Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas University’s women’s basketball team doesn’t look like it’s ready to see its season end.
“Absolutely not,” KU coach Marian Washington said on the eve of the Jayhawks’ Big 12 tournament opener with Oklahoma State. “They’re fighters. I can’t say enough for them. They’ve had to go through a lot of ups and downs, and they could have quit, they could have given up emotionally. But they fought back. They never quit and they kept fighting.”
The next fight comes today. Ninth-seeded Kansas (11-16 overall, 5-11 Big 12) will face eighth-seeded OSU (14-13, 6-10) at noon today at Municipal Auditorium.
Kansas’ No. 9 seed is its lowest in the history of the Big 12 and the first time in league history the Jayhawks haven’t had one of the first-round byes awarded the tournament’s top four seeds.
OSU won the regular-season meeting between the two teams, 61-53, on Jan. 17 in Stillwater, Okla.
“One good thing about the tournament,” Washington said, “is that we don’t have to worry about overlooking anybody. We always try to take them one game at a time, but if you look at the bracket, everyone in our side of the bracket, we’ve lost to. We don’t have to worry about overlooking anybody. That shouldn’t be a problem at all.”
Kansas hasn’t played since a 75-62 victory at Texas A&M on Wednesday, and Washington figures the rest has done the Jayhawks good.
“We’ve had some very good practices,” she said. “They’re really focused. I think emotionally and physically, we were a little fatigued up to the Texas A&M game, but we got a couple of days off and we’re excited about the possibility of extending our season.”
At least one of Kansas’ players is surging into the postseason. Oft-injured junior Nikki White, who has decided not to return for her senior year, is coming off two of the best games of her career. She had 11 points in a 69-55 Senior Day loss to Missouri, then added 20 points and nine rebounds against A&M.
“It makes me wish I had had her healthy all season,” Washington said of White, who has been hampered all season by several ailments. “If I had had her for a few other games, that would have made a big difference. I’m happy for her to have some success.”
Kansas’ success this week also likely will depend on the play of its three-member senior class forwards Jaclyn Johnson (15.9 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game) and Brooke Reves (13.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and guard Jennifer Jackson (10.1 ppg).
“They are really the backbone of this team,” Washington said. “We know that they have to play well for us to have success, and they’re really prepared for this game, really focused on this game. We think we match up well with them, but we need to focus on transition defense and we need to limit their rebounds. They really hurts us with offensive boards last game.”
In the teams’ last meeting, Kara Faulk led the Cowboys with 17 points and was the only OSU player in double figures. Jackson led the Jayhawks with 21 points, and Reves added 10. Johnson, saddled with foul trouble, scored just one point.
Tonight’s winner will face top-seeded Oklahoma in a semifinal at noon Wednesday.