Matt Muler/DN
JUNIOR FORWARD CHARLIE ROGERS battles for the ball in NU's 82-62 victory over Kansas Saturday night. Nebraska snapped
a two-game losing streak and now has a week off before playing again against Colorado on Jan. 23.
Kubik catches fire in victory
■ The junior guard from
Cambridge scores a career
high 36 points, including a
NU record 16 free throws, in
a win over the Jayhawks.
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
----*-*
There really is no place like home for
the No. 23 Nebraska women’s basketball
team.
Two road losses in five days had some
questioning the team’s ability to play in
big situations.
And even though no one would admit
it, Saturday’s game against No. 21 had a
big-game feel.
NU responded to the critics with an
82-62 win over die Jayhawks.
“We needed a win to get back on
track,” Coach Paul Sanderford said. “We
were a very hungry basketball team.”
The Huskers feasted on Jayhawk
from the opening tip, jumping out to an 8
2 lead.
The hungriest of the Huskers
appeared to be junior Nicole Kubik. The
NU floor leader had a career high 36
points. Twenty-five of those points came
in the first half.
Kubik also scored her thousandth
career point with 13 minutes and 7 sec
Nebraska 82
Kansas62
onds left in the first half.
“I can’t say I have ever had a half like
that,” Kubik said.
While Kubik was scoring at will, KU
junior Lynn Pride was held in check. The
All-American candidate was guarded
mostly by junior Naciska Gilmore and
senior Con McDill.
Sanderford wanted to limit the num
ber of times Pride touched the ball, and
the defensive strategy worked. Pride
scored only 3 points and had seven
turnovers in the first twenty minutes of
the game.
“The plan was to be physical with
her,” Gilmore said. “We didn’t allow her
to do the things she is used to doing.”
The 20-point win in front of a season
high crowd of 5,762 at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center improved Nebraska’s
record to 14-4 overall and 3-2 in the con
ference.
“Our mentality was to have fun,”
junior Brooke Schwartz said. “No matter
who you brought in, we would have come
out with a victory anyway.”
But now the Huskers must take that
mentality back on the road for a pair of
games.
Colorado and No. 14 Iowa State are
the next opponents on a hectic Big 12
schedule.
-
it—
“Our mentality was
to have fun.
No matter
who you brought in,
we would have
come old
with a victory
anyway.”
Brooke Schwartz
NU guard
After three games in seven days,
Sanderford said he is happy the team
doesn’t have to travel to Boulder until
Saturday.
“This is our break week, and it is
coming at a great time,” Sanderford said.
The week layoff is going to help tired
legs as well as injured ones. Rogers,
Schwartz and senior Lisa Reitsma all
have minor ankle sprains that should be
healed before this weekend.
On top of all of that, Gilmore contin
ues to suffer with acute tonsillitis, which
she played with against Kansas.
p
NU wrestlers
battle injuries
for 6th at duals
ByLisaVonnahme
Staff writer
IOWA CITY, Iowa - In Tim Neumann’s eyes, the Nebraska
wrestling team competed in the “ibuprofen bowl” Sunday rather
than the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals.
Suffering from injuries and illnesses that resulted in forfeiting
matches, the No. 10 Comhuskers fell to No. 3 Iowa 37-2 and No. 6
Oklahoma 31-12 in the final day of National Duals competition.
The final two losses gave the eighth-seeded NU grapplers a sixth
place finish in the 16-team
Oklahoma 31 tournament.
Nebraska 12 ,T ° p - r a n k e d
^ w Oklahoma State earned its
fifth National Duals title with a 20-17 win over No. 2 Minnesota in
the championship finals, giving 33-year-old OSU Coach John
Smith his 100th career win.
For Nebraska Coach Neumann, whose Huskers were ranked
21st during preseason, the tournament answered his questions
regarding the abilities of this year’s squad.
“I never claimed we were a top-five team, but I never dreamt we
would be in this position at the beginning of the year,” Neumann
said. “You can’t look at two matches where we got crushed and say
it was a bad weekend. It was a great weekend.”
The highlight dual for the Comhuskers came in the consolation
quarterfinals Saturday as NU took on Arizona State. Because of
injured ribs, Nebraska’s Paul Gomez forfeited at 118 pounds,
which put an easy six points on the board for the Sun Devils.
NU losses at 133,149,165 and 174 put the Huskers down 18-7
going into the 184-pound match between No. 7 Brad Vering and
ASU’s fourth-ranked Casey Strand. In a previous meeting on Dec.
20, Vering fell to Strand 3-2.
Heading into the third period, Vering led 3-1. At the one minute,
42 second mark, Strand tied the score with a two-point reversal. In
turn, Vering managed an escape and came out on top 4-3. ^
For Vering (15-5 overall and 9-3 in dual competition), whose
five losses have each been by one point this season, the match
marked a “fine line” between himself and the wrestlers he has lost
to this season.
“Last year, I was out of the matches I lost,” Vering said. “This
year, the matches I’ve lost were really close. I plan on being able to
beat those guys at the end of the year.”
Vering’s win put the team score at 18-10 in Arizona State’s
favor.
“When it looked like Brad was going to win, I turned around
♦
Please see DUALS on 13
Cochran arrives
at guard for NlTs
triumph at Baylor
ByAdamKlinker
t Senior staff writer
There is no place like the road for the Nebraska men’s bas
ketball team in the Big 12 Conference.
After Saturday’s 68-55 win at Baylor, the Comhuskers have
won four of their last five road contests against conference
foes.
: NU (10-7 overall, 2
Nebraska 68 2 in the Big 12) domi
n . ’ ce nated all facets of the
^1121_game and led for all but
16 seconds, when the
Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the tip-off.
“We’re pleased with it,” NU Coach Danny Nee said. “It was
a good solid win on the road, and that’s two wins in a row.”
Senior center Venson Hamilton and freshman guard Cary
Cochran riddled BU (6-12,0-5) all afternoon with a medley of
inside and outside, play.
Hamilton scored 25 points and had seven rebounds, going
10-15 (.667) from the field&r his second highest point total of
the season.
“The size advantage is a factor there,” Hamilton said.
“Their post players are 6-7,6-8, and I could shoot the jump
hook right over them.”
Please see COCHRAN on 13
/
