Pirate Galaxy » f what Fiji had done, she said. But I guess, the po

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska opened up a 22-point lead in the first half, then watched South Dakota cut that lead to two before the Huskers were able to turn back the upset bid 73-61 on Saturday.I was really proud of our guys to perform down the stretch, said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. South Dakota competed really hard and really, I thought, out-competed us the second half. When you get punched in the mouth, you cant look at that and say `Oh gee, whats going on, do I have any teeth left? Youve just got to swallow them, spit the blood out and keep battling.Nebraska (5-3) hit 10 of its first 15 shots, 4 of 7 from 3-point range, while the Husker defense stifled South Dakota (6-4). The Coyotes hit just 2 of their first 11 shots and turned the ball over six times in the game-opening stretch that saw Nebraska lead 26-4 with 11:23 left in the first half.We looked like Edward Scissorhands out there for the first eight minutes or so -- a lot of turnovers, just driving in there and playing volleyball, throwing it up there and seeing what happened, said South Dakota coach Craig Smith We had to adjust and once we finally kind of settled in, I really liked we saw our of team. I thought we had great resolve. Im proud of how we played when we got down 22 in a hostile environment.Nebraska led 41-21 on Jack McVeighs 3-pointer with 2:53 left in the half, but the Huskers hit just one field goal and a pair of free throws the rest of the half and the Coyotes trailed 45-31 at halftime.The Huskers made 5 of 16 shots against South Dakotas zone defense to open the second half and turned the ball over eight times. Nebraska hit 33 percent of its shots in the second half.Credit to them, said Nebraska forward Michael Jacobsen. They definitely switched defenses and pressed and did some things that kind of got us on our heels and out of our attack mindset, which I thought was pretty good at the outset of the game.Credit to them, no doubt. They definitely switched defenses and pressed and did some things that kind of got us on our heels and out of our attack mindset, which I thought was pretty good at the outset of the game.Trailing 56-42 in the second half, the Coyotes went on a 12-0 run, cutting the Husker lead to two on Matt Mooneys layup with 7:30 left. Nebraskas Tai Webster countered with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to five and McVeighs 3 with 2:45 left made it 67-58.McVeigh finished with 16 points and made 4 of 9 from behind the arc.McVeigh hit some big shots in the second half, Smith said. He got a groove going, exactly what he needed early on, hit three 3s in the first half and started feeling it. Then hit a couple big 3s in the second half when we were in the midst of a big-time run. Coach (Miles) has been upfront and honest about it, theyve got to make some threes that way.Webster scored 12 points with three 3s for Nebraska and Michael Jacobson added 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.BIG PICTURENebraska: Saturdays contest against South Dakota was a breather in the Huskers challenging pre-conference schedule. Nebraska played No. 11 UCLA the Friday after Thanksgiving, traveled to Clemson last week and will face No. 10 Creighton and No. 4 Kansas in its next two games.South Dakota: South Dakota, which has four players on its roster from the state of Nebraska, is off to its best start since joining NCAA Division 1 in 2008.POSTGAME COMEDYSmith was an assistant with Miles at four different schools, including Nebraska, before taking the South Dakota job two years ago. They did the postgame press conference together, turning it into a comedy act.I figured if we didnt do a joint press conference Id never get him out of here, Miles said opening the press conference.Im surprised you let me talk, Smith replied. In 11 years, I didnt say a whole lot.I had a lot of answers, Miles said.UP NEXTNebraska will host in-state rival Creighton WednesdaySouth Dakota will return to Vermillion to host Montana State Wednesday. Nolan Ryan Mets Jersey .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Gregor Blanco Mets Jersey . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. http://www.metsbaseballauthentic.com/david-wright-mets-jersey/ . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Pete Alonso Mets Jersey . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Keon Broxton Mets Jersey . