Daily Nebraskan Monday. February 5,2001 Page 8
ISU buries Huskers with long bombs
BY JOHN GASKINS
The hits just keep on
coming for the Nebraska
women’s basketball team. As
usual, gun-slinging nemesis
Iowa State's hits came in
threes.
Just as the Huskers start
ed playing their best basket
ball of the
season and
had the
eighth
ranked
Cyclones on their heels, the
ISU 3-point parade stomped
all over NU’s upset hopes.
The 92-70 victory was
the Cyclones’ fifth straight
Iowa St 92
Nebraska 70
ovgr NU (10-12,2-7) and the
third straight by 20 points or
more. But unlike the 85-48
massacre in the Big 12 tour
nament last year or the 89
46 beating in Ames last
month, the Huskers
attacked ISU (18-2, 8-1)
enough to make it a game,
leading by seven at one
point in the first half.
They just didn’t attack
long enough.
"I’m very proud of how
our team played early,” NU
Coach Paul Sanderford said.
“We came out real aggres
sive. We played hard for the
first 10 to 15 minutes.
“But you can't play a top
10 team tough for 15 out of
40 minutes. The problem is
Iowa State isn’t going to have
the seven minute droughts
we have.”
Down 27-20 at the 8:49
mark of the first half, ISU
overcame the Huskers’ suf
focating inside pressure on
All-Big 12 center Angie Welle
by hitting three of its Bob
Devaney Sports Center
record-tying 14 3-pointers
during a 20-2 run.
A crowd of 5,832 people
watched the Cyclones -
ranked fifth nationally in 3
point percentage at 50-3 per
cent - attempt a building
record 36 threes. They made
“But you can't play a top 10 team tough
for 15 out of 40 minutes. The problem is
Iowa State isn't going to have the seven
minute droughts we have."
Paul Sanderford
NU basketball coach
10 treys before their first
two-point field goal
dropped over 16 minutes
into the game.
With Welle frequently
double-teamed and held to
four first-half points, ISU’s
guards went nuts.
Sophomore Lindsey Wilson
made four shots behind the
arc and senior Megan Taylor
hit three in the first half.
Taylor finished with 19
points, Wilson scored 17 and
both made five threes for the
Please see ISU on 7
i
David Clasen/DN
Casey Leonhardt controls a pass underneath the basket dur
ing the Comhusker's 92-70 loss to Iowa State Sunday.
Leonhardt had 14 points and three rebounds during the
/' . , Scott McQurg/DN
Husker sophomore Jufie Houk performs in the uneven bars portion of the team's dual with No. 10 Oklahoma Saturday evening. Houk tied for second with three other Huskers in the uneven bars with a score of 9.85. The
fifth-ranked Huskers are now 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in the Big 12.
Gym team rolls over 0U one week after record
BY JASON MERR1HEW
No, the Nebraska women gymnastics
team couldn’t equal the record 197.025
points it scored against Missouri a week
ago.
The Huskers could, however, earn
their second-highest score of the season
while dispatching No. 10 Oklahoma at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center on
Saturday.
NU kept things rolling by beating the
Soonqj-s 196.025 to 194.3.
“I told them to stay focused and try to
ride the momentum into the home
meet,” NU Coach Dan Kendig said.
Nebraska started the evening on the
vault, where freshmen Libby Landgraf,
Alecia Ingram, Gina Bruce and Tami
Harris each attempted vaults with a 10
point difficulty level.
Ingram took the title on the apparatus
with a 9.925, while Harris finished second
with a career-high 9.85.
"I threw in a new trick on vault,”
Harris said. “I felt really excited about
that.”
Harris captured the title on the
uneven parallel bars with a 9.875.
Teammates Julie Houk, Jess Wertz,
Ingram and Bruce finished second in the
event with a 9.85.
The Huskers allowed the Sooners to
take the team lead after three events
when NU stumbled on the balance beam.
"I know the girls that did miss are dis
appointed,” Kendig said. “Their disap
pointment will take them into the gym
7 told them to stay focused and try to ride the momentum
into the home meet."
Dan Kendig
NU gymnastics coach
and make them work harder.”
All-Americans A.J. Lamb and Amy
Ringo were able to take first place on the
beam with a 9.80.
"We did an awesome job,” Harris said.
“We had a couple mistakes on the beam,
but we pulled back together on the floor."
Heading into the floor exercise, the
Cornhuskers trailed OU 146.775 to
146.825.
Sophomore Jen French paced NU on
the floor, winning the eVfent with a 9.90.
Ingram and Landgraf followed
behind French, tying for second with a
9.875.
, Oklahoma’s Mariana Goncalves cap
tured the all-around title with a 39.250
score.
Ffriend goose egg, slow
start allow CU to escape
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
After finishing up its murder
ous six-game opening stretch of
the Big 12 season and coming off
its first true road victory in two
years against
Kansas State on
Tuesday night,
Nebraska
seemed to have all signs pointing
toward improving its record to 4-4
in conference play against
Colorado on Saturday.
