SPORTS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansan file photo
Senior guard Keith Langford rises above a Colorado defender for a layup last Saturday. Langford tallied 14 points during the Jayhawks' 89-60 victory against the Buffaloes and will help take on the Iowa State Cyclones at noon tomorrow in Allen Fieldhouse.
Iowa State on Big 12 streak
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SWITCHWRITER
Let's face it: Kansas may have a more difficult time defeating Iowa State in Allen Fieldhouse than they did at Hilton Coliseum on Jan. 12.
The Cyclones' recent play is proof that this is not the team that the Jayhawks defeated 71-66 in their Big 12 road opener. Not only have the Cyclones won their last six games, but they are defeating teams by an average of 13 points per contest.
During that six-game winning streak, the Cyclones have knocked off three of the top five teams in the Big 12 Conference: Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas.
On Saturday, the Jayhawks, who sit at the top of the Big 12 at 10-1, hope they don't make it four of five.
Iowa State boasts a 6-5 Big 12 record. But they lost their first five Big 12 games. Its latest six-game swing has moved it into fifth place in the Big 12, a long way from where they started.
"I think you can make a strong case for them going into the NCAA tournament," Self said. "They could play themselves into the tournament, and Saturday is a great opportunity for them.
The rest of the conference schedule is crucial for the
Kansas coach Bill Self said Iowa State was playing well enough to earn an NCAA tournament bid.
Jayhawks, who are coming off a 80-79 double-overtime loss at Texas Tech. The conference race could be decided by just one game.
Senior guard Aaron Miles said in order for the Jayhawks to come away with the Big 12 trophy, they had to win in their house.
"You have got to take care of business, which means winning the games you are supposed to win," Miles said. "Especially winning at home."
Self encouraged Kansas fans to rally behind the Jayhawks for their final three home games. The Jayhawks have important match-ups against Iowa State,
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 8B
BASEBALL: 13-5
Errors give Kansas victory
BY MATT WILSON
mwilson@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Kansas' bats kept ringing yesterday afternoon as the team topped South Dakota State 13-5 for a second consecutive victory.
Kansas (8-3) pounded out 13 runs on 12 hits, led by junior shortstop Ritchie Price. Price went 3-4 with four RBI. Senior first baseman Andy Scholl busted out of a 1-for-20 slump with a 2-3 effort, raising his batting average .080 in the process.
Frin Droste/KANSAN
The Jayhawks were in a battle early. SDSU (0-2) scored two runs in the second and third innings to erase a 3-0 Kansas advantage. With the game tied in the bottom of the fourth, Scholl tripled off the right field wall to score junior center fielder Matt Baty. Price followed with a single that brought Scholl home, giving the Jayhawks a 6-4 lead. The Jayhawks added another run in the inning to make it a three-run cushion.
Ritchie Price, junior infielder, threw back to first after tagging out South Dakota State's Greg Geary in the bottom of the fourth inning yesterday. The Jayhawks went on to win 13-5 and will play the third game of the series at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Hoglund Ballpark.
After Kansas' big fourth inning, the team added five more in the fifth, putting the game out of reach, 12-4. The big blow in the inning was Baty's line-drive, two-run home run to left field. Senior catcher Sean Richardson and freshman John Allman each added an RBI.
Kansas reached double digits in the hit column for the eighth time in 11 games, this season.
"It's good to get the win. We had a couple of meltdowns, though, so we need to tighten it up a little bit," Price said about the Kansas defense. Both teams could be best described as shaky.
Kansas 'far-from-stellar defensive performance was marked by two errors, bringing the season's total to 20. Its struggles are something that coach Ritch Price has lamented since the season began in Hawaii.
Kansas' performance was overshadowed,however,by an even worse one by SDSU. Four Jackrabbit errors resulted in two unearned runs.
In the bottom of the first, two errors by Jackrabbits' freshman third baseman Tyson Fisher led to the Jayhawks' early 3-0 lead. Fisher had another miscue in the fourth, leading to another unearned run for Kansas.
"I thought the two defensive mistakes today were sloppy," Price said. "I think they were just the result of nerves."
Kansas coach Ritch Price sat School out of Wednesday's game in an attempt to clear his head after a sub-par performance.
It appeared to work.
It appeared to work. "He started to press at Stanford," Price said. "I knew it was getting to him mentally when he was
SEE VICTORY ON PAGE 8B
FOR THE WEEKEND
JOE BANT
jbant@kansan.com
Track and field athletes contribute to legacy
Benson Chesang has been topping the headlines lately for the Kansas track and field team — deservedly so.
