tilings went downhill
from there. NU trailed 42-15 at halftime.
Nebraska did make a 10-3 run to begin the
second half to cut the lead to 45-25. But UW
rolled from there, outscoring NU 33-13 for the
final 78-41 margin.
—■ ■ Nebraska started
Wisconsin 78 the tournament off
jm with 75-60 loss to
WBDiqSKq 41 Villanova, the team
that won the Classic
with a 76-63 upset of No. 19 Arkansas. Cookie
Belcher led all scorers in the game with 16.
On Saturday, Nebraska picked up its only
win of the tournament, a 95-84 win over
Washington State. Senior forward Venson
Hamilton had his best game of the season, scor
ing 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Chad
Johnson and Troy Piatkowski added 16 apiece.
WSU lost its third game to Virginia 62-53 and
finished the tournament 0-3.
Nebraska now has five days off before tak
ing to the court again Saturday in a game against
North Carolina A&T.
Full court press helps NU get
revenge in 78-51 win over UWM
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
This season, Nebraska women’s Basketball
Coach Paul Sanderford said he wants to improve
the team’s half-court defense. But NU didn’t need
it Saturday night
It was the No. 23 Comhuskers’ bread and but
ter, the full-court press, that helped NU beat
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 78-51 on Saturday.
“This week we really worked on our full court
press,” junior Charlie Rogers said. “The press
bothered them a lot”
The Huskers’ relentless press in the first half
forced the Panthers into 18 turnovers.
For the third time in as many games, Nebraska
(3-0) jumped out to an early lead. UWM didn’t
score in the first six minutes and nine seconds of
the game.
UWM junior Kelly Lubbers scored the
Panthers’ first basket but the Huskers already had
a 14-0 lead.
“We had to come out hand on them and set the
pace,” senior Cisco Gilmore said.
After their first basket, UWM had a tough time
scoring. The Panthers had a streak of 5:10 midway
through die first half where they didn’t score.
On the flip side, NU shot .457 from the field
and led 44-18 at half
Nebraska 78
IIUIU c<l I thought we totally
UWM D1 dominated die first half”
1 Sanderford said. “Our
running game and our defense was die story of the
game.”
In the first two games, junior Nicole Rubik led
the Huskers in scoring with 23 points in each game.
But the crowd of 3,759 at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center didn’t see a dominating scoring per
formance on Saturday.
Rogers led NU with 12 points and a team-high
eight rebounds. Senior Cori McDill was the only
other Husker player in double figures with 10
points. Four Huskers scored eight points each.
“We need balanced scoring,” Kubik said.
“With our team, you just can’t stop one person”
Again this week, Nebraska never trailed and
led by 34 points in the second half. After the game,
the players said the 27-point win meant more than
just another notch in the win column.
That’s because UWM beat the Huskers by 12
points last season.
This week in practice, Sanderford stressed the
importance of Saturday’s game.
“Losing that game was bad for a lot of rea
sons,” Rogers said. “Last year we took them for
granted. This time we were ready for them.”
The game was physical throughout The two
teams accounted for 54 total fouls.
Gilmore said even though NU controlled the
game from the opening tip, die Panthers were still
looking to intimidate NU with their mouths.
“They were talking a lot of trash,” Gilmore -
said. “We just told them to look at die clock, basi
cally.”
Swimming, diving teams have hectic weekend
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Fast, competitive and exciting
describe the Sprint Classic and the
Husker Shoot-out that the
Nebraska men’s and women’s
swimming and diving teams played
host to over the weekend.
The Sprint Classic, created by
the Husker coaching staff in the late
1980s for fast and competitive
meets, went down to the wire as the
NU women took the team title in
the final event, setting a classic
record in the 200-yard freestyle
relay. The No. 9 NU women nar
rowly edged No. 17 UCLA and No.
19 Virginia.
The 15th ranked Nebraska men
also captured the crown, defeating
1 lth-ranked Arizona St., 18th
ranked Virginia, Florida Atlantic,
Kenyon and UCLA.
NU Coach Cal Bentz was
pleased with both the men’s and
women’s performances.
“This ended up to be a really
good, competitive event,” Bentz
said. “The scoring strategy helped
to keep the meet close, so all of the
races were important.”
All-Americans junior Adam
Pine and sophomore Shandra
Johnson led their respective teams
to victory in the Sprint Classic.