But the Huskers were quickly
met with a stop sign, after starting
slow for the third straight game,
and eventually fell to the
Buffaloes 70-67 before 10,473
people at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
“It’s what we do every game
now - start off slow and then we
have to get behind and play hard
to catch up,” said Cookie Belcher,
Gotado 60
Nebraska 57
“It's not working for
us, so we have to
change something.”
Cookie Belcher
Nebraska guard
who led NU with 22 points and 10
rebounds. “It’s not working for us,
so we have to change something.”
NU, now 10-11 and 3-5 in
conference play, allowed CU to
open the game on a 10-0 run
before surging late in the first half
to trail only 28-25 at the break.
The Hu'skers then allowed the
Buffaloes to bust out of the gates
again in the second half and take
a 49-33 lead with 11:22 remain
PleaseseeLOSSon7
Owusu blisters new track with nation's best 400
BY DIRK CHATELAIN
It’s safe to say that Lesley
Owusu is a fan of Nebraska's new
indoor track.
The senior sprinter’s outstand
ing performance highlighted the
first home meet of the season for
the Huskers. It also was the first
competition at the new hydraulic
banked facility.
Owusu’s time of52.72 seconds
in the 400-meter dash not only
blew away the field, it was the
fastest in the nation this season
and automatically qualified
Owusu for nationals.
“Running that time is a great
indication of what I can do for the
rest of the year,” Owusu said.
The new track received rave
reviews from the NU senior, who
also won the 200-meter dash.
“It’s fantastic, amazingly fast.
It’s definitely a world-class track,”
Owusu said.
Nebraska captured both the
men’s and women’s titles over a
field composed of Kansas State,
Colorado and Abilene Christian.
The women received a strtfng per
formance from Shelley-Ann
Brown. The sophomore won the
60-meter dash with an NCAA pro
visional qualifying time of 7.39 sec
onds.
Other NU winners included
Krisztina Kovesi in the triple jump,
Erin Wibbels in the 20-pound
weight throw, Jessica Thompson in
the high jump and Jelena
Stanisavljevic, who won the 600
yard dash.
The Husker men were led by
the return of All-American sprinter
Chris Chandler. The senior
claimed the 60 meters with a mark
of 6.68 in his first competition this
season.
“I just wanted to come out and
stretch my legs out a little bit,” said
Chandler, who also won the 200.
Sophomore Eric Eshbach set a
provisional mark for NU in the
pole vault, going 17 feet-6 Vi inch
es. In addition, the Nebraska men
received a strong performance
from Sheldon Hutchinson, who
won the triple jump with a leap of
50 feet-11 inches. Freshman Frank
Tolen claimed the long jump and
sophomore PJ. Crosse rode placed
Scott McClurg/DN
Nebraska high jumper Jessica Thompson leaps into first place with a jump of 5 feet
8.75 inches on Saturday afternoon at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
nrst in the 600-yara dash.
But, with all of NU’s success,
one performance stood above the
rest For Owusu, who has struggled
to break the 53-second barrier, the
nation leading 400 time is a major
confidence booster for the rest of
the year.
Owusu, who said she could ve
gone faster if pushed, felt her next
challenge was to carry over this
performance to next week.
“You’ve got to be consistent,”
said the returning All-American.
“It's all about maintaining that
consistency.”
Late pin
sends NU
to victory
■The wrestling team over
comes several big defeats and
a disqualification to beat UNI.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Nebraska clawed its way
back from an 11-point deficit
after two matches and 133
pounder Todd Beckerman
picked up a pin in the dual’s
final match* to provide NU (11
3) with a 26-20 comeback win
over Northern Iowa.
Beckerman, ranked fourth
at 133-p.ounds, improved his
record to 17-3 this year with his
pin over the Panthers’ No. 18
Chad Boudreaux at 4:21. The
win broke the 20-20 tie that NU
forged with 125-pounder Jason
Powell's 9-2 decision in the pre
ceding match.
The exciting dual, in which
Nebraska Coach Mark Manning
returned to face his old team,
saw only four out of ten match
es end as 3-point decisions. The
match in front of 1.022 in UNI’s
West Gym had two pins, two
technical falls, one forfeit and a
disqualification. »
Nebraska forfeited the
dual’s opening match at 141
pounds because Dusty
Spualding was unable to com
pete with a broken collarbone.
That six-point deficit was
increased to 11 when 149
pounder Travis Baker suffered a
technical fall, 16-1, to UNI’s
Keith Weber.
Nebraska erased UNI’S lead
with three consecutive win,
including a technical fall by sec
ond-ranked 157-pounder
Bryan Snyder. The Huskers
found thbmselves again in the
hole when 184-pounder
Charles McTorry, in his first
action since tearing his right
anterior cruciate ligament, was
disqualified for three stalling
calls and a two-point miscon
duct.
197-pounder Brad Vering
tied the match with a pin,
upping his record to 20-1. The
teams split the next two match
es paving the way for
Beckerman’s match-winning
pin. »