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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 10
some bench players to shine.
Kansas got strong games from freshman forward Bunny Williams and sophomore guard CeCe Harper as they see minutes increasing each game. Williams had six points in the final 10 minutes on her way to a career-high 10 points. Harper had nine points and played a career-high 38 minutes for the Jayhawks.
Harper has started the last two games in place of junior guard Monica Engelman, who has not been playing to coach Henrickson's standards.
"She played a ton of minutes
All nine healthy athletes on the Kansas roster saw playing time. Goodrich said that this gives the team a chance for expansion despite Davis' season-ending injury.
and played with a ton of confidence and that is contagious," Henrickson said.
"One of the things we wanted to focus on was playing together and staying together no matter what," Goodrich said.
LIEBERMAN AWARD FINALISTS
Edited by Caroline Kraft
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas guard a finalist for Lieberman Award
Junior guard Angel Goodrich has carried the women's basketball team this season. In Tuesday night's game at Texas Tech, she broke Kansas' single-season assist record, reaching 208 for the season. Goodrich is a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which honors the top point guard in Division 1 women's basketball.
Voters focus on floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills, all of which were qualities of Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman during her career.
Goodrich is a second-year captain and she ranks second in the nation with 7.7 assists per game. She also adds 12.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
She is one of eight finalists for the award, which is voted on by sports writers across the country and will be announced during Final Four weekend. Fellow Big 12 athlete Odyssey Sims, of Baylor, made the list. Goodrich and Sims will play at 6:30 on Friday night when the Jayhawks host the Baylor Bears.
— Kathleen Gier
NCAA BASKETBALL
Kentucky hangs on against Mississippi St. to stay at No.1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 18 points, Anthony Davis added 13 points and 11 rebounds and No. 1 Kentucky rallied to beat Mississippi State 73-64 Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (27-1, 13-0 South-
eastern Conference) trailed 41-28 at halftime — which was their biggest deficit of the season — but slowly climbed back to take their first lead at 63-62 with 4:11 remaining on a layup by Kidd-Gilchrist. They never trailed again, winning their 19th straight game.
Kidd-Gilchrist scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half and also added 10 rebounds for the double-double. Kentucky finished the game on a 20-4 run.
with three going to overtime.
Dee Bost led Mississippi State (19-9, 6-7) with 21 points while Arnett Moultrie added 13 points and 11 rebounds for his SEC-leading 16th double-double of the season. The Bulldogs have lost four straight games.
It was a tense game throughout with three technical fouls, including two for the Wildcats.
The tight game wasn't a surprise considering the recent competitive history. The programs have split the past six games in the series,
Mississippi State came into the game on a surprising three-game losing streak — falling to Georgia, Auburn and LSU — that has put its standing for the NCAA tournament at-large bid on shaky ground. And the Bulldogs played like a desperate team.
In front of a rowdy Humphrey Coliseum crowd, Mississippi State couldn't have asked for a much better start. Renardo Sidney nailed a 3-pointer and Bost found Moultrie for an alley-oop to take a quick 5-0 lead. The Bulldogs stretched that advantage to 25-13 on Bost's 3-pointer that danced around the rim before falling through the hoop.
While Mississippi State was cruising, Kentucky was uncharacteristically rattled.
The Wildcats couldn't get the ball inside to their talented big men, instead settling for contested shots on the perimeter. Marquis Teague was called for a technical which Mississippi State turned into a five-point swing, with Bost making both free throws and then a 3-pointer for a 34-21 lead.
Jalen Steele put the exclamation point on a dominant first half, knocking down a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining to give the
Bulldogs a 41-28 halftime lead.
The only bad news for Mississippi State was the loss of Rodney Hood, who suffered a bruised knee late in the first half and didn't return. The Bulldogs already had a thin playing rotation before his injury and were down to a sevenman rotation without him.
It appeared to be a factor as Kentucky slowly wore Mississippi State down.
The Wildcats responded with an 11-2 run to start the second half as the game turned tight, with Kentucky's Davis and Mississippi State's Moultrie both receiving technical fouls. The Wildcats pulled within 55-53 with 7:17 left on a layup by Terrance Jones, but Mississippi State responded with a dunk from Moultrie and a 3-pointer from Bost to push the lead back to 60-53.
That's when Kentucky started its game-winning rally, finally taking the lead on a bucket by Kidd-Gilchrist with 4:11 remaining, who grabbed his own missed shot and converted the layup for a 63-62 lead.
Darius Miller added 12 points off the bench for the Wildcats. Doron Lamb and Jones both scored 11.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (14) looks for the basket as Mississippi State guards Jalen Steele (0) and Dee Bost, right, crowd him during the second half of game in Starkville, Miss., on Feb. 21. No. 1 Kentucky won 73-64.