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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Stayin’ alive

Jayhawks power past Nebraska

By Chuck Woodling

The KU bench celebrates late in the game.

Photo by Mike Yoder

The KU bench celebrates late in the game.

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Jayhawks defeat Nebraska to stay alive in tourney

The Kansas women's basketball team defeated Nebraska in the first round of the Big 12 tournament Tuesday night.

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KU women vs. Nebraska

Kansas City, Mo. — Same old Kansas University women's basketball team. Too many turnovers. Too many fouls. Too many :

Wait a minute. The Jayhawks won.

Kansas overcame 24 turnovers and 23 fouls to stun Nebraska, 73-67, in the first round of the Big 12 conference tournament on Tuesday night at Municipal Auditorium.

"I said if we turned it over 23 times we'd lose," KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said, "and we turned it over 24 times."

So how did the Jayhawks win? By shooting lights out. They wound up making 29 of 54 shots for a torrid 53.7 percent.

"We got high-percentage shots," Henrickson said, "and we made 65 percent in the second half."

For a stretch of about six minutes early in the second half, the 11th-seeded Jayhawks looked like the Big 12 regular-season champions. They seemingly couldn't miss, making nine of 12 shots.

At one time, Kansas scored on seven straight trips down the floor. After Kelly Kohn converted a conventional three-point play, Kansas led the shocked Huskers, the tourney's No. 6 seed, by 17 points at 52-35.

"We dug ourselves a hole," NU coach Connie Yori said, "and battled back, but basically ran out of time."

Nebraska came on like gangbusters late, but couldn't cut more than 13 points off the Jayhawks' 17-point bulge.

In scoring 73 points, the Jayhawks accumulated a season-high against a Big 12 team. The previous high was in a 70-56 victory over Colorado in Allen Fieldhouse.

And the Jayhawks did it in spite of those two-dozen turnovers. But Nebraska turned it over 17 times, and KU converted those NU giveaways into 33 points. The Huskers netted only 13 points off KU's miscues.

Perhaps even more surprising was that Kansas was able to win with a sub-par game from leading scorer Danielle McCray, who missed nine of 12 shots - and went 0-for-6 from three-point range - and ended with just nine points, about five below her average.

Yet eight of the nine players Henrickson used scored. The lone Jayhawk who failed to collect at least one point was back-up guard Ivana Catic, and she played only six minutes.

Senior Taylor McIntosh and soph Sade Morris were KU's scoring leaders with 13 apiece. Kohn came off the bench to score 11, including a crucial three-pointer with about 41â2 minutes left when the Huskers were mounting their comeback.

"I don't know if I can tell you how great it felt," said Kohn who had been battling an ankle injury since around the turn of the year.

Kohn hasn't started a game since mid-December, but the 5-foot-9 sophomore was close to assuming that role again.

"I honestly thought about starting her," Henrickson said, "but she came to practice and said her ankle was hurting as much as when she first hurt it."

Kohn stepped up, but so did a couple of other reserves. Freshman Nicollette Smith had nine rebounds, second only to McIntosh's team-high 11. And soph Porscha Weddington came off the bench to match her career-high with six points.

Now 16-14 going into tonight's 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal against Oklahoma State, the Jayhawks are all but assured of earning a berth in the WNIT.

"I think so," Henrickson said. "Texas Tech and Colorado both lost today, and they have the same record we do so, yes, I think so."

For the first time in league tournament history, both the No. 11 and No. 12 seeds won in the first round. No. 12-seed Missouri staggered Oklahoma earlier in the day.

"Is it not fitting for the year that this league has had?" Henrickson said. "There's probably not a coach in the conference that's probably real surprised."

Nebraska's Yori was less conditional in her assessment.

"That's the story of the season in the Big 12," she said. "That's not a surprise to anyone."

