Jayhawks need to help McCray

By J-W Staff Reports     Feb 11, 2009

Richard Gwin
KU's Danielle McCray drives against K-State Saturday, January 24, 2009 at Allen Fieldhouse.

? Danielle McCray can’t do it all for Kansas University’s women’s basketball team.

McCray has scored 20 or more points in six straight games and ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 19.6 per game, but the Jayhawks have reached the halfway point of the league race with a 2-6 record.

“We’ve got to get some other people to step up and take the load off Danielle,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Kansas will begin the second half of the conference race tonight against No. 13-ranked Texas. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. in the Erwin Center. It will not be televised.

Kansas will return home to meet another ranked team — No. 2 Oklahoma — on Saturday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’s a gut check,” Henrickson said. “It’s a big week, but last week was a big week, too.”

Kansas pulled a familiar Jekyll-Hyde act last week when the Jayhawks beat Colorado, 65-54, in Allen Fieldhouse, then went to Columbia, Mo., and stumbled, 74-60, to a Missouri team the Jayhawks had waxed, 75-58, earlier in the season.

“Defensively, there was no excuse for giving up 74 points at Missouri,” said Henrickson. “It was a poor performance.”

With Kansas facing perhaps the toughest two-game stretch on its schedule, the KU coach is hoping 6-foot-5 sophomore Krysten Boogaard will become more assertive inside. Boogaard has been almost invisible in KU’s six league losses.

“We’ve haven’t had much low-post presence lately,” Henrickson said, “and that falls on Krysten.”

Adding to the Jayhawks’ problems is their shabby record on the road, particularly against Big 12 foes. Kansas is in the throes of a 12-game conference road losing streak. KU hasn’t won a league road game since edging Missouri, 70-66, in the last game of the 2006-2007 season.

In Henrickson’s four-plus years at KU, the Jayhawks’ road record against Big 12 teams is 5-31, including a 1-12 record against the Texas and Oklahoma schools.

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