Tuesday, December 7. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Aussie's early performances stand out in return season
By Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team missed Suzi Raymant last season. Without her, Kansas had no consistent outside shot and had to rely on its inside game.
Although the Kansas inside game can win ball games, Coach Marian Washington said that she was glad to have Raymant back.
"Anytime you have a player that can knock down a three like Suzi, it is a valuable asset to the team," Washington said. "When I see her perform this season, I see how much we missed her last year. It has really opened up our offense."
So far this season she has performed above expectations. She has scored in double digits in four of the team's five games for 81 points and has gone 11-of-21 behind the three-point arc.
In the KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic Saturday, Raymant turned in 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in her most valuable-player performance. She helped lead the team to a 76-3 championship victory against No. 15 California-Santa Barbara and scored nine of the team's final 11 points. Her performance in the Jayhawk Classic also helped her win the Big 12 Conference's Player of the Week
"I am very delighted for Suzi," Washington said. "This award is a great incentive for her. She has worked extremely hard to come back from her injury."
"To get back and have to go through it all again was very discouraging," Raymant said.
Rayman has recovered, but when she tore her left anterior cruciate ligament last season, she was not sure she wanted to come back. She had just finished rehabilitating her knee from an off-season surgery and did not want to repeat the process.
"Coach talked to me about this year's team and who would be coming back, and she told me that she really wanted me to be a part of it. Once I thought about it, I wanted to be a part of this team. We want to take Coach Washington home for the Final Four, and we think it is a legitimate goal this season," she said.
Raymant spent the year in rehabilitation and said she believed she was close to 100 percent.
"I still have some pain in my knee, but I am able to work through it," Raymant said.
Though Raymant, a fifth-year senior from Melbourne, Australia, would not claim to be the team's go-to player, she has assumed a leadership role this season.
Senior, Suzy Raymant was selected as the MVP of last weekend's KU Credit Union Classic. In the championship game, the Jayhawks climbed their way past UC Santa Barbara in a tight 76-73 victory. Photo by Shelby Smith, KANSAN
"This team has a lot of leaders," Raymant said. "Coach has me out there to try to keep the team together and make good decisions. I like to be the person to keep the team together and keep them on track."
Raymant has made an impact since her arrival in Kansas. She ranks fourth all-time for three-point field goals with 94 and second in field goal percentage at 38
percent.
She joined the team in 1995 after competing in the Continental Basketball Association and the Victorian Basketball Association in Australia, where she received several honors.
In the CBA, she was voted 1993 and 1994 Youth Player of the Year as her team won the championship in 1992 and 1994. In the VBA, she was chosen as a member of the 1995 All-Star Five, and she was a member of the Victorian State Team that won championships from 1989-93.
In 1995, she decided she wanted to return to school and came to the United States.
"When I came to Kansas, I really liked the coaches," she said. "I just knew this would be a good place to come. It has been a very good experience."
— Edited by Jamie Knodel
At least one group of Jayhawks is going bowling in January.
By Chris Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Bowlers rolling to Las Vegas
The Kansas bowling team is one of 16 teams invited to compete in The Nashville Network's new collegiate bowling series, "Rockin' Bowl," which will premiere at 8 p.m. on Jan. 11 in Las Vegas.
While the events will be different from what the team is used to, that is exactly what TNN planned.
A variety of festivities will be prepared for the showcase, which will give the Jayhawks a different environment. Scheduled events include traditional bowling, as well as backwards bowling, synchronized bowling and a trivia contest. A house band and cheerleaders also will perform.
"Rockin' Bowl is a fast-paced, fun-packed version of a classic American pastime — with a twist," a spokesman from TNN said.
The obscure environment has the Javahawks excited.
"There's going to be some glitz," Coach Michael Fine said. "It's definitely going to be more recreational than we are used to doing. We hope the competitive nature of collegiate bowling comes through."
Tom Partridge, Lawrence senior, and Mike Keeler, St. Charles, Mo., sophomore, will return from last year's team, which qualified for the national championships. They will join newcomer Scott Light. Andover sophomore, and lead the men, who are ranked 19th in the nation.
Barri Forkos, Hanover Park, Ill., sophomore, Kristina Boehm, Olathe freshman, and Christm Distler, Lawrence junior, will lead the 10-ranked women at the competition, which boasts $20,000 in prize money.
Fine hopes competitiveness will take the forefront, and he knows his Jayhawks will do their part. Kansas bowling is in its prime, coming off its first ever trip to the national championships last year, the most success in Fine's 16 years as coach. Most members have been playing up to 75 games per week. Fine hopes his team can gain a victory as well as more national exposure at Rockin' bowl.
"We're hopeful we will get some publicity for the program," Fine said.
Edited by Brad Hallier
Family alleges Texas fans attacked them
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Members of a Nebraska family claim they were attacked at the Alamodome by drunken University of Texas backers angry about their team's loss in the Big 12 Conference championship game.
The family first leveled the accusations in the Omaha World-Herald, saying a mob of about 15 Longhorn fans attacked them as they tried to leave the stadium Saturday.
The incident started with heckling and ended with a broken nose, a chipped tooth, a swollen jaw, bruises and cuts for the family members, said Don Losole Jr., 30, a food salesman who moved to San Antonio two years ago.
The Nebraska family was seated in the Texas section and open-
His father and three brothers were visiting from Omaha during the weekend, and they attended the game at the Alamodome.
ley cheered for the Cornhuskers, wearing their red and white team colors amid a sea of Texas burnt orange.
Taunts started immediately, but the tone turned increasingly hostile as Nebraska closed in on its bruising 22-6 victory, Losole said.
"They were ranting and raving about how they wanted to beat us up," he said. "It got worse with the alcohol. I'd say 90 percent of it had to do with alcohol being served at the Alamodome."
When the game ended and a physical confrontation seemed imminent, the Losoles hung back from the crowds leaving the stadium in hopes of avoiding a fight, Losole said.
The assailants waited for them at an exit, the family said.
Dave Losole, 29, said he spotted
a San Antonio police officer at a lower level wearing a full uniform and gun and asked him for help, but the officer brushed off his request. He reportedly told Dave Losele to calm down.
As the Losole family tried to leave, the Longhorn fans rushed the group, the Losoles said.
"It was the scariest moment of my life," Dave Losole was quoted as saying in Monday's San Antonio Express-News.
Both Losole brothers estimated that about four or five Longhorn fans tackled each of them. Don Losole said he saw his 51-year-old father get punched in the side of the head.
Security guards broke up the melee, Dave Losolo said. Police ordered the group to scatter, but made no arrests.
The family members said they filed a report with Alamodome security officers and later with police at Methodist Hospital. Police would not immediately confirm the filings.
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