Johnson won the 100-yard individ
ual medley, the 50-yard backstroke
and participated in another winner,
the 200-yard freestyle relay. Pine
took the 50-yard butterfly, die 25
yard freestyle and swam a leg of the
winning 200-yard freestyle.
The Husker women took the
Shoot-out title, while the men were
nipped 335-332 in a hard-fought
battle by Virginia.
Shandra Johnson and freshman
Emma Johnson combined to win
four events for the women.
Freshman Janna Brock, who
already is an NCAA qualifier in the
event, won the 200-yard breast
stroke. And sophomore Amanda
Zins also had a contribution, win
ning both the 1-meter and 3-meter
springboard events.
For the men, Pine won the 100
yard butterfly in NCAA considera
tion time and the 50-yard freestyle.
Other individual winners for the
men were divers Eric Cook and
Danny Bergman on the 1- and 3
meter springboard, respectively.
Freshman Anthony Rogis won in
the 200-yard freestyle and 100
yard freestyle, and Valery
Kalmikovs won the 200-yard
breaststroke.
Pine felt the Sprint Classic and
the Husker Shoot-out were good
early-season challenges for the
Huskers.
“(These meets) are a good indi
cator of speed,” Pine said. “At this
point of the season no one really
has much speed, so its more of a
challenge to find a good mood or
pace within yourself.”
The NU swimming and diving
teams have two weeks off before
heading to Austin, Texas, for the
Longhorn Invitational, Dec. 4-6.
Women set to run at NCAAs
Dirksen hopes healthy team can make strong finish to season
ByLisaVonnahme
Staff writer
When the Nebraska women’s
cross country team takes the course
today for the NCAA Champion
ships, they’ll be looking to beat just
about anyone.
For the unranked Comhuskers,
this 5,000-meter race will prove to
be NU’s biggest challenge of the
year as they will be facing 24 ranked
teams out of the 31 teams vying for
this season’s national title in
Lawrence, Kan.
But NU Coach Jay Dirksen isn’t
worried about the tough competition
the Huskers will be up against.
Because, for the first time this
season, Dirksen expects the Huskers
to be up to par after being plagued by
illnesses and injuries all year.
“We’re finally healthy - now that
we’re running our last race of the
season,” Dirksen said with a little
laugh. “We’ll be running with the
lineup that I thought we would be
running with all year.”
Sophomore Amy Wiseman, who
was NU’s highest finisher last year
in 94th place, rejoins the Huskers
after battling bronchitis during most
of the season. At the Midwest
Regionals on Nov. 14, Wiseman fin
ished in 20th and anticipates a better
race for today.
NU had a “great week of prac
tice,” Wiseman said, after they found
out they had earned an at-large berth
to the NCAAs one week ago.
“We weren’t sure if we were
going to get in, but when we found
out we did, it changed everything,”
Wiseman said. “Everyone has been
working really hard.”
The Huskers, who will be com
peting in the NCAA Championships
for the third consecutive season, are
looking to improve upon their 19th
place finish at last year’s meet.
And the Husker women are con
fident they can do that - especially
now that the team is healthy.
“We’re ready to race as a team,”
said freshman Jeannette Zimmer,
who has led NU in all of their seven
races this season. “We’ve been given
one more chance, and we’re going to
take advantage of it.”
NU finished fourth in the
Midwest Regionals, but earned one
of the 13 at-large berths to the
NCAA Championships based on
their schedule strength and wins
over quality competition.
Thirty-one cross country teams
will be competing for this year’s
NCAA team title at Rim Rock Farm
in Lawrence, Kan. Brigham Young,
the No. 1-ranked team, is expected
to win the crown.
“It’s going to be tough,” Dirksen
said. “We were probably one of the
last teams to get in, so beating any
one will be a success.
“But, now that we’re healthy, it
could be a whole new ball game.”
Huskers bounce back from loss to beat UT
VOLLEY from page 7___
t # /
all players with 17 kills, as the Huskefis hit .326 for the match,
limiting Texas to .096.
Like Nebraska, Texas played*?long match against
Colorado on Friday, which left both teams tired on Saturday.
“Our offense is so quick, and when we’re digging other
———teams in sys
Texas A&M 15 12 15 6 14 tern we literally
out,” Monson
said.
On Friday, Monson said, the team was taken out of the
system and never got into a consistent flow as the Aggies (18
8,11-7) beat NU 8-15,15-12,8-15,15-6,16-14.
“We just weren’t in rhythm,” Monson said. “Fi (Nepo) set
the ball really well, and even though Nancy had 30 kills, and
Megan (Korver) had 20, we just weren’t flowing.”
