March 12, 1999

A pair of evenly matched, unranked teams will square off on Saturday when11th-seeded Nebraska takes on sixth-seeded Kentucky in the West subregional atPauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Both teams finished 10 games over .500 and posted nearly identicalmarks innon-conference play. Nebraska (21-11) was 11-2 outside the Big 12, whileKentucky (20-10) was 13-3 in its games against non-Southeastern Conferencefoes.

Nebraska is paced by a pair of junior guards. Nicole Kubik isaveraging 19.4points, 5.7 assists and 4.2 steals, while backcourt mate Brook Schwartz hasadded 13.2 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game.

“I think the team has to step it up,” said Kubik. “Every team has to stepit up in the tournament to win. Honestly, I think we have three or four levelsto go, but we just need to take it one level at a time.”

Kentucky coach Bernadette Mattox, a former assistant under current BostonCeltics coach Rick Pitino, will lean on junior guard Tiffany Wait, who leadsthe Wildcats with 14.1 points per game.

Kubik has nothing but respect for Wait.

“Their point guard stands out. She’s quick and controls her team well,”she said. “As a team, they drive to the basket well.”

Nebraska has won both games in the all-time series, including a 68-59victory over the Wildcats in the championship game of the 1997 CableVisionClassic.

The winner of this contest will face the winner of theUCLA-Wisconsin-GreenBay game in Monday’s second round.