8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2009
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas falls short in final minutes
BY JAYSON JENKS
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY KASIA BROUSSALIAN / THE CAMERI
jjenks@kansan.com
Kansas' Danielle McCray (right) drives past Colorado's Bianca Smith in the first half at the Coors Event Center on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder on Wednesday. The Jayhawks lost 69-62 and missed five straight shots in the final minutes.
Before boarding a plane headed for Colorado, junior forward Danielle McCray plainly — and accurately — laid out the key to success in the Big 12.
"Right about now, in our league, it's about whoever shows up," McCray said on Tuesday. "It's all about who shows up."
But in those final two minutes, with the game tied and Kansas attempting to grab its first road victory since Feb. 18, 2006, Kansas' strength quickly turned into a glaring weakness.
All season, the Jayhawks (13-11,
2-9) have tried to bury their knack
for inconsistent play during critical
stretches of games. In Kansas'
69-62 loss at Colorado (11-12, 3-8)
last night, that nagging trend reappeared at the most inopportune of times.
The Jayhawks missed their final five shots and committed two costly turnovers down the stretch as
For 38 minutes, shooting allowed Kansas to compete — and even hold leads — against Colorado.
"It's frustrating that these games keep slipping away from us in the last four minutes," sophomore forward Nicollette Smith said. "And that's the most frustrating part.
the Buffaloes pulled away for the victory.
Making those late-game shooting struggles more frustrating is the Jayhawks' precision shooting
Coach asked us "Can we beat Colorado in a three-minute game with us up by two?" And we all said yes. But..."
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY KASIA BROUSSALIAN / THE CAMERA
Chelsea Dale (bottom) and Kansas' LaChelda Jacobs (right) fight for the ball during play at the Coors Event Center on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder on Wednesday. Jacobs finished with seven points and three assists.
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earlier in the game.
KANSAS 2834----62
For much of the second half. Kansas' shooting percentage hovered around 70 percent. But the Jayhawks never seemed capable of consistently generating defensive stops, and the Buffalooes made 55 percent of their shots in the second half.
Kansas and Colorado traded baskets throughout the second half as neither team held more than a five-point lead until the final minutes.
"We needed to get stops on the defensive end," Smith said, "and we didn't get them."
Midway through the first half, Colorado pieced together a 10-2 run to take a 20-9 lead. During that stretch, the Jayhawks committed five turnovers that helped spark Colorado's run.
But down the stretch, Colorado found ways to score, while Kansas simply missed shots.
"We were knocking down shots, and we were getting people open shots and everything," Smith said. "But it came down to turnovers, and that's what killed us."
Kansas answered Colorado's run later in the half, rattling off a 9-0 run to cut the team teams lead.
COLORADO 31 38 - 69
KANSAS (13-11, 2-9)
Player FG-FGA 3FG-3FGA Rebs A Pts
Danielle McCray 5-13 1-7 5 3 11
Nicollette Smith 5-7 1-2 2 1 15
Krysten Boogaard 6-9 0-0 4 0 13
Ivana Catic 0-0 0-0 0 4 0
Sade Morris 4-9 1-2 2 2 10
LaChelda Jacobs 2-6 0-0 10 3 7
Aishah Sutherland 2-4 0-0 2 0 4
Kelly Kohn 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Team 2
Totals 25-49 3-11 28 13 62
COLORADO (11-12,3-8)
<table border="1"><tr><td>Player</td><td>FG-FGA</td><td>3FG-3FGA</td><td>Rebs</td><td>A</td><td>Pts</td></tr><tr><td>Brittany Spears</td><td>6-13</td><td>0-0</td><td>7</td><td>0</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>Kara Richards</td><td>3-4</td><td>0-0</td><td>10</td><td>2</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Alyssa Fressle</td><td>1-7</td><td>0-2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Bianca Smith</td><td>5-9</td><td>4-6</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>Kelly Jo Mullaney</td><td>5-11</td><td>0-0</td><td>3</td><td>1</td><td>13</td></tr><tr><td>Britney Blythe</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Hannah Skildum</td><td>2-4</td><td>0-1</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Julie Seabrook</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Chelsea Dale</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Team</td><td></td><td></td><td>3</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Totals</td><td>22-49</td><td>4-9</td><td>30</td><td>10</td><td>69</td></tr></table>
Still, the layhawks trailed 31-28 at halftime despite making 48 percent of their shots.
Neither team handled the ball with extreme care. The Jayhawks committed 22 turnovers, and Colorado had 20 miscues.
Smith led Kansas with 15 points, while three other Jayhawks scored in double figures — the type of balance coach Bonnie Henrickson has been searching for all season.
For the Jayhawks, though, the real story revolved around turnovers.
"Turnovers are what always kills us," Smith said. "Whether it's a tight game or whether we lose by 10, we always look at turnovers and say 'If we had those possessions back, it wouldn't have been a close game.'"
Edited by Andrew Wiebe