Any record that stands for 37 years lasts that long for a reason. When the junior runner crossed the finish line in the 3,000-meter run last Saturday at the John McDonnell-Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., more than one second faster than it took Kansas great Jim Ryun in the same event in 1968, it was a monumental moment in Kansas sports history.
With any luck, Chesang, who's also an All-American cross country runner, will go to next month's NCAA Championships and duplicate some of the success he had in cross country last November.
That said, Chesang is not the only Jayhawk track and field athlete deserving props. School records are being challenged or falling all over the place in that arena, and he's not the only one breaking them.
The day before Chesang's historic run, senior Amy Linnen broke the Kansas pole vault record that had only been set the previous week by freshman Ekaterina Sultanova. Linnen vaulted to a height of 13-11 1/4, beating Sultanova's mark by more than three inches and automatically qualifying herself for the NCAA Championships.
Sultanova had broken the record twice in the course of the season, the first time in January at the Arkansas Invitational, then again a couple weeks ago at the Husker Invitational. Count her as another Jayhawk looking to make an impact at the NCAA Championships.
Senior Brooklyn Hann has been putting her name in the record books all season. Saturday, she finished with the second-best time in school history in the 60-meter hurdles. She already owns the school record in the triple jump. Her 42-4 jump at the Husker Invitational broke her previous school record by an inch.
Then there's junior transfer Sheldon Battle, new this year from Mesa Community College, in Arizona, where he was the junior college national champion last year in shot put and discus. Battie hasn't yet topped any Kansas records, but he's gotten close. His shot put throw Saturday was the third best in school history, and his weight throw last Friday put him in second place in the Kansas record books. Battle leads the Big 12 in shot put and is second in weights. He's rated fifth in the country in both events.
"There's great athletes that have competed here," Battle said. "To be on the same list as them is a great feeling."
Yes, there are a host of Kansas track and field greats — far too many to name in one column — and great moments. From Kansas' first All-
SEE BANT ON PAGE 8B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks to avenge rising Cornhuskers
BY PAUL BRAND
pbrand@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Team comes off tough home loss; takes on Nebraska
Several weeks ago, the match-up against unranked Nebraska seemed to be a relative break in Kansas' rugged late season schedule.
Instead, the Jayhawks will face a peaking Cornhusker team that has won five of its last six games, most recently a 14-point victory against Texas A&M. Nebraska also issued an 88-59 defeat to No. 19 Iowa State last Saturday. Picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 Conference in a preseason poll, the Huskers currently stand in a tie for third place.
The Jayhawks, however, are coming off a 66-53 home defeat to No. 15 Texas Tech in which the Jayhawks showed a
"Because of how we played, I think we are going to be more determined to play better on Sunday," Kansas senior guard Aquanita Burras said.
clear lack of full intensity in the first half. Because of the lackluster performance on Wednesday, Kansas is eager to rebound.
Better focus is a necessity for Kansas to play well against the remaining teams on the conference slate, Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
"We certainly have to be better to compete against the teams we have coming up the rest of the schedule," Henrickson said.
Sunday the Jayhawks hope to avenge the Jan. 29 defeat by Nebraska.
Taking a tight contest into
halftime, the Huskers rode a second half wave led by freshman forward Danielle Page and sophomore guard Kiera Hardy.
The reserve Page has quickly risen as a first-year player to become an offensive leader for Nebraska, 16-8 (8-4 Big 12).
"Danielle is growing every day," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. "She is getting better every day in practice and in every game. She is very talented and now is the time that she is hitting her stride and understanding the kind of player she can be at this level."
Henrickson also said Page, averaging 9.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in conference play, would be a thorn in the Jayhawks' side coming off the bench.
Hardy. an athletic guard
who leads Nebraska in scoring, could create even more headaches for Kansas. Producing nearly 22 points per contest in league play, Hardy led all scorers in the season's first match-up.
To counter the threat of Hardy, Kansas will need to produce from the perimeter.
In the opening 20 minutes of the first game against Nebraska, Kansas made four three-point shots and trailed by three-point shots and trailed by the break. The Jayhawks made only one
Inconsistent outside shooting and a lack of open opportunities have been the downfalls for the Jayhawks throughout the Big 12 season, including the Texas Tech contest.
SEE AVENGE ON PAGE 8B
Kansan file photo
Aquanita Burras, senior guard, is blocked by Nebraska's Danielle Page after making it past two other Nebraska players during the jayhawks' game at Nebraska on Jan. 29. The game ended with a 59-48 Nebraska victory. The Cornhuskers will play the Jayhawks at 2 p.m. Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.
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