KU women fall at Oklahoma, 85-77

By Staff Reports     Mar 2, 2013

? Kansas University women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson found the Jayhawks’ latest loss especially tough to stomach.

KU dropped its fourth straight Saturday, 85-77, at Oklahoma and guaranteed it would finish the league race in seventh place with a game still to play.

“We are not fundamentally sound or assignment-correct,” Henrickson said. “We are breaking down. … It’s an effort issue. For us to give up 85 tonight, in our last four games 84 … we scored 77 tonight. It’s not our offense, it’s our defense, our constant breakdowns in positional defense and one-on-one defense.

“It’s just nauseating to me that we’re this bad on that end of the floor.”

KU (16-12 overall, 7-10 Big 12) and OU (20-9, 10-7) battled through eight lead changes and five ties early, and the Jayhawks took a 35-29 lead on Angel Goodrich’s three-pointer with 5:11 left in the first half, but OU finished the half on a 10-0 spurt and never trailed again.

Kansas’ scoreless stretch eventually reached more than seven minutes, and OU made it a 15-point run.

The Jayhawks pulled within three (57-54) early and four (76-72) late in the second half, but the Sooners answered every threat.

Kansas got a second-half spark from Markisha Hawkins, who finished with a career-best 11 points, all in the second half. Carolyn Davis led Kansas with 18 points.

Henrickson lauded Hawkins, but added, “We’ve got to get more out of our bench. We’ve got to get more out of everybody.”

OU’s Jasmine Hartman made the most of her obligatory start on the Sooners’ Senior Night. Hartman entered the game with seven points scored in Big 12 Conference play and registered 11 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 18 points to lead OU.

Kansas will host TCU in the Jayhawks’ Senior Night at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, then meet the Horned Frogs again in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

“It’s huge,” Henrickson said. “It’s a chance to get to 8-10. We’ll have them one again in the conference tournament. But the most important one is Tuesday. I certainly hope people come out and appreciate these three seniors in the fieldhouse and give them some love that I certainly feel they’ve earned.

“And we need some help, because (the Frogs) are coming off a big win over Iowa State.”

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