THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
9A
NCAA WOMEN
Appel takes Stanford to Final Four in St. Louis
BERKLEY, Calif. — The Big Appel is headed back to the Final Four after a low-post performance surpassing anything in Stanford's long, illustrious basketball history.
Jayne Appel had a career-high 46 points and 16 rebounds in the third highest-scoring performance in NCAA tournament history, overwhelming Iowa State's helpless defense and securing Stanford's second straight Final Four appearance with a 74-53 victory in the Berkeley Regional final on Monday night.
At the Final Four in St. Louis the Cardinal will meet the winner of Connecticut's Trenton Regional final meeting with Arizona State.
Appel scored 27 points in the first half, two more than the fourth-seeded Cyclones' entire roster. The junior barely let up in the second半分, breaking Wiggins's school record on one last low-post move with 1:43 to play.
Only eight players in NCAA tournament history have scored at least 41 points in a game. Stanford has done it three times in the last two years: Wiggins twice last season, including a 41-point effort in the regional final, followed by Appel's biggest game yet.
Louisville moves on to Final Four for first time
RALEIGH, N.C. — Louisville is headed to the Final Four for the first time, after Angel McCounghy finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 77-60 upset of top-seeded Maryland in the Raleigh Regional final Monday night.
Deseree Byrd added 17 points and nine assists and Candyce Bingham had 15 points for the third-seeded Cardinals (33-4).
by double figures. On virtually the entire second half, continuing an improbable march through the bracket that started on LSU's inhospital'-home court.
Marissa Coleman finished with 18 points two nights after scoring a career-high 42 against Vanderbilt and Marah Strickland added 15. The top-seeded Terrapins (31-5) finally ran out of comebacks.
Two nights after rallying from 18 down to beat the Commodores, the Terps turned it over 21 times—a major reason why they were denied their fourth trip to the national semifinals.
Headed there instead is a Cardinals team led by a Baltimore native, McCoughtrry, and coached by Walz, a former Maryland assistant.
Associated Press
N. COLORADO (8-15)
PITCHING
BASEBALL
While the offense has been putting up an impressive eight
Sawicki
the defense has been allowing even more, giving up more than 12 runs per game. A lot of the blame for that staggeringly high number lies with the
pitching staff. Not a single pitcher has an ERA below 5.00, the lowest being Joe Sawicki, who is 0-1 with a 5.95 ERA.
OFFENSE
The offense really produced in its last series against Nebraska,
putting up 23
runs in two games. It's led by senior Kevin Sandberg, who has 10 home runs and 29 RBI in 23 games. Sandberg is
Sandberg
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
also hitting .330 for the Bears in the designated hitter spot.
★★★★☆
Junior pitcher Brett Bolman attempts to pick off a runner at first base during KU's game against Western Illinois last week at Hoglund Ballpark. Following victories over Texas and Western Illinois, Kansas lost to A&T.
The Bears are coming off a big victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The victory bumped their record to a still lowly 8-15, but Northern Colorado has shown it can compete with top-flight competition. The Bears split a four-game series last year against the same Texas A&M Aggies that just swept Kansas.
MOMENTUM
Tim Dwyer
Loss to Texas A&M marks middle of difficult schedule for Kansas
BYJOSH BOWE
jbowe@kansan.com
What a difference a week makes.
Last week, Kansas (15-10, 3-3) was on the ultimate high after sweeping then No. 1 Texas. Now, after being swept themselves by Texas A&M, the Jayhawks have returned back down to Earth and are facing the difficult challenge of finding the momentum they gained against the Longhorns.
"We're down and disappointed. There's no doubt about that," coach Ritch Price said after Sunday's 6-5 loss to the Aggies. "We just got to keep playing, man. Keep playing, keep grinding."
While the midweek series against Northern Colorado (8-15) — which starts today at 3 p.m.
- should help get things back on track, the last midweek series against Texas A&M was thought to do the same.
Last week Kansas scored 21 runs in two games against Western Illinois but only 13 in three games against A&M. While the difference in each team's quality of talent is obvious — the Aggies are a ranked Big 12 opponent — Price wasn't able to make adjustments to his lineup over the weekend with such a young team.
"I've got to get some of those young guys more experience," Price said. "So if I've got guys really struggling I can make some changes to my lineup."
The relief for many of the players is that they are expected to win their games against Northern Colorado. The combination of less talent and the return to Hoglund
Ballpark has junior shortstop David Narodowski excited to get his groove back.
