Look at those 14 steals, a season high. Look at the 20 offensive rebounds. Look at the sizzling 8-of-19 three-point shooting.
And look out for Bonnie Henrickson.
As impressive as some of the stats were in Kansas University’s 66-43 women’s basketball victory over Western Illinois on Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse, coach Henrickson wasn’t in a party mood.
“I think we could have been better,” she said.
Her players learned as much at the break.
“Halftime wasn’t fun at all,” said Danielle McCray, who scored 11 of her team-high 18 points in the second half. “But that’s what we needed.”
Actually, the Jayhawks didn’t come out of the locker room for the second half and start playing like barracudas. Western Illinois scored the first seven points and cut KU’s lead to five (33-28).
“That’s when we decided to buckle down,” said Nicollette Smith, who had 15 points and was the only other Jayhawk to score in double-figures.
Kansas took control by dropping a 15-0 jolt on the Westerwinds during a 61/2-minute stretch that blew the game open. Western Illinois (2-7) scored only seven points in the last 101/2 minutes.
Henrickson, however, had expected that one-sidedness to occur in the first 10 minutes, not the last 10. She said she had hoped the Jayhawks would “come out and smell blood” in the wake of Sunday’s 67-57 loss at Marquette.
“But we didn’t start that way,” Henrickson said, “and it was disappointing.”
There was some good news, though. Krysten Boogaard returned. The 6-foot-5 sophomore started the first two games, but hadn’t played since after it was discovered she had a stress reaction in her left femur.
Boogaard wasn’t informed she had been cleared to play until about seven hours before tipoff.
“I was really happy,” she said. “I’ve wanted to play in the last four games.”
Boogaard made her first appearance after the first media timeout. Overall, she logged 11 minutes, scored four points and had three rebounds.
“She looked rushed in the first half. She was playing too fast,” Henrickson said, “but she was much better in the second half.”
Boogaard reported no pain after the game and, said Henrickson, “It’s all about her pain. If it hurts, we’ll shut her down.”
In the three-plus weeks she has been out, Boogaard hasn’t been allowed on the practice floor, but she has stayed in shape by riding a stationary bicycle. She even has done some swimming.
At times in Sunday’s loss to Marquette, the Jayhawks looked like they would have had an easier time handling the ball in a swimming pool than on the court. They were guilty of 28 turnovers, one of the highest giveaways totals in Henrickson’s four-plus years on Mount Oread.
On Wednesday night, they had 16 turnovers, six of them offensive fouls.
“If we had had 16 turnovers at Marquette,” Henrickson said, “we would have probably won by six or eight (points).”
Kansas (6-1) has a date with Creighton on Saturday in Omaha, Neb., then the Jayhawks will make a pre-Christmas West Coast swing to UCLA and Pepperdine before returning home to meet Houston on New Year’s Eve.
If you’re planning ahead, tipoff for the Houston game has been moved from 2 p.m. to 1 p.m.