Nebraska-Temple Preview

3/16/2007 6:50 PM

By KATE HEDLIN
STATS Writer

Philadelphia native Dawn Staley ended her WNBA career to focus solely on coaching at Temple. She'll see if the extra attention pays off when the Owls begin the NCAA women's tournament in search of their first national championship.

Eighth-seeded Temple (24-7) will meet ninth-seeded Nebraska (22-9) on Sunday in Raleigh, N.C. in the opener of the Greensboro regional.

The Owls are headed to the tournament for the third straight year and fifth overall under Staley - a three-time Olympic gold medalist - since 2002. A five-time WNBA All-Star, Staley retired as an active player after last season.

"It's time for me to just concentrate on one thing," Staley said on the WNBA's Web site in June. "That's going to be coaching rather than strapping myself so thin all the time."

The Owls' last five tournament appearances came as Atlantic 10 conference champions. They enter this season's tourney thanks to an at-large bid. On March 4, Temple lost to eventual A-10 champion Xavier 54-53 in the conference semifinals.

Temple is led by senior forward Kamesha Hairston, who averages 19.3 points and 8.7 rebounds and is one of three players to reach double figures in scoring average. Junior center Lady Comfort averages 12.6 points and senior guard Fatima Maddox at 11.6 points are the others.

Temple had the second-best scoring defense in the conference, holding opponents to an average of 57.6 points. The team also had the second-largest margin of victory average at 10.1 points.

After losing five of their last six games, the Cornhuskers, who finished with the best regular season record in school history, hope that they will have snapped out of their slump when the team makes its first NCAA tournament appearance in seven years.

This is the seventh overall NCAA tournament appearance for Nebraska, but first since 2000. The team's last win in the tournament came in 1998.

Nebraska lost three of its last four regular season games and then suffered a 79-76 loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament after a first-round bye.

The Huskers are led by senior guard Kiera Hardy and sophomore forward Kelsey Griffin, who average 15.8 and 15.1 points, respectively. The duo became the first teammates in school history to share spots on the first-team All-Big 12 roster.

"I really don't care about the accomplishments I've achieved for myself," said Hardy, who is the third player in school history to earn three consecutive first-team all-conference honors. "I just hope the accomplishments helped this program to get a little respect."

The winner of this game will play Tuesday against the winner between top seed Duke and No. 16 seed Holy Cross.