Jayhawks won’t coast against woeful Cowgirls

By J-W Staff Reports     Feb 9, 2005

? Roller-coaster performances have been common this season for Kansas University’s women’s basketball team.

Yet KU coach Bonnie Henrickson stresses she isn’t concerned about a letdown tonight against struggling Oklahoma State in the wake of Saturday’s uplifting 60-42 victory at Missouri.

“Not at all,” Henrickson said. “For us, it’s an opportunity to gain momentum, and we’re in no position to overlook anybody.”

Tipoff will be at 7:05 p.m. at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The game won’t be televised.

Oklahoma State and Missouri basically are the same team. Both are 1-8 in Big 12 Conference games. Mizzou is 7-13 overall; OSU 6-13. In other words, the Jayhawks should be favored.

OSU’s record is deceptive, however. The Cowgirls have lost six games by five points or less. One of those was a two-point decision to nationally ranked Baylor. OSU also bowed by two points at home to Nebraska, a team that knocked off Kansas, 59-48, two weeks ago in Lincoln, Neb.

Still, OSU has dropped eight of its last nine outings, while Kansas has posted three league victories already — the most by a KU women’s team in the last four years.

“I think we’re hungry and ready to compete,” Henrickson said.

Kansas continues to rank last in the league in scoring, but the Jayhawks are third in scoring defense. Moreover, they’ve been able to hold their own on the boards, thanks in large part to Taylor McIntosh, who leads all league freshmen at 7.1 rebounds per game.

“Her growth has been fantastic,” Henrickson said of McIntosh, a 5-foot-11 Wichita native. “She’s made progress offensively, too, but she needs to progress more.”

It’s unusual for a player to average more rebounds than points per game, but McIntosh is scoring at only a 5.4 clip.

“She has a little bit of a knack for rebounding,” Henrickson said, “but if you put a camera on her you’ll see she can rebound away from her body. She can get to things laterally.”

Tonight’s game ends a skein in which the Jayhawks have played four of five games on the road. The pendulum will swing with the next four games scheduled in Allen Fieldhouse, starting Sunday when KU will collide with Colorado at 1 p.m.

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