"The midweek series we know we can win," Narodowski said. "They're not the Big 12 conference."
Price's players can rest easy knowing they won't have to play another conference game until the weekend. The Big 12 has a staggering five teams ranked in the top 25, and the Jayhawks just finished playing two of them.
The past two weeks Kansas faced off against ranked teams such as Arizona State, Texas, Texas A&M and once ranked San Diego State. Price has often said those two weeks we're the "toughest in America". But what was once though to be the most brutal part of this year's schedule never ends.
Kansas' next two Big 12 series are against two other Top 25 teams.
Which is why this week's series against the Bears will be even more important.
257. Price said, "The reality is we've got about three more weeks of it."
After the sweep by the Aggies, the Jayhawks really do need a fine retooling. Kansas only hit .224, with an ERA of 5.33, while also committing five errors this past weekend. That's a recipe for disaster that could see the Jayhawks slide even further in the big 12 as the season progresses.
"We have to play better in every phase of the game," Price said. "We've got to get good starting pitching, we've got to play outstanding defense and we've got to be more competitive at the plate."
Price said it's difficult to focus on one aspect of the game to work on against Northern Colorado. All components of the game will be tweaked and tuned starting this afternoon.
"We've still got No. 8 Baylor coming up, and then we've got Oklahoma State, who's in the Top
But the focus is on Northern Colorado right now, and Narodowski expects the losing streak to end at three.
key stats
KANSAS (15-10) PITCHING
"We'll bounce back because we just lost three in a row," Narodowski said. "Nobody wants to keep losing."
Edited by Susan Melgren
It was impossible to expect the starting pitching for the week-
Bollman
0
.438
Errors for right fielder Brian Heere
40
produce like it has all season. Freshman Lee Ridenhour had his first bad start of the season, and junior Shafer Hall
David Narodowski's batting average
was the only starter to throw a quality start. Look for junior Brett Bollman to continue his trend of starting midweek games and watch for his trend of pitching well in those starts to continue
OFFENSE
Strikeouts against Texas A&M
22
Total hits against Texas A&M
Narodowski
Even though this rating might be a little low considering the
PGA
pulled off two comebacks, the key word is almost. Coach Ritch Price even acknowledged that the strikeout
total has reached an embarrassing level. But junior David Narodowski seems to be unaffected by the poor swinging. He now has a team-high tying 33 hits and raised his average to a season high. 333.
MOMENTUM
It was the highest of the highs for the Jayhawks. Nothing could have stopped them. Except for a visit to College Station, Texas, Texas A&M did a number against Kansas and the players realized afterwards that the undefeated Big 12 record is now a distant memory. Beating a small school out of a small conference should boost Kansas' confidence, even if it is just a little.
Tim Dwyer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woods' victory, renewed strength put golf back in the spotlight
ORLANDO, Fla. — Tiger Woods was down to his last shot at Bay Hill, tied for the lead as he measured a 15-foot birdie putt.
Woods knew the putt was going in when it was a few feet from the hole. He crouched and began to backpedal, then planted on his left knee, proof of the knee is stronger
- more proof the knee is stronger than ever - to wind up and pound
his fist like a sledge hammer.
The putt capped a dramatic final hour at Bay Hill that ended in near darkness and terminated golf what it had been missing during Woods's eight-month absence while recovering from surgery.
"It's just about being there and somehow timing it right, and making putts at the right time, and pulling off shots at the right time." Woods said. "We're all trying to do it."
Woods doesn't make them all. He couldn't make anything in the final round of the Masters the last two years when he finished second to Zach Johnson, then Trevor Immelman. He had the second-longest PGA winner streak (seven events) until he missed a 4-foot par against Nick O'Fern in match play, and lost on the next hole.
Even so, there is a mythical quality about Woods that makes so
many people watch.
It took him winning a tournament — in his third event since returning from knee surgery — for golf to get back on the front of sports pages. Again, the timing could not have been better with the Masters two weeks away.
"As I look back at my three tournaments I've played this year, I've gotten better at each one," Woods said. "And that was the
whole idea, to keep progressing to Augusta."
Woods began the week by hosting a breakfast for companies that are PGA Tour title sponsors, quelling talk that the world's No. 1 player was not doing his part to reach out to the folks footing most of the bill.
But he showed at Bay Hill that the best thing he can do for the PGA Tour is to win.
Spring in Surprise
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Rich Harden delivers to the Kansas City Royals in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game on Monday in Surprise, Ariz. The Royals' home opener is Friday, April 10.
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