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Its more than three months since the Australian womens rugby sevens side claimed the first ever Olympic sevens gold medal, but the title Olympic Champion remains as surreal as ever for Charlotte Caslick.With her exciting style of play and trademark braids, Caslick quickly became the face of sevens at the 2016 Rio Games. Hammering in defence and sharp in attack, the scrum-half dominated the competition, scoring seven tries across the three days of play, only missing in two games.Despite her sides achievements, Caslick continues to be amazed when the public recognizes her -- especially out of uniform.Yeah, [I am still walking on air] a little bit, Caslick told ESPN. Its a massive privilege to be able to classify us in that group of elite athletes - its obviously the pinnacle of all sports. Its always quite surreal telling someone youre an Olympic gold medallist.Sometimes [I dont have to tell people who I am], but I guess we look kind of different from when we play footy to what we do when were just walking around the streets. Some people definitely do recognise us, which is a bit surreal still as well; we never really expect people to know what we did or anything. But its always awesome when little kids come over and ask for autographs and stuff like that.The 21-year-old is no stranger to success. A national 800m champion in primary school and Australian touch football representative at both age-grade and open levels, she made the move to sevens at 18 and quickly caught the eye of coaches.Caslick won a gold medal at the Australian Youth Games festival in her debut season and was selected in the 2013 Australian World Cup team that competed in Russia. Just over a year later, she was named in World Rugbys 2014-15 Team of the Season and was nominated for the 2015 World Sevens Player of the Year.Its been a rapid rise for the Queenslander.It is crazy, it definitely happened really quickly, Caslick said. When we first went into it, Rio was our goal and a gold medal was our goal, so for the last four years weve been dreaming about that. But in comparison to other sports it did all happen very quickly.Securing their first ever World Rugby Sevens Series title just months out from the Olympics, the Aussie girls headed to Rio as clear favourites for gold.The pressure of expectation could have been an issue, but Caslick said the group learned to block out the white noise and focus only on themselves. In doing just that, the Aussies conceded a mere 34 points for the tournament and wowed a whole new audience with their entertaining attack play.Im not really surprised, I think we play an amazing style of rugby, Caslick said when asked about the groups new-found fame. If people didnt like watching it I dont know what theyre on about. I think the way we play is exciting and fast, and the calibre of players we have on our team; Im not surprised at all that people loved it.dddddddddddd think weve definitely won them over. The reception we got when we came home was just incredible, especially in the non-traditional rugby states of Australia. They all seemed to get behind us as well.Caslick capped an extraordinary 2016 when she was crowned the World Rugby Womens Sevens Player of the Year, the highest individual honour in the games shortened form. ?Its awesome, Caslick said. Its sometimes hard to get individual accolades, especially in a team sport, but its obviously a representation of how well the team performed this year.Without the girls out there I cant do my job properly. I definitely think its a representation of how we went [this season], and our style of footy we play allows me to play my best I guess.Caslicks response to the award was typical of her down-to-earth personality, but her work off the field certainly reflects her caring nature.Working alongside Australian mens Sevens player Jesse Parahai with his company Sense Rugby, the 21-year-old helps children with learning difficulties in providing an opportunity to experience team sports, something they may not otherwise get the chance to do. And she does it purely because she loves kids.Its an awesome group to work for, Caslick said. I love children and theyre kids who struggle to take instructions at a young age, so this gives them a chance to form their own teams or communities.Sometimes these kids can get left behind when it comes to team sports, but weve already seen some kids go back to play with their old teams.Despite a huge 2016 that involved the team winning almost every medal and award, Caslick was disappointing the Aussie side wasnt nominated for World Rugbys Team of the Year Award.It was a little bit disappointing [not getting nominated], considering we achieved the exact same goals of what Fiji had done, she said. But I guess, the position Fiji were in, to win their countrys first gold medal ever...Its disappointing, but were not there to win awards. Im sure the girls will go out next year and just keep playing footy and enjoying what we do. All of that stuff comes when youre just having fun and that breeds success.Back after a short break, Caslick has returned to training and is focused on the 2016/17 World Series, with the Australians kicking off their title defence in Dubai.Can 2016 be topped?We have to go back-to-back now, Caslick said.? The New Zealand womens team have won back-to-back World Series.So for us, this season, its all about character and backing up what weve done in the last season.? We definitely dont want to be one-hit-wonders, so we want to go out there and just keep our consistency up. ' ' '