Behind four scoreless innings of one-hit ball from Jeff Francis, the Colorado Rockies defeated the Chicago Cubs 6-3 in Cactus League action yesterday afternoon. Francis struck out four Cubs and did not walk a batter. At the plate the star of the day was catcher Wilin Rosario, who blasted a two-run homer, his first big fly of the spring. The Rockies will play Team USA in an exhibition tonight as the Americans prepare for the World Baseball Classic.

The North Platte Community College Knights are on to the semifinal round of the Region IX Tournament. They defeated Gillette College 81-67 in Casper, Wyoming in the quarterfinals yesterday. Reath Jiech scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Knights’ offensive attack. Damon Brown contributed 19 points and Ethan Montalvo added 16 points. The victory is North Platte’s ninth in a row and lifts them to a 27-5 overall record. They play Northeastern Junior College in the semis tonight. The Knights swept two games from the Plainsmen in the regular season. Tipoff tonight is set for 7 PM Central time. ESPN Radio 1410 will have the action, with pregame coverage at 6:45.

The North Platte Lady Knights are the Region IX Division II Champions. They routed Southeast 82-53 at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium Monday night to capture the crown, their second in the last three years. DaVontaye Merritt’s 29 points led the Lady Knights to the victory. Paige Hasty added 14 points and Lacey Houston chipped in 10 points. The Lady Knights improve to 14-14 with the win. They will host Dakota College of Bottineau on Sunday at a time to be determined in the District F Championship Game. The winner of that game will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament.

Nebraska’s Connie Yori was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by her colleagues, while Jordan Hooper earned her second straight first-team award when the All-Big Ten women’s basketball teams were announced Monday.

Yori, in her 11th season at the helm of the Huskers, captured her second conference coach-of-the-year award in the last four seasons and her first in the Big Ten. In 2012-13, Yori guided Nebraska to 10 straight conference wins, including a perfect February, as the Huskers finished with a 12-4 Big Ten mark as the regular-season runner-up.

In addition to Hooper being honored on the All-Big Ten first team, Lindsey Moore captured her second consecutive second-team All-Big Ten award, while Rachel Theriot was a unanimous choice on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Sophomore forward Emily Cady added honorable-mention All-Big Ten accolades from the conference media for the second straight year.

— Jeffrey Griesch, Nebraska Sports Information

The Nebraska sand volleyball team has been ranked ninth in the AVCA Collegiate Sand Preseason Poll released on Monday. Defending champion Pepperdine starts the year ranked first.

The Huskers are set to begin the 2013 season next week as they head to California from March 14-22. Their opponents will include Pepperdine, Long Beach State, USC, Florida State, UCLA and Hawaii, in addition to CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and UC-Irvine.

The top ten programs, as voted on by the participating institutions:
1. Pepperdine
2. Long Beach State
3. USC
4. Florida State
5. University of Hawai’i
6. UCLA
7. College of Charleston
8. Florida International University
9. Nebraska
10. Stanford

— Hilary Winter, Nebraska Sports Information

Husker freshman pitcher Emily Lockman earned her second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor this week. Lockman earned two complete game wins in the circle for the Huskers this past weekend. On Saturday she hurled seven scoreless innings to defeat top-ranked Oklahoma. She followed that performance with another stellar outing to beat Oklahoma State on Sunday. On the season, Lockman is 6-1 with a 1.45 ERA for the 14-5 Huskers. She leads the team in the ERA department.

The Nebraska baseball team announced on Monday afternoon that the Huskers’ baseball game on Tuesday, March 5 with the Northern Colorado Bears has been postponed to Wednesday, March 6.

The Huskers and Bears will play a doubleheader on Wednesday, with first pitch of game one set for 12:05 p.m. Game two of the doubleheader will start roughly 45 minutes after the completion of game one.

— Jeremy Foote, Nebraska Sports Information

The North Platte Community College Knights take the floor in Casper, Wyoming today for quarterfinal action in the Region IX tournament. The Knights advanced through round one of the tournament with an easy 71-42 win over Dawson on Saturday afternoon. Reath Jiech and Jake Maslo each scored 14 points, and Tim Simmons added 12 points, as the 22nd-ranked Knights reeled off their eighth consecutive win and improved to 26-5 overall. This afternoon, in the second of four quarterfinal games, the Knights will take on Gillette College. The Pronghorns defeated Eastern Wyoming 84-77 yesterday afternoon behind 20 points from Andre Marquez and 19 from Dwight Anderson. Tipoff from the Swede Erickson Thunderbird Gym is scheduled for 4 PM Central time. ESPN Radio 1410 will have all the action, with the pregame show getting underway at 3:45.

No. 20 Nebraska had its 10-game winning streak snapped as No. 7 Penn State shot nearly 70 percent in the second half on its way to an 82-67 women’s basketball victory over the Huskers in the final game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Sunday.

The Huskers ended their regular season with a 22-7 overall record and a 12-4 Big Ten mark, in front of 10,832 fans who came to say farewell to the building and seniors Lindsey Moore and Meghin Williams in postgame ceremonies.

Nebraska claimed the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will tip-off tourney play on Friday at 11:30 a.m. Penn State improved to 24-4 overall and 14-2 in the Big Ten. The Lady Lions claimed sole possession of the conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed at the Big Ten Tournament.

In her final game at the Devaney Center, Husker senior Lindsey Moore scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Sophomore forward Emily Cady added her fifth double-double of the conference season with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Jordan Hooper just missed a double-double of her own with 14 points and nine rebounds.

However, Penn State got a huge performance from junior Maggie Lucas, who set the Devaney Center record with eight three-pointers. Lucas went 8-for-13 from long range on her way to a game-high 34 points. The eight threes matched the most by an opponent in any game against the Huskers (Stacy Frese, Iowa State, Jan. 28, 1999). Lucas added nine rebounds.

Alex Bentley added 13 points, while Mia Nickson contributed 12 points and six rebounds. Nikki Greene gave the Lady Lions four players in double figures with 10 points and six boards.

Nebraska trailed 38-32 at halftime after shooting just 32 percent (8-25) in the opening period. Moore led the Huskers with 11 points, but sat for much of the final six minutes of the half after being whistled for her third foul.

Cady added seven points and six rebounds, while Hooper pitched in six points and six boards in the first half despite going just 1-for-8 from the field. Theriot added four points and seven rebounds in the opening period.

Penn State hit 40 percent (14-35) of its shots in the first half, led by 18 points from Lucas on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 threes. Bentley added seven points, while Greene contributed six points and four boards in the first half. PSU won the first half battle of the boards, 23-21, and edged NU 10-9 in turnovers.

Nebraska kept it close early in the second half, trailing by just three points on four occasions, the last time coming after a Moore layup with 12:27 left made it 55-52 PSU. But Penn State answered by hitting three of its next four shots, including back-to-back baskets from Bentley to push the lead to 61-52 with 9:45 left. A pair of Lucas free throws capped an 8-0 Penn State run and gave the Lady Lions their first double-digit lead at 63-52.

After a jumper by Moore cut the margin back to nine with 6:32 left, Penn State closed out the game by hitting eight of its last 10 shots. PSU did not allow NU to cut it to single digits the rest of the way.

Penn State hit 52.5 percent (32-61) of its shots for the game, including 69.2 percent (18-26) in the second half. The Lady Lions went 8-of-17 from three-point range, thanks to Lucas’ 8-for-13 effort. PSU added 10-of-17 free throws.

The Huskers hit 40.7 percent (22-54) for the game, including 48.3 percent (14-29) in the second half. NU was 5-of-16 from long range and 18-of-26 at the free throw line. Nebraska outrebounded the Lady Lions, 37-34, but Penn State won the turnover battle 18-15.

The Huskers return to action on Friday at 11:30 a.m., when they face the winner of the No. 7 Iowa/No. 10 Northwestern game in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Live television coverage will be provided by BTN, while the Husker Sports Network will provide free live audio coverage on Huskers.com.

— Jeffrey Griesch, Nebraska Sports Information

The Husker baseball team is off the schneid. They picked up a pair of wins over New Mexico at Hawks Field over the weekend. Sunday’s game saw a shutdown pitching performance from Christian DeLeon lift the Huskers to a 3-0 triumph. DeLean hurled eight shutout innings, permitting the Lobos just seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Josh Scheffert’s two-run home run in the sixth inning gave the Big Red the breathing room they would need. The Huskers host Northern Colorado for a two-game series starting Tuesday night.