SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fridav. February 26.1993
9
Seniors to bow out against'Cats
Players to focus on winning game, not reminiscing
By Jay Williams
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team will see two of its players in their final home game at 2 p.m. Sunday in Allen Field House against intrastate rival Kansas State.
Senior guards Shannon Kite and Jo Do Witheerson are the only seniors on the Jayahawks' roster. Both players said they were trying focus exclusively on the K-State contest, rather than the ending of their careers. Sunday's contest is the team's final regular season Big Eight Conference game.
"You try to avoid it, but everybody keeps bringing it up," Kite said.
Witherspoon said that she also was
trying to not think about her last home contest.
"Although it's my last game at home, I just think of it as another home game," she said.
While the players try to avoid focusing on their personal finale, Kansas coach Marian Washington said she tried to remind both the seniors and underclassmen that it was the seniors' final go-around.
“It's hard for the seniors to put it in perspective that these are the 'last games,'” she said. “It's hard for them to realize that until next season.”
Witherspoon is averaging 2.3 points a game this season. She has received more playing time as the conference
season has progressed and started last weekend in Kansas' victories against No. 22 Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Washington said that Witerspoon had made a difference for the Jayhawks, 17-8 overall and 8-5 in the conference.
"She's been a role player most of her career and has handled that quite well." Washington said.
Kite, averaging 7.3 points a game, is the Jayhawks' three-point specialist. Her long-range bombs have helped Kansas win several games this season.
"She's doing what we've always thought she could," she said. "In terms of shooting, she's one of the best. She just had to develop some confidence in herself."
Washington said that Kite had improved in all areas of the game during her career.
season, kite was 6-of-8 from three point range and scored 18 points in Kansas' 58-51 victory.
The Lady Cats, 10-15 and 1-12, are tied for last in the conference, but Washington said that K-State had been playing well of late.
K-State失 by 10 to Oklahoma State Sunday after trailing by only four points with six minutes remaining in the game.
"They played very well against us the first time," Washington said. "I don't expect anything different Sunday."
Kansas will try to continue its latest winning streak heading into the Big Eight Tournament March 6-8 in Salina.
K-State is paced by sophomore forward Shanele Stires. Stires is averaging 13.5 points a game and leads the conference in rebounding with nine a game.
The Jayhawks have won five of their
Source: Kansas Sports Information
last six, with the only loss coming at No. 21 Nebraska.
Kansas is 10-1 when it outre-bounds its opponents. The Jayhawks collected 25 offensive rebounds in
"We want to build on our last six games," Washington said.
NOTES:
Andrew Hodges / KANSAN
their 76-54 victory against Oklahoma Sunday.
The Jayhawks are 25-2 in the field house over the past two seasons, going a perfect 13-0 at home last season.
This year, Kansas has lost to Creighton and No. 4 Colorado at home.
Kansas to face improved Colorado team
Kansas senior guard Rex Walters dribbles the ball up the court against sophomore guard Greg Gurley in practice. The Jay-hawks will play Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday in Allen Field House.
Pauley still questionable after injury
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas senior center Eric Pauley remains questionable for Saturday, when the Jayhawks play an improved Colorado team at 1 p.m. in Allen Field House.
Pauley, the team's second-leading scorer with 12 points a game, injured his left knee during pregame warm-ups Monday night in Ames, Iowa. Pauley did not play, and the Cyclones won 75-71.
Assistant athletic trainer Mark Cairns said that X-ray showed no damage and that rest would be the best treatment for Pauley.
But Pauley, who did not practice Wednesday, said that the knee felt better and that he would try practicing as soon as he could.
"I haven't done anything but walk on it lately, so I don't know how painful it's going to be," Pauley said. "I don't know how much I'll be able to do, or how much they'll let me do."
If Pauley, who walked into yesterday's news conference with a slight limp, doesn't play or start against the Buffaloes, Kansas coach Roy Williams said that he might start junior forward Patrick Riehgain again.
Sophomore center Greg Ostertag, who came off the bench Monday and led the team with 16 points and seven rebounds, said he felt nervous when he learned Pauley would not play. Williams noticed, and went with Richey, who, at 6-foot-8, is six inches shorter than Ostertag. Williams said he did not rule out starting Ostertag for Saturday's game. It would be the first start of his career.
Richet got his first career start Monday and scored nine points, but fouled out with five minutes remaining.
Source: Kansas Sports Information
"I'll probably go with Patrick, but don't hold me to it," Williams said. "I didn't start Greg against Iowa State because it looked like he was going to have a heart attack. If look at Greg on Saturday and can see his heart beating through his shirt, then I'll go with Patrick."
Colorado, 10-13 overall and 2-9 in the Big Eight Conference, lost its first eight conference games, but since has gone 2-1 with home victories against Kansas State and Oklahoma and a loss at Nebraska.
"The loss here to Oklahoma was a surprise simply because it was at home," Williams said. "But a lot of teams have lost on the road. I'd like to go back and try again at those places,
Since the Jan. 25 home loss to Long Beach State, Kansas has gone 5-4. Williams, however, said that his team has remained composed.
The Jayhawks, 21-5 and 8-3, defeated the Buffaloes 82-51 last month in Boulder, Colo., but Williams said that the first meeting was tougher than the score indicated.
"Everybody knows it wasn't a 30-point type game," Williams said. "We just busted it open in the last five minutes. They've had two great conference victories. I think they'll have more confidence, and in their mind, the Jawhawks are in a slump."
KANSAN
but we've got to move on."
Williams said that the team's consistency was his biggest concern.
