KU women to face improved ‘Roos

By Gary Bedore     Dec 7, 2005

Very little footage from last year’s Kansas University-UMKC women’s basketball game made highlights reels.

In fact, the Jayhawks’ 47-36 victory was as forgettable as last week’s newspaper.

“It was ugly,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “Neither team could score. It was UG-ly.”

It goes without saying Henrickson hopes she won’t have to utter the U-word again after the Jayhawks and Kangaroos collide tonight.

“Both teams are much better this year,” she said.

Tipoff will be 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.

Actually, the jury is still out on how much better the ‘Roos are. Second-year coach Bo Overton’s team has won only two of its seven starts.

“But they’ve played only one home game,” Henrickson countered. “All the rest have been on the road, or at a neutral site.”

Yes, but UMKC’s lone home game was a squeaker — a 76-73 victory over Northwest Missouri State, an NCAA Div. II school.

Few would dispute, however, that the Jayhawks are much better in Henrickson’s second season, even though the competition hasn’t been all that rugged.

Henrickson’s first KU team (12-16) lacked scoring punch and depth, but those areas no longer appear to be weaknesses. The Jayhawks (5-0) are averaging an impressive 77.8 points a game and shooting at a torrid clip.

Curiously, KU’s overall field-goal percentage is lower (48.4) than the team’s three-point FG percentage (49.3). In fact, Henrickson’s three best long-range shooters are a combined 53.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Erica Hallman has made 14 of 24 treys, Kaylee Brown 11 of 23 and Ivana Catic six of 11. Yet Catic’s main value has been as a distributor. The 5-foot-8 freshman has shown remarkable poise and consistency as a floor leader.

At this stage, Hallman (19.0), Crystal Kemp (15.6) and Brown (12.2), the only seniors on the roster, rank 1-2-3 on the team scoring chart.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Henrickson said. “Ivana has played a part in that because she’s getting them shots they can make.”

When Henrickson recruited Shaquina Mosley, last year’s NJCAA player of the year while at Central Arizona CC, it was expected Mosley would become the Jayhawks’ starting point guard.

But Catic won the job, and Mosley comes off the bench.

“I’d like her to be more aggressive,” Henrickson said of the 5-8 Mosley. “At Central Arizona, they won most of their games by 30 or 40 points, and she could make mistakes. Now she has to learn that every possession is important.”

Tonight marks Game No. 6 in the Jayhawks’ 12-game season-opening homestand, and the quality of competition will pick up during the second six-pack, starting with Sunday’s 1 p.m. clash against Wisconsin.

The Jayhawks also will meet Florida International, Creighton, Pepperdine, LaSalle and Texas before they trot out their road blue uniforms Jan. 7 at Nebraska.

KU women to face short-handed SDSU

By Chuck Woodling     Dec 28, 2004

Bonnie Henrickson has kept her fingers crossed all season, and so far, so good.

Jim Tomey hasn’t been so fortunate.

Henrickson’s thin Kansas University women’s basketball team hasn’t suffered any serious injuries, but San Diego State counterpart Tomey already has lost two players for the season because of injuries, and he has another player currently on the shelf because of knee woes.

“They’ve had some problems,” Henrickson said of the Aztecs, “but we won’t prepare any different for them than for any other team.”

Tipoff will be at 7:05 p.m. tonight in Allen Fieldhouse. The game — the Jayhawks’ first in a week — will be telecast live on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.

Henrickson’s players left for holiday break Wednesday and returned Sunday afternoon for a strength and conditioning workout.

“We tried to run the Christmas cookies out of them,” Henrickson said, “and try to get their legs back.”

All the Jayhawks made it back in time, including point guard Erica Hallman who hails from suburban Cincinnati, hub for Comair, the airline that canceled all its Christmas Day flights because of a computer glitch.

“We were a little worried about Erica,” Henrickson said. “She was bumped once, but she made it back in time.”

Henrickson’s players departed for home following a 68-63 loss to Creighton a week ago in Omaha, Neb. A retrospective of that defeat by Henrickson revealed too many inconsistencies.

“We made a run late, and I was proud of that,” she said, “but that’s as bad as we’ve been defensively all season.”

