KU faces red-hot Hoosiers

By J-W Staff Reports     Dec 21, 2006

? When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Indiana University’s women’s basketball team is off to its best start in five years.

“I’m just so proud of these kids buying into what we are trying to do,” first-year coach Felisha Legette-Jack said about the Hoosiers’ 10-2 record.

Meanwhile, Kansas is off to a so-so 5-4 beginning, but the Jayhawks are fresh from their best outing – a 78-68 triumph over Santa Clara – so they have momentum going into today’s game in IU’s Assembly Hall.

“The extra bounce we’ve had in practice has been good,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Tipoff will be at 6 p.m. There is no television, but the game will be broadcast on the Jayhawk Network.

KU’s freshman-laden club is 1-1 on the road with a victory at Creighton and a loss at Wisconsin. The Jayhawks’ other losses have been to Iowa, South Dakota State and No. 16-ranked California.

Indiana is just one more quality opponent on KU’s schedule.

“It’s nothing but an advantage to play these types of nonconference games,” KU freshman point guard Kelly Kohn said.

Kohn drilled five three-point goals and finished with a career-high 19 points in Sunday’s win over Santa Clara in Allen Fieldhouse. The 5-foot-9 yearling from Adrian, Mich., elevated her scoring average to 10.0, making her the only player on the Jayhawks’ deep roster who is scoring in double figures.

Marija Zinic is close, however. Zinic, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, broke out of a scoring slump with 13 points against the Broncos and elevated her average to 9.9.

Zinic began that game on the bench, but the Jayhawks’ tallest regular will return to starting duty tonight.

“I’m concerned about us being small with them having a 6-7 kid,” Henrickson said.

Henrickson was referring to IU’s Sarah McKay, a senior who is averaging 8.0 points a game. The Hoosiers’ leading scorer at 13.5 ppg. is Nikki Smith, a 5-9 junior from Sylvania, Ohio.

Under Legette-Jack, the Hoosiers’ third coach in three years, Indiana has posted victories over No. 15-ranked Kentucky and intrastate rival Notre Dame. IU’s losses were at Miami, Fla. and at No. 25-ranked Bowling Green.

“I think every day we continue to make strides,” Legette-Jack said. “(Our players are) getting closer and closer to believing they can reach the moon.”

Kansas, which has never met Indiana in women’s basketball, will be seeking its first win this season over a Big Ten Conference team after the earlier losses to Iowa and Wisconsin.

KU will return to Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 to meet Northern Illinois and Xavier respectively.

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