By Felicia Haynes     Dec 2, 2000

The attitude of Kansas University’s women’s basketball team didn’t correlate with the result of its last outing.

The Jayhawks held an extended postgame meeting in the locker room, then groused about how poorly they’d just played.

Imagine what the scene would have been had they lost.

KU shook off a slow start to rout Eastern Illinois, 74-56, in a first-round game of the KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks will face St. Joseph’s a 64-62 winner earlier Friday over Minnesota in the tournament’s championship game at 3:05 p.m.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy about the way we played,” KU senior point guard Jennifer Jackson said after collecting eight rebounds and seven assists both one short of her career highs against the Panthers. “We came out flat. That’s something we’ve got to work on. When we get in the Big 12, if we come out flat we’ll be down 20 in the blink of an eye.”

Against EIU of the Ohio Valley Conference, the slow start merely translated to a tie midway through the first half. The Panthers (2-3) took their only lead at 2-0, and made it 16-all with 9:30 remaining before the break.

Kansas responded with a 14-0 run that made the final 24 1/2 minutes basically moot.

“We were flat as a pancake,” KU senior Jaclyn Johnson said after collecting game highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds. “I don’t know what happened. We just didn’t start the game well at all.”

“We’re up for some games and down for some games,” added senior forward Brooke Reves, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. “That’s something we need to change. We’re just not all on the same page. It’s real important that we set the tone early.”

They finally set it midway through the first half by listening to coach Marian Washington.

“Everything starts with defense, and coach said going in she wanted us to get in the passing lanes,” Jackson said. “When we made that run, we really started to take her seriously.”

During KU’s 14-0, five-minute run, the Panthers managed just two shot attempts and committed six of their 25 turnovers.

“In the last minutes of the first half, we stepped it up defensively,” Washington said. “It’s great to be able to take that step forward. I think that caused a lot of problems for Eastern Illinois.”

Kansas held EIU to 35.8-percent shooting, and the Panthers hit just two of 14 three-point tries.

Pam O’Connor led EIU with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Kansas outrebounded the Panthers, 51-31.

The Jayhawks expect a different kind of challenge today from St. Joseph’s (2-3).

“St. Joseph’s, from what I know after watching today’s game, is a perimeter-oriented team,” Johnson said. “They’re guard-oriented. It’ll be up to our guards to step up tomorrow.”

At least one of the guards doesn’t expect that to be a problem.

“Our perimeter defense will be important, but we played well against Illinois,” Jackson said of the Illini, who fell to Kansas on Tuesday night. “We held them to 22 points in the second half. We just have to come out focused, more focused than we were today.”

Notes

Guard Kristen May, who had offseason knee surgery, made her 2000 debut against EIU. May had a rebound and three assists in eight minutes.

Center Nikki White, who sat out the last two games after suffering a broken nose, played against the Panthers wearing a mask to protect her face. White had two rebounds, two points, an assist and four turnovers in eight minutes.

Starting guard KC Hilgenkamp suffered a migraine headache before the game. She started, but played just 12 minutes during which she was held scoreless but had five rebounds.

Kansas outscored the Panthers 44-26 in the paint, 27-21 off turnovers and 22-7 in second-chance points.

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