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Comments

jayhawker_97 (anonymous) says...

yaaay.. congrats jayhawk gals!! we really hope you all get a shot at WNIT, too..
not sure about the 24-turnovers, though.. maybe we can trim that down a bit, stay focus on the high-percent shooting, hit the treys, and set some traps on the D zone..
go Jayhawks!!

March 12, 2008 at 4:14 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

WNIT?

if they keep playing like this ... the prize might be even bigger!!

We went to the conference opener back in January, they played the Cowgirls very close, tonight's game at 8.30 is absolutely winnable!

Tune in to Fox Sports Net to see for yourself! :D

Does anyone know, is Ivana Catic injured, or not starting because of poor play?

March 12, 2008 at 6:23 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mvjayhawk (anonymous) says...

Congrats to the KU gals, nice win for sure. With MU winning as well, the 11 and 12 seeds are now 2-0

KU finally scored some points...you can't win all your games 52-45....at some moment, the ball has to go in the basket. the Jayhawks would have a lot more wins this year if they could have scored more than 60 points in a game.
First game of the year they played the 'Pokes pretty tough....let's see if they can scare 'em tonight.

March 12, 2008 at 7:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

walkdog262 (anonymous) says...

There's a women's NIT? Attendance must be through the roof for that.

March 12, 2008 at 9:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Woodberry (anonymous) says...

Congratulations KU women! Keep the momentum going

March 12, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

Hey walkdog, any post season play beats a poke in the eye, wanna see?

*poke*

March 12, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kackley (anonymous) says...

Where is that negative guy now. Not Bonnie Bashing this morning I see. Go Hawks

March 12, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LTCUSARet (anonymous) says...

Okay, ladies, you got past game 1!

Now step up the ball control, keep up the hot shooting and dive bomb them 'Pokes!

March 12, 2008 at 10:03 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

walkdog262 (anonymous) says...

But sevenyearhawk, does postseason play beat a press club at the Red Lyon?

March 12, 2008 at 10:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kranny (anonymous) says...

Walkdog,
Most of the games are played at host sites and KU has a chance to host the opening rounds so attendance depends on where the ladies play. KState ladies sold their place out a few years ago for the WNIT.

March 12, 2008 at 10:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

hahahaha ...

nothing beats Fridays at the Lyon, baby!

***

If this game were at six our family would be all over it, 8.30 is just too late for the kids ...

they'll have to watch it on the couch in their pajamas I'm afraid!

March 12, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

FELONY (anonymous) says...

Congrats to the Hawks!

Way to go!

Boycott the Lyon!

March 12, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

yeah, yeah ...

FELONY, we're talking about the Lyon from days goneby, about a decade ago!

I wouldn't be male if I didn't say that Kelly Kohn is a fine face for the women's program - DAMNED fine! :D

March 12, 2008 at 12:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

One of the best efforts all year by KU WBB. The difference was that they had better shot selection and most importantly shot more than 35% from field.

The difference between 35% and 50% in a game can be from 10-20 points a game.

Coach Bonnie gets no credit or debit for the team shooting better. Kohn's return to productivity helped a lot. This was her best game this year.

She is not a stellar point guard, but she is a great 6th woman and spot player! She has been hurt and out most of the year. Catic got more minutes due to this situation.

I assume that this is the reasn that Catic is not playing as muchnow.

March 12, 2008 at 2:21 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mvjayhawk (anonymous) says...

k-state women just got beat in OT.....hilarious!!!!!!!!!

March 12, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Too bad Mizzou had to win too, even if it does mean knocking off a higher seed. But this can all be summed up in one phrase: One down, three to go!!!

March 12, 2008 at 3:18 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

less than three hours until tip-off!

March 12, 2008 at 5:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FELONY (anonymous) says...

Two hours and it's game time!

Rock Chalk baby girls! Let's get this win!

Good Luck!

March 12, 2008 at 6:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

speedy (anonymous) says...

tex a&m beat misery.
is ku on radio anywhere? all i can find is pay chn.

March 12, 2008 at 8:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )