Women’s Basketball: KU trying to rebound

By Staff     Dec 14, 2002

Allen Fieldhouse should look good to Kansas University’s “new-look” women’s basketball team today.

The freshman- and sophomore-laden Jayhawks, coming off their most embarrassing loss of the season, will try to bounce back against Creighton.

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Tipoff will be at 2:05 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.

KU went to Wichita State last Wednesday night and absorbed an 84-58 shellacking. Still, Kansas is off to a 4-2 start and a victory over the Bluejays today would equal the Jayhawks’ win total for all of the 2001-2002 season.

Coach Marian Washington has been starting a lineup of two freshmen (Tamara Ransburg and Crystal Kemp), two sophomores (Aquanita Burras and Blair Waltz) and junior point guard Leila Mengüç. Freshman guard Erica Hallman has been the first player off the bench. In fact, Hallman played 30 minutes in a reserve role in Wichita and scored 13 points.

Burras, a sophomore who spent last season at an Arizona junior college, has been a solid addition. The 5-foot-9 guard leads the Jayhawks in scoring (13.5) and in steals (19). She also has been KU’s most dependable three-point shooter, making seven of 17 (41.5 percent). As a team, the Jayhawks are shooting under 30 percent from beyond the arc.

The 6-2 Kemp is the only other KU player in double-figure scoring with an 11.2 average. Waltz and the 6-4 Ransburg, who has an impressive 24 blocked shots, both are averaging nine points per game.

Creighton (3-2) operates with a less balanced attack, relying heavily on 5-10 junior Christy Neneman, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference player of the year. Neneman, a hometown product from Omaha, Neb., North High, is averaging 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.

Neneman had 32 points last Sunday when the Jays stunned Iowa, 89-82. Creighton’s only two losses were on the road to Michigan (75-66) and to No. 10-ranked Texas Tech (98-70).

First-year coach Jim Flanery is hoping to have junior Dayna Finch back today. Finch, who scored a career-high 27 points in the Michigan loss, has missed the last three games with a fracture in one of the fingers of her right hand. The cast was removed on Thursday.

Creighton has won three straight from Kansas, including a 72-58 decision last year in Omaha. Neneman scored 18 points in that one. KU and Creighton have met every season since 1984-85. Kansas leads the series, 14-10.

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Notes: KU’s Alicia Rhymes, a 6-0 freshman, has a knee injury and is being red-shirted. : Hallman is playing with a partially torn ACL suffered in preseason. : Stacey Becker, a transfer from Wichita State, will become eligible the next time the Jayhawks play :quot; a week from today at UMKC.

Women’s Basketball: KU extends streak to three games – Kansas 59, San Diego 56

By J-W Staff Report     Dec 1, 2002

? For the first time in two years, Kansas University’s women’s basketball team has a three-game winning streak.

The Jayhawks, who won only five games last year, defeated San Diego 59-56 on Saturday night and improved to 3-0. It’s the first time Kansas has won three straight since defeating Louisiana-Monroe, Illinois and Eastern Illinois between Nov. 26 and Dec. 1, 2001. In the 53 games that followed during that season and last season, KU won consecutive games only once.

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Things appear to be different this year with a team loaded with underclassmen.

“I think it’s absolutely super,” said KU coach Marian Washington, whose team opened the season with victories against Texas-El Paso and Cal State-Fullerton. “This group came in here wanting to make a difference for our program.”

The newcomers did just that Saturday. Freshman center Tamara Ransburg had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and sophomore transfer Aquanita Burras also was in double figures with a team-high 16 points.

KU trailed 29-27 at halftime Saturday before opening a 10-point lead in the second half.

San Diego (2-1) rallied and tied the game at 48 with a little more than six minutes remaining.

Burras, freshman forward Crystal Kemp and sophomore forward Blair Waltz all played with four fouls down the stretch.

The score was tied at 56 when Burras scored her first points of the second half on a stickback with 1:25 remaining. KU outrebounded San Diego 51-37.

Ransburg came up with three of her 15 rebounds in the final minute and also made a free throw to provide the three-point margin.

In addition to her double-double, Ransburg had six of KU’s 13 blocked shots.

“She gave us something inside,” Washington said. “You can’t say enough about her ability to block shots, especially at critical times.”

Kemp added nine points, eight rebounds and two blocks for KU, which held San Diego to 31.1 percent shooting (23-of-74). Kansas made 46 percent (23-of-50) of its field-goal attempts but made only 12-of-28 free-throw attempts and turned the ball over 21 times.

“I’m very happy about this, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Washington said. “They made a lot of mistakes, but they showed a lot of heart and determination.”

Forward Erin Mallich led San Diego with 18 points, and center Marta Menuez finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Kansas will try to extend its winning streak to four games at 7:05 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Texas Southern in the first round of the KU Classic. The Jayhawks haven’t won four in a row since the 1999-2000 season when they had a pair of five-game winning streaks.

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