Mike Warren/DN
NEBRASKA GUARD Melody Peterson puts the press on Colorado guard Jenny Roulier In the first half at the Devaney Center. Nebraska
played take away and used the press most of the first half and Colorado finished the game with 26 turnovers. Peterson had one steal
in the game, and Nicole Kubik lead NU with 7 steals in the game.
I NU pressure stuffs Buffs
K The key to the
game was
definitely
(Nebraska s)
quickness. “You
can’t even
compare
Nebraska and
Oklahoma.
Nebraska s speed
is a lot greater.
That hurt us.”
Ceal Barry
CU basketball coach
V
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Colorado guards Jenny Roulier and Mandy
Nightengale knew they would have their hands
full Wednesday night against a much deeper
and experienced Nebraska backcourt.
Nicole Kubik made sure she kept the bas
ketball out of those hands.
The senior Nebraska guard and all-time
steals leader did what she likes to do best
against the CU sophomores - hound the ball
and force steals. She did so six times in the first
half, creating many fast-break situations, help
ing the Cornhuskers break open a 79-66
blowout win over thff'Buffaloes before 3,561
fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
NU (10-7) grabbed 15 steals as a team to
win its third game in a row and fourth in the last
five. The Huskers closed out a pivotal three
game homestand and got themselves back in
die Big 12 Conference hunt at 4-2.
Wednesday brought Kubik back to the
games of last year, when she led the nation in
steals at 4.1 per game.
“It’s always ftm to get some steals, because
I hadn’t been doing that in the past this year,”
said Kubik, who finished with seven take
HUSKERS 79
BUFFALOES66
aways and a game-high 17 points.
“Our goal was to pressure their guards
because they were only two deep. We knew we
had four or five people in our rotation that
could wear them down.”
The meltdown came earlier than Colorado
Coach Ceal Barry would have liked. Kubik and
fellow guards Brooke Schwartz, Melody
Peterson and Amanda Went pressured the
Buffaloes (6-11 and 1-5) early and often.
By halftime, NU forced 16 first-half
turnovers to take a 36-19 lead into the locker
room. CU made a season-low five first-half
field goals on 22 shots (23 percent). For the
game, CU coughed it up 26 times, 18 of which
were at the expense of Roulier and
Nightengale.
All of this exposed a CU team which was
coming into the game fresh off of an impressive
performance - a 76-73 loss on the road to No.
25 Oklahoma. But its confidence and hopes of
an upset were shot down early, Barry said.
Please see WOMEN on 14
NU’s Collins’
eligibility
appeal denied
By Matthew Hansen
Staff writer
Nebraska football coaches, players and fans will
have to wait until at least next fall to see if highly-tout
ed junior college running back Thunder Collins is the
real deal.
Bob Burton, Nebraska compliance coordinator,
confirmed Wednesday that the NCAA had denied
Collins’ appeal for eligibility. Collins did not meet die
25 percent rule for junior college players, which states
that an athlete must take at least a quarter of his credit
hours from the junior college he graduated from.
Collins graduated from West Los Angeles College.
But while enrolled at West Los Angeles, Collins also
took classes at four other junior colleges in the L.A.
area. Burton said NU officials were aware of Collins’
situation but believed the NCAA would accept his eli
gibility appeal.
“We had, and submitted precedent that, in special
circumstances, student-athletes have attended multiple
junior colleges and been cleared by the NCAA,”
Burton said. “I expected them to accept our appeal in
this case, but they decided not to.”
Collins’ appeal , ,
centered on the fact
that four of the five
schools he attended
were affiliated.
Burton said the
prospective Husker
has two options to
gain eligibility. He
could return to West
Los Angeles and take
enough classes to ful
fill the 25 percent
requirement. Collins
also could enroll in
any junior college that
Compton Community
.../ expected
them to accept
our appeal in
this case, but
they decided
not to."
Bob Burton
NU comliance coordinator
college wuuiu accept cretins xrom. ne uiu not graduate
from Compton but did take a quarter of his credits
there.
Dennis Leblanc, assistant athletic director of acad
emic programs, broke the news to Collins and spoke to
him about his plans. Neither Leblanc nor Collins could
be reached for comment Wednesday.
Burton said athletic department officials, who have
known about Collins’ shortfall since his recruitment by
the Huskers, were disappointed in the NCAA’s ruling.
“I’m not going to say I was shocked,” he said.
“Anytime you have a problem like this, you always
know that there is some uncertainty. But I do believe
we had a justified argument to win the appeal.”
Collins ran for 1,548 yards and 12 touchdowns in
10 games as a freshman at West Los Angeles before sit
ting out his sophomore year to save a season of eligi
bility for major-college football. He would have been a
member of NU’s 1999 recruiting class and would have
participated in spring drills had he been deemed eligi
ble. As it is, he’s a member of the 2000 recruiting class.
As many as eight I-backs could compete for the
starting job at NU for the 2000 fall season.
new fans
Jason Merrihew
It was a chilly Monday afternoon,
and A. J. Lamh and Amy Ringo found
themselves in a place they never
dreamed they would be.
They have performed in front of
thousands of people live before. But
they had never performed here.
Were they actually doing this, or
was it a dream?
“You do it You ’re older and better at
it,” Lamb, who is a freshman, said to
Ringo, a junior.
“I’ve never done this before,” Ringo
said with a bit of nervousness.
So they both knocked on the door.
The old hardwood door gave no
response. Their hands began to hurt
from the knocking.
Within a short time a young man,
wearing a coat and tie, opened the big
door.
“May I help you?” he asked.
“We’re from the Nebraska womenfc
gymnastics team,” Ringo said. “We
were wondering if we could tell your
fraternity about our upcoming meet this
Saturday.”
Without a flinch, the young man
from Alpha Tau Omega fraternity led
the gymnast to where his fraternity
brothers were having their Monday for
mal dinner.
As Ringo and Lamb entered the
dining area, all of the members stopped
eating and stood.
It made the women a little more ner
vous, but they gave their spontaneous
sales pitch anyway.
“We really want you to come out
and see us,” Ringo said, among other
things, while Lamb handed out season
schedules.
The two women left the house with
a standing ovation from the entire fra
ternity house.
“I can’t believe they gave us a
standing ‘O!’” Lamb said, giggling, to
Ringo.
Ringo and Lamb chuckled and
wondered about how the rest of their
teammates were faring this night. The
entire team split up into pairs in order to
reach all the fraternity houses on cam
pus.
The team also planned to work
extra hard during practice so it could
get out early and make door-to-door
visits around the Lincoln community in
order to gain fan support.
During a class they share this
semester, Ringo and A. J. Lamb’s sister,
senior gymnast Arica Lamb, decided to
go door-to-door to distribute schedules
and posters.
“To bring a crowd in, we have to
win,” Ringo said. “Sure, we have one
Big 12 (tide), but we have to win the
NCAA championship like football and
volleyball does.”
Not only is the Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team in search of a national
championship, it is in search of more
support from its community.
Year in and year out Coach Dan
Kendig has produced very solid gym
nastics teams that are always in die hunt
for the national championship. This
year’s team is young but has the poten
tial to surpass the accomplishments of
every team before it >
Unfortunately, this year’s team has
a flaw like every other women’s gym
nastics team that has competed in
Lincoln. The team has no control of die
flaw.
The students do.
The team suffers from a lack of
attendance at home events. The Bob
Devaney Sports Center, which seats
13,OOO-phos fans for gym events, aver
Please see MERRIHEW on 14