Sports
Nebraska
survives
ISU surge
■ Andy Markowski’s rebound
„ helps save Huskers in 59-57 win
over Iowa State at home.
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
After Saturday night's 59-57 win over Iowa
State, senior forward Andy Markowski strolled
into the post-game press conference.
He was bare
Nebraska 59 f00'- !" ?lue
jeans with a knee
Iowa State 57 cut out of one
side, and he had
on a half-buttoned polo shirt.
“Did we keep you interested?” Markowski
asked, the first words out of his mouth.
“Yes” would probably be the overwhelming
response from the 13,623 fans at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center who watched as the Comhuskers
twice built double-digit leads in the second half
before having to hang on for the two-point win.
With the win, NU (17-8 and 9-3 in the Big 12
Conference) avoided a Cylcone sweep and
remained tied with Missouri and Oklahoma for
second place in the Big 12.
In the process, senior center Venson Hamilton
became the fourth player in Big Eight and Big 12
history to score 1,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds
and block 200 shots.
The win didn’t come easy. NU missed free
throws that allowed ISU (13-12 and 4-8) to stick
around. But NU Coach Danny Nee said a win like
Please see ISU on 8
Under the dome
I_
Rick Townley/DN
JUNIOR GINA PELAZINI serves in a dou
bles match vs. Wyoming at the Woods
Tennis Center on Sunday morning.
Pelazini and partner, freshman Amy
Frisch, went on to lose the match 8-4 to
Melanie Roberts and Natalie Morozova.
The women’s tennis team ended up
defeating Wyoming 6-3, improving NU’s
record to 3-1 on the year. No. 1 Junior
Sandra Noetzel defeated Sarah Kay 6-4,
6-3, improving her record to 3-1. In dou
bles, sophomore Danica Hardy and fresh
man Katarina Balan defeated Wyoming’s
Amanda Roberts and Lindsay McPhail, 8
3. On Feb. 19 the Huskers will meet Sam
Houston State in College Station, Texas.
^- - I
Ryan Soderlin/DN
NEBRASKA’S TODD BECKERMAN hangs on as Minnesota’s Bart Golyer tries to score a takedown. Beckerman lost the match to Golyer 3-1.
Gophers deflate NU wrestlers
Vering earns victory over top-ranked UM wrestler despite loss
ByLisaVonnahme
Staff water
Tim Neumann found himself at a loss for
words after Sunday's dual with second-ranked
Minnesota.
And when
Minnesota 22 lhe „Ncb,aska
wrestling coach
Nebraska 9 finally did speak,
he was torn
between NU’s “weaknesses that were obvious to
everybody in the arena” and “feeling good about
a guy who just upset the No. 1 guy in the coun
try,” in reference to Brad Vering's win over UM's
Brandon Eggum at 184 pounds.
Neumann's indifferent feelings toward his
No. 4 wrestling team came after the Comhuskers
suffered a 22-9 loss to the Golden
Gophers in front of 1,369 at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center in
NU’s last home dual of the season.
The loss puts the Huskers at
16-6 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12
Conference as they head into their
final dual of the regular season at ,
Missouri on Wednesday.
“I am not happy at all with
whatever the hell the score was,”
Neumann said. “There is no moral
victory when you're as talented a
team as we are.
“Half the guys fought like they were trying to
protect the mother land, and the other half didn't
think it was that important.”
With the all-important Big 12 Tournament
and NCAA Championships next month,
Neumann
stressed that indi
vidual team
members must
decide to take
their wrestling to
the next level or
they won't be
competing at the
national tourna
ment.
For seventh
ranked Vering,
the upset over Eggum, who was undefeated this
year prior to Sunday, will give him extra momen
tum and a possible top-three seed for NCAAs if
he clenches his second Big 12 title on March 6.
Please see VERING on 8
«
I am not happy at all
with whatever the hell
the score was"
Tim Neumann
NU coach
Scoring droughts stop NU women at KU
i
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. - With three
minutes and 51 seconds left in the
Nebraska womens basketball team’s
game at No. 21 Kansas, the opportu
nity presented itself.
Junior Nicole Kubik hit two free
throws to make the score 55-52. It
was the closest NU had been to the
Jayhawks in the second half.
KU was starting to show signs of
fatigue. Even its coach, Marian
Washington, said so. The Jayhawks
were turning the ball over and not
cashing in on scoring opportunities.
But Nebraska went blank and
Kansas held on 63-58 in front of
3,900 people at Allen Fieldhouse.
“We were in position to win the
game,” NU Coach Paul Sanderford
said. “We took it at them but we just
didn’t get the job done.”
The Huskers were unable to
score for 2:44 after the Kubik free
throws. A pair of Brooke Schwartz 3
pointers was all the offense Nebraska
could muster in the closing minutes.
The second-half scoreless streak
was the second of long scoring
droughts for the Huskers. hi the first
half, after taking a 12-10 lead, NU
didn't score for the next 3:50.
“We’ve had trouble scoring all
year,” Sanderford said. “I don’t have
any magic formulas.”
When the Huskers (16-9 overall
and 5-7 in the Big 12 Conference) did
get out of the scoring funk, it was too
late. KU (19-6 and 6-3) took the lead
21-14 and didn’t give it back.
"We battled,” Sanderford said,
“but it came back to the same thing
that haunts us. Lack of rebounding
really hurt us.”
Nebraska was beat on the boards
47-32. Kansas’ Lynn Pride, Jaclyn
Johnson and Nakia Sanford com
bined for 35 rebounds, three more
than the entire Husker team.
Schwartz led NU with a career
high 24 points but could only muster
Kansas 63
Nebraska 58
one rebound.
“Three of their girls outrebound
ed our whole team,” Schwartz said.
“We can’t have that. Not enough peo
ple wanted it, I guess.”
Despite the rebounding and the
scoring droughts, Sanderford and the
players found a silver lining in the
team’s sixth consecutive road loss.
Even though it suffered a 5-point
setback on the road, Sanderford said
the team showed signs of improve
ment.