Despite out-hitting the Aggies .241 to .203, the Huskers
hurt themselves with 14 service errors.
ft Texas AfiW ttfiMhSflJfe Hpskers} block foigtok ahff
g for dig as they^lfeSedMj for the first time ^Sce 10%.
“That was one ofthe bdst total team efforts %Ve seen?’
Aggie Coach Laurie Corbeili said. “Everybod^stejiped it1
up.” .i » T r *1 V; *v' *J
Senior All-American Stacy Sykora paced the Aggies
with 22 kills and a match high 25 digs.
While NU lost the match, Monson said they gained an
important lesson, which she said will pay dividends during
the post-season.
“We’re good, and I think how we responded Saturday
shows that,” Monson said. “If we want to win a national
championship, we have to be the ones who realize it our
selves.”
The Huskers can clinch a share of the Big 12 title with
just one win over Colorado or Kansas State this week or win
it outright with a sweep.
NU will play the Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo., on
Wednesday and on Friday they close out the regular season at
Kansas State. i
ND comeback ends season
for Nebraska soccer team
SOCCER from page 7
Despite 39 fouls, 22 of them by NU,
in the game, the wide-open attack led to
many counter chances for both teams.
However, the Irish initially had the
opportunities to control the game in the
first half.
“We play aggressive against every
one, and Notre Dame probably knew
that coming in,” Walker said. “They
created chances, but we have the athlet
ic ability to play against anyone, and
obviously it put them under some pres
sure so we were able to create an awful
lot of chances.”
Even though ND had numerous
chances, the first half was highlighted
by the play of LeBlanc, as she made
seven saves to keep the Irish at bay.
In the 22nd minute, Notre Dame
miatielaer Anne Makinen rilled a shot
from left of the penalty box that
LeBlanc deflected to Irish forward
Meotis Erikson. Erikson two-touched a
straight shot from 12 yards out that
LeBlanc dove for and saved to stop
ND’s best scoring chance of the half.
“She played very well and made
some great saves for us, especially in
-» ‘the ftisthalf” Walker said.
w +° Nebraska countered with its-best
• scoring chance five* minutes later when
• midfielder Meghan Anderson salt two
' - shots from 30 yards out that both rock
eted just outside the net.
In the first half, ND outshot the
Huskers 14-5. Despite many opportu
nities, it was the first time die NCAA’s
highest scoring offense had been shut
out in the first half at home this season.
The beginning of the second half
started as intense as the first However,
NU stunned the Alumni Field crowd in
the 52nd minute.
Husker forward Kim Engesser sent
a lead pass down the left flank that for
ward Lauren Tatum reached before ND
defender Jenn Grubb. Tatum made a
move past the Irish defender and sent a
shot from 18 yards that went over the
outstretched arms of LaKeysia Beene
to give NU a 1-0 lead
Despite trailing at home for the first
time this year, Notre Dame Coach
Chris Petrucelli said he was not con
cerned about the score.
“The question was if we were going
to get one by their keeper, but I felt we
were getting chances,” Petrucelli said.
“After they scored, I said we were going
to be all right because I felt like we were
in control of the game.”
Petrucelli’s confidence was
strengthened by the dominance by the
Irish. In the game, ND outshot the
Huskers 22-14 and had a 7-5 edge in
comer kicks.
The Irish didn’t give their coach
much time to think about worrying as
they countered NU’s goal two minutes
later with a goal from forward Jenny
Heft
Heft controlled a left crossing pass
from Streiffer that wasn’t cleared by
NU. Heft quickly gained possession in
front of the goal box and sent the ball
past LeBlanc.
“It was a key point in the game,”
LeBlanc said of the few minutes fol
lowing NU’s goal. “It had a lot on deter
mining hp^v thqgane tpmed ouL” «.
•Gerardo’s game-winning goal 17
minutes later ended the scoring .fen the
game,,and,inevitably the,season for
Nebraska.
The loss ended NU’s season at 17
4-1, while Notre Dame will enter the
elite eight of soccer with a 21 -2-1 mark.
The Irish are now also 12-0-0 at
home in NCAA Championship games,
with two of those victories now coming
at the hands of NU in the last two years.
Walker said the Huskers had a lot to
be proud of despite the final score.
“We’ve closed the gap, there is no,
question about that,” Walker said. “I am
proud of them in terms of battle, effort
and team spirit, and I thought they did a
good job.”
/ '
