AN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2009
USF 75,KU 71
5B
ETBALL REWIND
Onship game against the University of South Florida. Kansas surrendered several offensive rebounds in key situations, which allowed the Bulls to score 19 second-chance points.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
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Saturday is succinct evidence that women's NCAA tournament games should be played on college courts. Having witnessed what the Jayhawks drew Saturday also supports calls for the women's season to begin a month later and its tournament to stand alone from the men.
- Bigger than any of the women's Elite Eight games. Of the four, Oklahoma-Purdue had the highest attendance with 11,529. Kansas drew a Saturday crowd that was nearly three times the size of these games' average attendance.
Big 12 women's basketball record. Upon further review, the crowd was also:
Alas, these are bureaucratic steps that have as realistic a chance as a college football playoff. What is certain, however, is that when team builds success, fans will come.
nts, but
— Edited by Sonya English
- Bigger than at either of men's basketball first and second round tournament games against North Dakota State (15,794) and Dayton (14,279) respectively.
A similar crowd awaits in six months for Late Night at the Phog. Henrickson and her players fully expect that they'll be in the NCAA tournament next year and so do l.
- As wired as fans in Allen
Fieldhouse get. The decibel-meter gimmick employed before the game and during key breaks in action couldn't keep up with this crowd. When Kansas surged to within one point of the Bulls with 2.22 left, the crowd's reaction made the day special.
these ladies played in front of full, vibrant student sections. Many finally witnessed McCray and junior guard Sade Morris navigate the court. Sophomore center Krysten Boogaard and freshman forward Aishah Sutherland made hearts beat faster in the final minutes under the glass. This team won us over Saturday.
What also could be taken from
Before and after the game, fans lined to catch a glimpse of and applaud members of a program that hadn't been relevant for a decade. All losses are disappointing, but occasionally a separate element supersedes the box score.
For the first time in a while,
Senior guard Ivana Cikkee keeps with a UFS player making her way toward the basketball during the first half of Saturday's WNIT championship game in Allen Fieldhouse. Cickee had to guard the Bulls' best players because Kansas' best defender, Sadie Morrie, was in fault trouble.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
s WNIT Championship game in Allen Fieldhouse.
It also marked the largest crowd for a women's game played in a Big 12 arena.
"A cold night was going to happen," McCray said. "But it happened when we really needed it not to happen."
The Jayhawks' improbable run ended in a rather improbable circumstance. After drawing just 1,981 fans for Kansas' first WNIT game, Saturday's crowd of 16,113 marked the largest audience to
ever watch a Kansas women's basketball game.
Just as important as any trophy, the Jay hawks gained a fresh wave of fans by showing the entertainment value Kansas women's basketball possesses.
"This one's going to hurt for a while," Mortis said. "It's not just going to be something that goes away in a day."
"I didn't think it would ever happen, no matter if we won or not," McCray said. "But we all got it down in our heads that once you win, the fans are coming."
Still, for Morris and her teammates those thoughts strayed far from their minds in the moments after the loss.
tournament with every intention of winning it. And when that goal fell short, the pain set in.
Edited by Jesse Trimble
Kansas entered the WNIT
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
IT WAS OVER WHEN ...
South Florida's Janae Stokes hit a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 5:42 left in the game. The Bulls nearly turned the ball over twice during the possession, but Stokes knocked down a wide open three-pointer to give South Florida 65-53 lead. While Kansas made a comeback late in the game, Stokes' shot created too large of a lead.
GAME TO REMEMBER ...
South Florida's Jazmine Sepulveda
Sure, Sepulveda led South Florida with 18 points and made three three-pointers. But she also found herself guarding junior forward Danielle McCray, the Big 12's second leading scorer. Sepulveda held McCray below her WNIT tournament scoring average and made it difficult for her to get open on offense.
Sepulveda
GAME TO FORGET ...
Junior forward Danielle McCray
McCray
During Kansas'tunaround late in the season. McCray has been dominating offensively. But she never really got going against South Florida despite finishing with 24 points. McCray made just 7-of-25 attempts, including eight straight misses during one stretch in the first half.
STAT OF THE NIGHT ...
38. That's the percent Kansas shot against South Florida. In four previous WNIT games, the Jayhawks never made less than 49 percent of their attempts.
— Jayson Jenks
FIRST HALF
2:29 — South Florida senior Jazmine Sepulveda hit her third three-pointer to spark a 9-2 run to end the half. As she ran back down the court, she gave a small fist pump. Sepulveda had 10 points to lead the Bulls to a 38-30 halftime lead.
PRIME PLAYS
9:05 Junior Danielle McCray grabbed the fifth offensive rebound of the possession and barely got her shot over the rim to finally score. It was part of a 7-0 KU run that closed the South Florida lead to three.
12:36 — Moments after South Florida's Brittany Denson converted an uncontested layup, freshman Aishah Sutherland lost the handle amidst South Florida's full-court press. South Florida's Janae Stokes converted the easy layup to put her team ahead 16-6. Coach Bonnie Henrickson called a 30-second timeout to ease the bleeding.
SECOND HALF
12:39 —Sepulveda played the passing lane like the most crafty pickpockets in all of college basketball. With McCray giving chase, Sepulveda finished the uncontested layup to give South Florida an eight point lead. South Florida maintained the 6-10 point lead for most of the half.
3:36 — With the shot clock winding down, Stokes hit a heart-breaking three-pointer from the left wing to give South Florida its biggest lead. Stokes, an emotional player, gave a battle cry that could be heard throughout the quiet Fieldhouse. But unlike her performance to Soula Boy in pregame warmups, Stokes did not dance.
0:27 — Sepulveda hit a fifteer foot jumper to make it a two-possession game, essentially finalizing the outcome. Junior Sade Morris sagged down to help on the drive but left South Florida's leading scorer open on the wing.
Clark Goble
GAME NOTES
MCCRAY SETS
NEW MARK
Junior forward Danielle McCray finished her five-game tear through the WNIT as the tournament's scoring record. McCray totaled 147 points, surpassing the previous mark of 129 points set by Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson in 2007.
McCray averaged 29.4 points in the WNIT and never scored less than 24 points in a game.
"She's been a monster" coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
MORRIS, MCCRAY HONORED
Junior forward Danielle McCray and junior guard Sade Morris were named to the All-tournament team following the conclusion of Saturday's championship game.
The pair joined Boston College's Carolyn Swords, Illinois
State's Kristi Cirone and South Florida's Jazmine Sepulveda and Shantia Grace, who was named the tournament MVP.
FOUL TROUBLE
HAMPERS KANSAS
Throughout the game, Kansas' two leading scorers this season were forced to the bench because of foul trouble.
Junior forward Danielle McCray and junior guard Sade Morris picked up two fouls in the first half and missed crucial minutes before halftime. Morris picked up her fourth foul with 15 minutes left in the game and had to sit for much of the second half.
"I think foul trouble kind of messed us up," McCray said.
Jayson Jenks