"We'll be really good for a quarter or a half, and then the next quarter or half we won't do so well." he said. "But I still think we've got plenty of time to improve and plenty of time to get more consistent."
Williams said that neither he nor his team looked for moral victories, and Pauley said that he wanted to play against the Buffaloes to avoid the feeling of being helpless, a feeling he had while sitting on the bench at Iowa State.
"It was tough for me be out," Pauley said. "Especially in a game like that. Patrick and Greg did a good job, but Patrick was in foul trouble. Even if I wouldn't have played great, I would have been another body in there."
Through last week, Colorado's senior center Poncho Hodges led the conference with 46 blocked shots. He leads the Buffaloes with seven rebounds a game and averages 12 points a game. Donnie Boyce is Colorado's leading scoring, averaging 19.7 points a game.
"It looks like they've improved." Pauley said. "They're playing more like a team now than when we last played them."
Men's tennis team set to face two opponents this weekend
By Blake Spurney Kansan sportswriter
Kansas coach Michael Center said that Southwest Missouri State was a tough regional opponent. They beat California-Santa Barbara earlier this season, which usually fields a solid team.
The Kansas men's tennis team will be looking for its third and fourth consecutive victories this weekend when the Jayhawks take on Southwest Missouri State and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Lawrence.
Senior Carlos Fleming said that Kansas needed to beat the teams in its region to qualify for the NCAA Championships in May. The No. 1 team in each region automatically goes to the NCAAs.
Center said that every team in the Midwest region was a threat to Kansas because the Jayhawks were an inexperienced team, full of freshmen and sophomores.
"If we can't get up for them, we can't get up for anyone," he said about the Bears.
Southwest Missouri State's No. 1 singles player, junior Wynn Chriswell, transferred last year from Vincennes Junior College, where he was an All-American and won the Junior College National Championship. Christwill will be facing Fleming, the Jayhawks' No. 1 player.
Flening, 6-3, has not lost a match since November. He and sophomore Manny Ortiz have paired up to forge a 6-1 record this season.
"I don't think we're in position to take anybody lightly," he said. "Every match is a challenge — not just to win, but to improve."
SIU-Edwardsville is a Division II team, and Center said he did not know much about the team.
Earlier this spring, the Jayhawks lost close matches to No. 23 Minnesota and No. 16 Arkansas.
He said he did know, however, that Kansas had been playing with a lot of confidence lately.
Southwest Missouri State also lost to Arkansas this year.
The Southwest Missouri State match will be today at 6:45 p.m. and the SIU-Edwardsville match will be Saturday at 2 p.m. Kansas plays its home matches at the Alamar Racquet Club, 4120 Clinton Parkway
"We've put ourselves in a position to win every match this season," he said.
Men's golf team heads south for tournament
By Matt Dovle
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas men's golfer Jeff Moeller hopes this spring's first tournament is similar to last fall's final tournament in Houston, the Rice University Invitational.
Inclemment weather during the past two weeks has forced the men's golf team to work out at Anschutz Pavilion, instead of Alamar Golf and Country Club, in preparation for the University of South Florida Invitational tournament. The tournament runs today through Sunday at University Golf Club in Tampa, Fla.
"This is the same situation we faced before we played in the tournament in Houston at Thanksgiving," he said. "We were only able to work out at Anschutz, and Brad Bruno went out and won the tournament."
Moeller, a junior, said that the workouts at Anschutz are better than nothing, and he could not wait until the team practiced outdoors at Tamna.
"We just hit balls into the net at Arschutz, so you can tell much off of them."
Yesterday, Moeller and his teammates were able to practice in Florida on a golf course for the first time in about two and a half weeks.
Junior Matt Gogel said the work at
Anschutz is directed on the mental aspects of golf than anything else.
"Obviously, we're not in there to look at our shots," he said. "We're in there to focus on our swings and what they're supposed to be like."
The Jayhawks hope to win the South Florida Invitations this season after finishing second in last year's tournament to Central Florida. Gogel finished second individually to Central Florida's Hans Stram-Olson, who birdied the 18th hole to win the tournament.
Both Moeller and Gogel see this spring as the biggest semester for the men's golf team in their three years at Kansas.
"We've been so close to making the NCAA's the last two years," Moeller said. "We have the experience, especially with two or three guys who can go out and play under par in the same round."
Gogel thinks the Jayhawks can pick up where they left off in the fall, when they won the Kansas Invitational at Alvarnau. They also finished second at
Andrew Arnold / KANSAN
Junior golfer Jeff Moeller practices his swing in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The men's team plays today at the University of South Florida Invitational.
B'RIEF
the Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo., and at the Husky Invitational in Seattle.
"We had a pretty successful fall, and we want to go down there and start winning right off the bat competing in those southern schools." Gogel said.
Women's tennis team loses to No. 7 Georgia
Kansan staff report
The No. 20 Kansas women's tennis team won four of six singles matches yesterday, but fell 5-4 to No. 7 Georgia at the National Indoors in Madison, Wis.
The Jayhawks lost all three doubles matches to the Bulldogs. Kansas' No.1 doubles pair, sophomores Nora Koves and Rebecca Jensen, were clipped in a third set tie-breaker by Anne Chazu and Angela Lettiere, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
However, Kansas' No. 1 and 2 singles players, Jensen and Koves, remain unbeaten this spring in singles play in dual matches.
Jensen, ranked No. 16 in the nation, defeated No. 30 Chazau, and Koves dropped No. 45 Stacy Shepard.
Junior Abby Woods, Kansas
No. 4 singles player, was beaten
for the first time this spring in a
dual match.
Kansas next will play Friday morning in the consolation bracket, and the opponent has yet to be determined.