8B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
Crystal Kemp, Jayhawk forward, gaurds Cowgirl Amanda Foster during the Sunday game against Oklahoma State. Kemp led the lady Jayhawks' defense with one block, one steal, and 11 defensive rebounds.
Jared Gab/KANSAN
KEMP
Kemp scored her points on only eight shots from the field and a perfect nine-for-nine mark from the free-throw stripe.
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She secured her sixth double-double of the season two minutes into the second half.
Despite the impressive numbers, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for Kemp.
Just another performance she has delivered on a regular basis this season.
The Topeka native ranks in the top 10 of several Big 12 Conference categories this season, including scoring and rebounding.
MONDAY JANUARY 23. 2006
Kemp is second in the conference in scoring, only twenteths of a point behind Baylor's Sophia Young, last year's most valuable player in the Final Four.
Her performance this season, especially in conference play, has sparked discussion that this might be the best stretch of Kemp's career.
"I would say so," Kemp said.
"My teammates are finding me and they're giving me the confidence to go out there and play strong."
— Edited by Janiece Gatson
DEFENSE
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The Jayhawks snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory and their 13-3 record is the most wins by a Kansas team since 1999.
Offensively, the Jayhawks relied once again on Crystal Kemp. After being named the Big 12 Player of the Week during both December and January, she has consistently drawn double-teams from opponents.
Yesterday was no different as the Cowgirls used a 2-3 zone defense to make sure somebody was pushing or bumping into Kemp at all
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Last season Kemp's scoring average decreased during conference play, but it has gone up this year, and increased to 20 points per game after she scored 25 yesterday.
"She's an awfully strong kid, she can take that pretty well." Henrickson said.
The zone defense allowed Kemp to find teammates open for three-pointers after she got the ball inside.
times.
"My teammates have done a good job of letting me know they're open," Kemp said. "I've become a better passer out of the double team."
Henrickson watched her team struggle early against
the zone, and after falling behind 15-7 she called a time-out. During the break, she reemphasized the lessons from the week's practices.
"All this week in practice we worked on the zone." Hallman said. "Once we got the hang of what they were trying to do, we executed."
The team won't have much time to enjoy the victory. Wednesday the Jayhawks travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas State, followed by a Saturday road game against defending national champion Baylor.
-- Edited by Janiece Gatson
SWIMMING
Winter training reveals strengths
BY BETTY KASPAR
bkaspar@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The difference for junior Jenny Short is the preparation of the women's swimming and diving team.
Over winter break, the team went through training camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. with greater intensity than in past years. Instead of just practicing once a day, the team practiced twice a day. The purpose of the camp was to get the athletes to their highest level of fitness and to strengthen their endurance
"I think that when you leave your own home it takes you out of your little comfort zone," she said. "We were pushed at a different level and had rigorous training. By tearing you down, it just builds you back up when you get home and you get back into a schedule."
"Coming out of the training camp people are really tired and sore, but I think that we showed amazing resilience to it because we did so well for how tired we were," senior co-captain Emily Rusch said. "I was really impressed with how everyone swam."
the team became extremely fit. The next goal will be to become faster as they develop the endurance to swim longer. The training did something else: it helped bring the team closer together.
"We got to come together as a team because we spent a lot of time together. We had a team bonding activity where we all said what we appreciated about everyone and became closer as a whole," senior co-captain Gina Gnatzig said.
Kansas coach Clark Campbell said he felt as though the training camp had been a success because
Campbell said he credited the progress the team made this year to senior leadership.
"I attribute a lot of this to the captains and our seniors—they have been great leaders this year. We feel like on our team we don't have any freshmen. They are starting their second semester at school, but they have grown up really quick and I feel it is because of upper classmen leadership," Campbell said. The freshman have been able to feel the support from the upperclassmen. They have been performing at a high level and are some of the fastest players on the team.
Freshmen Ashley Leidigh and Danielle Herrmann set new school records this season in the 100-meter Butterfly and the 100-meter Breaststroke events.
Leidigh said the seniors kept
"They are always there and they are always positive. They know it is really tough for us so they give us a lot of encouragement," Leidigh said.
the team on task and have made the adjustment from high school to college go smoothly.
The team participated in two meets over break. Kansas finished third in the Florida International Relays and beat Nebraska to become 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference. Fatigue had an effect on their times, but the swimmers were still able to compete at a level that allowed them to do well.
"I was really tired and I didn't put up the best times," Leidigh said. "I still swam well, but I could have swam faster. It was harder to race because I was exhausted."
Campbell said he was confident in his team and the progress it has made over winter break. "We're plugging right along and we're definitely doing the things on a daily basis that we have to do to be a great team. I just believe that before you are great you have to be consistently good." Campbell said.
The swimming team will be in action again when it faces Drury on Jan. 27 in Lawrence.
- Edited by Lindsey Gold