J Page 10 University Daily Kansan, January 18, 1981 Woodard steals show as KUrips Colorado 88-69 By JIM SMALL Sports Writer The Lynette Woodard show returned to Allen Field House last night in the Buffalo Bud Fight. The show is only a tribute of admiration. Woodward scored 38 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and had eight assists as Kansas whipped Colorado 88-59 in the opening round of the Eight Women's Basketball Championship. "I just felt it." Woodward said. "Every time I see that rhytm I shot." Woodward got that rhythm often in the first half of the game. The Wichita senior scored 29 points petore the break. "I was home and it always feels good to play at home with all the fans," she said. Woodard and company gave the homecourt fans a lot to cheer about early in the game. KU jumped out to a 4-10 lead on a couple of quick Woodard buckets and increased its lead to 9-2 when sophomore center Megan Scott connected on a free throw with 16:38 left in the first half. But Colorado began to chip away at the lead and took an 18-17 lead on Laurie Wileys' layup with ten minutes left in the half. It was the last time Colorado held the lead. Kansas ran off a string of eight unanswered points and went on to outscore the Bufalcons 14-6 The Jayhawks continued their tenacious play both on offense and defense in the second half allowing Colorado to come within 11 points. Kansas maintained a lead of about 20 points throughout the second half and posted its 12th victory of the season. in the final five minutes of the half to take a 43-30 halftime lead. "They are a tremendous team," Colorado coach Sox Walseth said after the game. "And Lynette is a terrific ballplayer. What more can I say." Woodard's performance overshadowed a fine performance by Colorado's Lisa Van Goor. 6-foot-3 freshman pumped in 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Buffs' loss. "They have an excellent player in Van Goor." Kansas Coach Marian Washington said. "She is one of the most mobile big players that we have come up against." Freshman forward Tracy Clacton also played a solid game, pulling down 11 rebounds. Woodard was followed by teammate Shebra Legrant, whose aggressive play under the boards gave her 18 points, many coming on nifty feeds from Woodard. The game was the first of the tournament for the Hawkeyes, who are the top seed. KU has been idle all season. The Hawks were the first to win. Jinxed Sooners hope to change luck against KU One of the most important ingredients that any basketball team needs to reach the NCAA tournament is good coaching. And one of the factors in making these needs to succeed in the tournament is good luck. Billy Tubs, the new head basketball coach at Oklahoma, will coach against Kansas for the first time in his career tomorrow when the two teams meet in a Big Eight conference game. He led Lamar University to two NCAA tourneys and is obviously a good coach. His team beat highly regarded Detroit in the 1979 edition, and in 1980 he team got to the third round with a win over Minnesota State and fifth runnited Oregon State. He was often blessed with a little luck. But that was when he was coaching Lamar in the Southland Conference. Now Tubbs is coaching Oklahoma in the Big Eight, and no coach has had such a run of bad luck as he. First, to begin the season, Tubbs' Sooners were picked by many to finish last in the conference. That was before his best and most experienced player, Ray Whitley, went down with an injury to his achilles tendon and was ruled out for the season. Without Whitley, the Sooners were able to achieve a 5-4 record before any more bad luck set in, but since it has it has it less. First, with the team already weakened at the guard position with the loss of Whitley, Tubbs announced after the fall semester ended that starting guard Bennie Goldwine was academically ineligible. Goldwine had averaged nine points a game. Tubbs then announced reserve forward Kenny Smith, who had averaged 4.5 points and 3.1 rebounds a game coming off the bench, was also academically ineligible. Finally, the crusher. Oklahoma began its big Eight season Tuesday against Missouri at Columbia. The Sooners were beaten 81-52. Tornorow, they take on Kansas, now with an 11-2 record, at Norman. Tipoff is at 4:06 p.m. a week later Oklahoma will battle Kansas State. Those three teams are expected to be the major contenders for the Bie Fight crown. Certainly Tubbs would rather start his Big Eight career more easily, but he refuses to let the string of bad luck get him down. Instead, he looks to tomorrow's game with the Jahyhaws. "We have been off for nine days," Washington said, "I don't like for my team to be off that." "They are playing with a great deal of confidence right now," Tubbs said. "They gained a lot in the win over North Carolina. It was a good win for them and for the conference. Kansas may be the best team in the Big Eight right now." The victory over Colorado advances Kansas to the semi-final game against Oklahoma at 8 p.m. tonight. Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 75-61 to advance to the semi-finals. Tubbs' team will play a running game, as has been his trademark. After the too-colle Iowa game Wednesday, KU Head Coach Tecd Owens hopes that his team will play the game that has been its trademark this season. That game consists of a tough defense and good ball movement to the KU centers, Victor Mitchell and Art Housey. That style was absent in the first half against Iowa State, and the half ended with the score tied 28-28. In the second half, the Jayhawks passed the half better. Owens said. "Instead of functioning as a team, we were doing it as individuals," he said. "But we came back in the second half, and I'm just happy to win." "We'll have to play them really tough," Washington said of the Sooners. "I think that we might be able to get inside on them a little more than we did tonight against Colorado." In other games yesterday, Missouri blasted Kansas 85-49 and Kansas State snuck by Nebraska 73-61. COLLEGE OF LAKERS (24) | | MIN | FG | GO | REB A | A | PF T | TP | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Descano | 30 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | | Duncan | 11 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | | Van Goor | 31 | 11-24 | 1.9 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 23 | | Bean | 21 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | | Bean | 21 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | | O'Rourke | 25 | 5.9 | 1.7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | | Hoehling | 15 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | | Hoehling | 15 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | | Kenyon | 5 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Abdouchb | 5 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Abdouchb | 30 | 33-47 | 3.4 | 34 | 11 | 17 | 49 |
| MAXIMUM STRENGTH | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | PG | PT | REB A | PP | TP | |
| Claxton | 31 | 5-0 | 0-1 | 11 | 1 | FP 2 |
| Legnans | 31 | 11-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | TP |
| Legnans | 28 | 9-17 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
| Myers | 11 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Sack | 12 | 0-9 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| Means | 17 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Stewart | 19 | 2-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Smith | 17 | 3-4 | 0-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Challock | 11 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Taylor | 14 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Spearns | 3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Lofts | 200 | 38-72 | 10-12 | 32 | 19 | 10* |