Sports
Second-half spurt helps NU nail Aggies
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
Senior forward Andy Markowski wasn’t
going to miss senior day for anything.
Not even a severely sprained ankle that Coach
Danny Nee and trainer Mike Goodmg didn’t want
Markowksi playing on could keep him out of the
starting lineup.
“I owe it to Him upstairs,” Markowski said. “1
spent a couple of days in prayer and He gave me
the strength to compete a little. I wanted to con
tribute any way I could. 1 didn't want to remember
this day by me sitting on the sidelines.”
Though his numbers, 4 points and three
Nebraska 87
Texas A&M 68
rebounds, were below average, his presence on
the court was invaluable, Nee said.
Nee compared Markowski s performance in
Saturday’s 87-68 victory over Texas A&M to
Willis Reed’s performance in game seven of the
1970 NBA Finals in which the New York Knicks
defeated the L.A. Lakers 113-99. Reed had
injured his hip in game five and was but hobbled
out for the final game and gave his team a lift.
“(Markowski) gave us inspiration,” Nee said.
“He really got on people when they didn’t do
what they were supposed to be doing. 1 think he
really elevated the whole team for the second
half.”
Markowski and other three seniors all came
up big in their final regular-season games, help
ing NU break a three-game losing streak and
keeping its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
NU is the No. 6 seed in the Big 12
Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., where the
Huskers will play Texas Tech (13-16 overall and
5-11 in the Big 12 Conference) in a 8:20 p).m.
game at Kemper Arena on Thursday.
After the pre-game ceremonies to honor the
seniors, NU (18-11 and 10-6 in the Big 12
Please see AGGIES on 11
«
(Markowski) gave us
inspiration. He really got on
people when they didn’t do
what they were supposed to
be doing.”
Danny Nee
Nebraska men’s basketball coach
Nebraska
victorious
in Masters
■ Laurie McLaughlin sets a
school record on the beam as NU
defeats three opponents.
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Laurie McLaughlin finally received the atten
tion she deserved Sunday. Lots of it.
Like the attention you get standing on top of the
awards stage in front of 1.691 fans at one of the pre
mier gymnastics events in the nation. Twice.
The senior Nebraska gymnast won both events
she competed in, and set a school record on the bal
ance beam in helping the No. 7 Comhuskers capture
their fifth consecutive Masters Classic title at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
NU followed a season-high performance on
Monday with another solid performance, scoring an
195.725. narrowly edging No. 8 Arizona State
(195.250) and No. 24 Maryland (195.200).
California finished last of the four competitors with
a 188.850.
A pair of Terrapin freshmen topped the individ
ual all-around leaderboard. Gillian Cote was first at
39.175, with Laura Moon right on her heels at
39.125.
The victory brought Nebraska's meet winning
streak to five, and pushed its season record to 13-2.
It also brought the home winning streak to 24.
"Well, we sure made it interesting, didn't we?" a
pleased NU Coach Dan Kendig said after the meet.
“I'm glad the girls went out and did what they
needed to do on the floor (NU s final event) to keep
the streak alive."
The Huskers led the Sun Devils by .45 points
after two rotations and heading into the beam, their
strongest event coming into the meet.
But senior Misty Oxford, who eventually fin
ished fifth in the all-around, fell off the beam.
The fall caused a half-pomt deduction that could
have seriously hurt both the individual and team's
fate. To boot, seasoned veterans Heather Brink, a
junior All-American, and senior Courtney Brown,
also fell from the beam.
But McLaughlin, a 1997 All Big-12 beam per
former and defending champion in the event at the
Masters, stepped right up after Oxford and bravely
stuck a 9.95, smashing the school record that Brown
set in the team's first meet of the season with a 9.925.
“It's never good to go after someone falls,” a
low -key McLaughlin said.
“The pressure got that much more intense. And
the score was so close. The teams were right on each
other s tails and we had to keep ahead.”
And McLaughlin did just that for NU In a sea
son where clean performances and senior leadership
have gone unnoticed thanks to the dominance of
three of the team s all-around performers Brink,
Nicole Wilkinson and Oxford - McLaughlin made
her mark in team history Sunday.
It was the first time an NU gymnast has won an
event two years in a row at the Masters.
"It's nice to finish (at the Masters) like this.”
—Hi ———
Matt Miller/DN H
ABOVE: NU ASSISTANT COACH ROB BRASS hugs
senior Misty Oxford after she scored a 9.85 on
her uneven bar routine.
RIGHT: NU GYMNAST JESS SWIFT performs an I
exhibition on the uneven bars at the Bob
Oevaney Sports Center on Sunday. The Huskers
overcame their worst beam performance of the
season to win the Masters Classic over Arizona
State, California and Maryland.
McLaughlin said.
“Courtney was pointing out to me the other day
that the all-arounders usually get all the attention H
because they're all-arounders. 1 guess if I'm only /C
doing two events, I better do them well.”
"Laurie, what can I say?” Kendig said. “That I
was the type of performance we've expectecTfrom I
her all year. Now that her confidence is up. I'm sure
we'll be seeing more of that from here on out.”
Brown, another perennial event specialist who
won the floor exercise Monday, showed her versatil
ity again by taking the vault Sunday with a career
high 9.90.
JN U nabs
important
road win
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
STILLWATER, Okla. - The
NCAA tournament picture looks a
whole lot clearer for the Nebraska
women’s basketball team.
Nebraska 60
Oklahoma State 57
NU Coach Paul Sanderford said
all season that an 8-8 Big 12
Conference record should be enough
for the Comhuskers to advance to the
tournament.
The Huskers got to that 8-8 mark
with a 60-57 win at Oklahoma State.
“8-8 was the key, I thought,”
Sanderford said. “We got that mon
key off our back.”
Helping remove that monkey is
an apparent resurgence ofjunior
Nicole Kubik. The point guard was
carrying the bulk of the NU offense
on her back, and her back was begin
ning to bend.
When it looked like Kubik was
running out of gas, Sanderford
moved Kubik to shooting guard, hop
ing to find an answer to the team's
offensive problems.
Against Oklahoma State, the
problem was solved. Kubik shined
again with a team-high 21 points in
the 3-point victory.
“She made some huge plays for
us,” Sanderford said. “She has to
score for us to win.”
The Huskers' postseason future
was cloudy when Nebraska (19-10
overall and 8-8 in the Big 12
Conference) trailed 30-25 at half
time.
NU was behind by as many as 6
points in the second half, but clawed
its way back into the game.
Senior Cori McDill made a free
throw with three minutes and 57 sec
onds left in the game to tie the score
at 53. Nebraska would never trail
again as Kubik, playing with four
fouls, took over.
A jump shot with 1:18 remaining
gave the Huskers a 58-55 lead. Then,
with 22 seconds left, Kubik stole a
Nikki Harmon pass and called a
time-out while falling out of bounds.
“I started falling and called a time
out,” Kubik said. “Thankfully (the
referee) gave it to me.”
Kubik kept the NL possession
alive, but she wasn't done. After
Harmon hit a baseline jumper to cut
the lead to 58-57, Kubik was fouled.
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