In three decades of recorded history, no Kansas University women’s basketball team ever has swept its nonconference foes.
Now LaSalle stands in the way of the broom. The Explorers are the Jayhawks’ last opponent before Big 12 Conference play begins next week.
With so much at stake, it isn’t likely KU’s players will have any difficulty focusing tonight on LaSalle.
“It won’t be tough at all,” senior forward Crystal Kemp said. “I think it’s important to go into Big 12 play undefeated.”
Tipoff will be 7:05 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse, with a live telecast on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.
KU coach Bonnie Henrickson expressed little concern when asked if her players might be looking ahead.
“I don’t think so,” Henrickson said. “But you have to have upperclassmen who understand how important it is.”
Henrickson has three senior starters — Kemp, Erica Hallman and Kaylee Brown — and they rank 1-2-3 in team scoring. Kemp scored 27 points in Wednesday night’s 73-60 victory over Pepperdine in Allen Fieldhouse.
“Crystal is like this every game,” freshman point guard Ivana Catic said. “She is definitely a senior leader that we can count on. I don’t think that she cares so much for the figures. The only thing that she cares about is the W.”
  6Sports video: KU Women off to record start Kemp and Co. now 10-0 (12-29-05) 6Sports video: Women advance to 10-0 start (12-29-05) |
Catic vows she, too, won’t be looking too far down the road.
“We have one more game to the Big Show,” she said, “and I want to have a good game.”
A victory tonight also would give the Jayhawks (10-0) the fastest start in school history. The 1991-92 team began with 10 straight victories before Arizona State halted the streak with a 72-71 victory in a tournament in Miami. That KU club, coached by Marian Washington, went on to post a 25-6 record and capture the Big Eight regular-season championship.
No one has projected this year’s team as a Big 12 title favorite, however. The Jayhawks may be 10-0, but their schedule has been underwhelming. In fact, KU is one of only seven unbeaten teams remaining in NCAA Div. I and the only one of those unbeatens that isn’t ranked.
LaSalle seems to be another so-so foe. The Explorers have dropped six of their nine outings. The Philadelphia school’s lone victories have been over Wagner, Rider and Tennessee-Martin.
On the flip side, the Explorers lost by a point to Villanova in their most recent outing eight days ago, and they’re outscoring their opponents by about two points a game.
Manhattan ? Kansas University’s women’s basketball team is looking for a few good women.
The Jayhawks, losers of three straight and seven of eight, will face rival Kansas State tonight. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.
Kansas enters at 7-10 overall, 1-5 in the Big 12, while K-State is 11-6 and 1-5. KU’s only league victory was a 78-67 win over the Wildcats on Jan. 13.
Coach Marian Washington and players alike blame the Jayhawks’ recent struggles on lack of scoring from the newcomers brought in to replace departed seniors Lynn Pride and Suzi Raymant.
“We’ve been looking for other players to step up, but they’re not comfortable shooting,” senior guard Jennifer Jackson said. “We need more scoring. We’ve got to find it.”
“It’s just a year for us where, in the past, we haven’t had to depend so much on new faces,” Washington added. “Having to depend on them has put a lot of pressure on them to do what is needed. We’re all just really hopeful we can get them to step up.”
While the Jayhawks’ senior starters are producing, the newcomers are struggling. Seniors Jaclyn Johnson, Brooke Reves and Jackson are far and away the team’s statistical leaders.
Johnson leads in scoring at 15.9 points and rebounding with 7.5 boards per game. Reves isn’t far behind with 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, while Jackson contributes 9.8 points per game.
Junior college transfers KC Hilgenkamp (7.6 ppg) and Fernanda Bosi (5.6 ppg) rank fourth and fifth in scoring, while Dalchon Brown ranks eighth at 3.9 points per game.
“We lost 30-plus points, and we’ve got three kids trying to make up the difference,” Washington said. “If everyone were playing like Brooke and Jaclyn and Jennifer, we be maybe 15-1 or 14-2.
KU senior Jennifer Jackson
“For most ball games, there has been a single-digit difference. We’re trying to pick up five or 10 points someplace. We don’t need 30-plus points. We need 20, 22, and those three are averaging around 12, and that’s not enough.”
The Wildcats are led by three triple-digit scorers: Nicole Ohlde, a 6-foot-4 freshman at 15.7 ppg; Kim Woodlee, a 5-8 senior at 12.8 ppg; and Kristin Rethman, a 5-9 junior at 12.6 ppg.
In the teams’ last meeting, Kansas hounded the Wildcats into 29 turnovers and led by as many as 27 in the second half. Jackson scored a career-high 23 points and had five assists for the Jayhawks.
Rethman led K-State with 22 points, while Ohlde added 17 points.
“We can’t go to Manhattan with our heads down. We’ve got to bounce back,” Washington said. “We’ll have to bounce back and do a better job in Manhattan.”
The Jayhawks will play host to Nebraska on Wednesday.