Henrickson doesn’t have a roster full of point-producers so she has concentrated on defense. For the most part, she’s been successful. KU has posted a 5-4 record primarily by limiting its foes’ scoring opportunities.

“We may not shoot well every night,” the first-year KU coach said, “but we should play defense every night.”

San Diego State has been playing woeful offense. The Aztecs (3-5) are shooting a miserable 34.2 percent from the field, including 22.1 percent from the three-point line.

The Californians are coming off a home loss to Cal-Riverside (65-53) and an 80-36 flogging at Southern Methodist. At SMU, the Aztecs shot 27.6 percent while missing all 14 of their three-point attempts.

SDS coach Tomey is down to nine players and only four were in the program last year. Henrickson has 10 players, nine on scholarship, so tonight’s box score won’t be a long one.

The Jayhawks will conclude the nonconference portion of their schedule Thursday when they go to Muncie, Ind., to tangle with Ball State. KU will open conference play Jan. 5 against No. 4-ranked Texas in Austin, Texas.

KU women to open in Big 12 net meet

By Staff     Apr 26, 2001

? Kansas University’s seventh-seeded women’s tennis team will meet No. 10 seed Missouri in a first-round match of the Big 12 Conference championships at 3 p.m. today.

Today’s winner will meet No. 2 seed Oklahoma State at 4 p.m. on Friday.

KU’s No. 5-seeded men’s team will open at 11 a.m. on Friday against Oklahoma State with the winner ticketed to tangle with top seed Texas A&M at noon on Saturday.

KU women to hold banquet on April 21

By Staff     Apr 10, 2001

Kansas University’s women’s basketball team’s annual awards banquet will be Saturday, April 21, at the Holiday Inn Holidome. Tickets are $20 per person, and the event will begin at 6:30 p.m.

For information, call 864-4938.

KU women to face Washburn

By Staff     Dec 9, 2000

Kansas University’s women’s basketball team, idle since last Saturday’s loss to St. Joseph’s, will play host to Washburn in an exhibition game this afternoon.

Tipoff is 2:05 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

It will mark the second and final exhibition this season for Kansas (5-2) and will be the first of just two

KU women to tangle with UAB

By J-W Staff Reports     Nov 25, 2000

? Kansas University’s women’s basketball team will make its television debut tonight.

The Jayhawks, playing the second of three straight road games, will face host Alabama-Birmingham in the first round of the Blazer Classic tonight.

Tipoff is 6 p.m., with a live telecast available locally on cable channels 6 and 11.

Kansas (2-0) is coming off a 63-51 victory at Arkansas State on Tuesday. UAB (1-1), a Sweet 16 team last season, beat Idaho, 90-70, but fell to Nevada, 79-63, last weekend in the Nevada Classic.

The Blazers are led by Deanna Jackson, a 6-foot-2 junior who is averaging 31 points and 14.5 rebounds per game. Mia Thrash, a 5-9 senior forward, is the only other UAB starter averaging more than double-digit points a game, with 13.0.

Kansas will counter with starters averaging in double figures: Brooke Reves (19.0), Jaclyn Johnson (19.0) and KC Hilgenkamp (11.5). Reves and Johnson also share the rebounding lead with 8.5 per game.

KU will face either Tennessee-Martin or Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday.

Tonight’s game is the first of a brutal stretch for the Jayhawks in which they’ll play five games in eight days. After the Blazer Classic, KU will play host to Illinois on Tuesday, then serve as host for the Jayhawk Classic next Friday and Saturday.

Kansas will face Eastern Illinois on Friday, then either St. Joseph or Minnesota on Saturday.


Probable Starters

KANSAS (2-0)

F Brooke Reves, 6-0, Sr.

F Jaclyn Johnson, 6-1, Sr.

C Nikki White, 6-3, Jr.

G KC Hilgenkamp, 5-10, Jr.

G Jennifer Jackson, 5-11, Sr.

UAB (1-1)

F Mia Thrash, 5-9, Sr.

F Deanna Jackson, 6-2, Jr.

F Shaquetta Rhodes, 6-2, Jr.

G Sally Jeter, 5-8, Sr.

G Brandi Stallings, 5-9, Sr.

Tipoff: 6 tonight, Bartlow Arena, Birmingham, Ala.

TV: Cable channels 6, 11.

TV replay: 10:30 tonight, Cable 6.

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