8177
2B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2005
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY
♦ Baseball vs. Baker, 3 p.m., Hoglund Ballpark
THURSDAY
♦ Swimming at NCAA Championships, all day,
West Lafayette, Ind.
FRIDAY
Track at Emporia State, all day, Emporia
- Baseball vs. Western Illinois, 3 p.m., Hoglund Ballpark
- Men's basketball vs. Bucknell, TBA, Oklahoma City
♦ Softball vs. Minnesota, 2:30 p.m., Sacramento, Calif.
♦ Softball vs. Rhode Island, 5 p.m., Sacramento,
Calif.
- Swimming at NCAA Championships, all day,
West Lafayette, Ind.
- Women's Golf at Louisiana State, all day, Baton Rouge, La.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Kansas makes improvements on last day of tournament
The Kansas women's golf team finished 16th out of 17 teams at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational this weekend. The Jayhawks shot a total of 978, which was good enough to finish higher than only Texas Tech. Even though the team struggled during the first two days, it improved dramatically in on the third day. The Jayhawks shot a total of 319, a score which was 10.5 strokes better than their average the first two days.
"We made the improvements we needed to make, said Kansas coach Erin O'Neil, and it's a matter of getting our confidence up."
Amanda Costner led the Jayhawks, shooting a team-best 241 and finishing tied for 42nd individually. Chelsey Pryor had the best round of the tournament for Kansas, shooting 77 on the third day. She finished tied for 56th with a three-day score of 244. Duke won the tournament with a score of 914 and finished only one stroke better than Oklahoma State.
Before competing in the next tournament, Kansas has less than a week to prepare.
"Next week the course sets up better for us," O'Neil said. "With such a short turnaround, we'll have to make quick fixes, but I see improvement from day to day."
M
Kansas will play next on Mach 18 in the LSU/
Cleveland Classic in Baton Rouge, La.
Travis Robinett
SOFTBALL
Jayhawks blow out Cardinals, Bears in weekend games
There's no place like home. The Kansas softball team is perfect when playing at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks won all four games this weekend in the Holiday Inn/Jayhawk Classic, beating Louisville and Southwest Missouri State twice each. On Friday, the Jayhawks were dominant at the plate. Kansas collected 24 hits during their victories against Louisville, with 12-2 in 2 innings, and Southwest Missouri State, winning 7-1. Against the Cardinals, the Jayhawks swatted a season-high 14 hits, including four home runs.
Serena Settlemier, junior pitcher, went five innings, giving up two runs and striking out five. Against the Bears, the Jayhawks got help from freshmen Elle Pottorf and Christina Ross, catcher and pitcher. Pottorf launched the Jayhawts to victory after a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning, giving the Jayhawks a 6-1 lead. Ross chipped in with a well pitched ball game striking out eight in seven innings. On Saturday, Kansas beat Louisville 4-2 and Southwest Missouri State 6-5 at home. Against the Cardinals, Kassie Humphreys, sophomore pitcher, led the team offensively with two hits and two RBI, while Settlemier and Ross carried the team on the mound. In the afternoon game against the Bears, the Jayhawks were running. They stole a season-high five bases while beating the Bears in eight innings.
The Jayhawks were scheduled to take on the Cardinals for a final time yesterday; however, the game was canceled because of cold weather
Oklahoma State loss not the end
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas improved to 14-8. The Jayhawks will leave Thursday for Sacramento, Calif., where they will participate in the Capital Classic March 18-20.
Cheer up, Jayhawk fans: Saturday's game could have silver lining for Kansas
Bryan Howe/KANSAN
Junior forward Christian Moody drives to the basket as Oklahoma State guard John Lucas gets in his way Saturday afternoon at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
BY KELLI ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
KANANS SPORTSWRIVER
Losing to Oklahoma State on Saturday may have hurt Kansas' seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the loss was not crippling.
Some players said it could even turn out to be a positive.
"It can come back to help us." sophomore guard J.R. Giddens said. "We're all hungry and we're all still confident. I'd rather have won, but an extra day of rest can help a lot."
By falling in the third round of the Big 12 Tournament, the Jayhawks got an extra day to prepare for the NCAA Tournament, and never had to worry about wearing itself out against Texas Tech in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game.
Since the Jayhawks lost on Saturday, they instead spent yesterday recuperating from its two games in the Big 12 Tournament and watched the selection show at Memorial Stadium.
Had Kansas been victorious on Saturday, the Jayhawks would have spent yesterday playing in a revenge game against Texas Tech, which defeated Kansas in double overtime earlier this year.
Win or lose, the team then would have watched the selection show at Kemper Arena and spent the rest of the day traveling back to Lawrence.
The NCAA Selection Committee gave the Jayhawks a No. 3 seed in the Syracuse region, and junior forward Christian Moody said that getting some extra rest will help Kansas prepare for Bucknell, its first round opponent.
"It can definitely be an advantage," Moody said. "You come back hungrier and well rested. Just look at
"We're all hungry and we're all still confident.I'd rather have won,but an extra day of rest can help a lot."
some of the teams in the past that have come back and played well in the NCAA Tournament after losing in a conference tournament."
Those two teams advanced to the NCAA Championship Game and Elite Eight, respectively.
Kansas has experience rebounding from this situation, because Kansas has lost in the semifinal round of the Big 12 Tournament each of the past two years.
J. R. Giddens Sophomore guard
The extra day of rest especially helped senior forward Wayne Simien, who played 75 of 80 possible minutes in the Big 12 Tournament.
Self said the only reason losing could come back to hurt the Jayhawks was because senior forward Keith Langford did not get an opportunity to play in a game situation after recovering from his ankle injury.
"We rode Wayne pretty hard these last two days," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I don't know that he would have been able to bounce back for a third."
Had Kansas played in the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament, Langford would have started.
Drew Davison
Edited by Jesse Truesdale
Oklahoma State shoots to No.2 seed
BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALI
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton waves the net as he celebrates the Cowboys 72-68 victory against Texas Tech. The Cowboys won the Big 12 Tournament Championship yesterday in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
Charlie Riedel/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY STEVE BRISENDINE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The alltournament ballots were already in when John Lucas started his late run. Otherwise, the most valuable player on the floor might also have been the Big 12 Tournament MVP.
Lucas scored six of his 19 points in the final 1:33, including a crucial free throw with 4.4 seconds left, and No. 10 Oklahoma State earned its second straight Big 12 tournament championship with a 72-68 victory over Texas Tech yesterday.
The Cowboys, seeded second in the Chicago Regional of the NCAA tournament, will play 15th-seeded Southeast Louisiana on Friday in Oklahoma City.
"Coach (Eddie Sutton) told us, 'Don't get frustrated. Just keep playing, and your shots will fall,'" Lucas said. "And they did when it counted."
Joey Graham, voted the MVP, added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the third-seeded Cowboys (24-6), who overcame 20 turnovers — seven by Graham — to win the last Big 12 Tournament game in Kemper Arena.
"I've never had seven turnovers in my life," Graham said with a wry chuckle and a sidelong look at
Sutton, who had just entered the interview room. "It was a learning experience for me, and I definitely won't make that mistake again."
"Good," Sutton responded as he sat down.
Ronald Ross, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Texas Tech, airballed a three-point attempt with time winding down and the fourth-seeded Red Raiders (20-10) trailing
71-68. Lucas caught the ball under the basket, was fouled and hit the second of his two free throw attempts to put the game out of reach.
Jarrius Jackson also had 22 points for Texas Tech, which won the last Southwest Conference tournament in 1996 but was making its first appearance in a Big 12 final. The Red Raiders are seeded sixth in the
Albuquerque regional and will play 11th-seeded UCLA on Saturday in Tucson. Ariz.
The Red Raiders also had problems with turnovers yesterday. After committing just eight on Saturday's 69-63 semifinal victory over No.17 Oklahoma, they had 19 — 4 in the first half — against the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State took its biggest lead, 49-37, on Lucas' three point shot with 17 minutes left. But Martin Zeno scored 11 points and Ross had nine in Texas Tech's 22-4 run that put the Red Raiders up 59-53 on Devonne Giles' basket with 5:20 to go.
"I think we were moving a little too quick," Jackson said. "They turned our mistakes into transition offense. We were impatient."
Jackson hit a three point shot with 1:16 to go, getting the Red Raiders within 69-68, and Lucas answered with a layup that put Oklahoma State up 69-66 with just under 40 seconds remaining.
The Cowboys came back and went up 64-63 on Graham's three-point play with 2:07 to go. Daniel Bobik then drew a charging call on Giles, and Lucas hit a three point shot that gave the Cowboys a 67-63 lead with 1:33 left.
Zeno finished with 14 points for Texas Tech.
International Students, Faculty and Staff:
TAX HELP without dropping a dime Free Tax Workshops TODAY!
Monday, March 14, 9-12 Friday, March 18, 9-12 in the Budig PC Lab
Presented by:
If you are unable to attend, passwords for the free tax software will be available at the LSS office.