6B SPORTS
40. 6 cm 8.
THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2008
Turnovers lead to KU loss
BY JAYSON JENKS
jenks@kansan.com
jjenks@kansan.com
This one had an unpleasant air of familiarity.
During Kansas' media day — a time to talk about last year's failures and spread optimism for the upcoming season — the Jayhawks harped on the importance of putting teams away, not allowing them to hang around.
But against Marquette, Kansas reverted back to the very problems that players and coach Bonnie Henrickson talked so much about leaving behind. The Jayhawks let a six-point halftime lead slip away before losing to the Golden Eagles 67-57 on the road.
"It felt like they had more intensity then we had in the second half," junior guard Danielle McCray said. "We should have brought it to them. But in the second half we were playing like we were down by six instead of up by six."
Perhaps the most alarming and eye-popping trend against Marquette took place in the turnover column. The Jayhawks committed a season-high 28 turnovers, which the Golden Eagles converted into 29 points.
While Marquette pressed and used traps, Henrickson said that
Kansas' miscues were a result of its own sloppy play. Throughout the game, the Jayhawks struggled with everyday plays such as inbounds passes and throwing the ball to the post in the play.
Of Kansas' 28 turnovers, the starting five committed 22.
"You can't have 28 turnovers and expect to beat any team," said McCray, who scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. "It was just sloppy play. Nothing was bothering us, we were just sloppy."
But the game sure did start promising. Facing their first test on the road this season, the Jayhawks led throughout the first half and held a nine-point advantage three times.
McCray scored eight of Kansas' first 10 points, while finishing the first half with 14 points and eight rebounds. After picking up her third foul early in the second half, though, McCray was forced to sit on the bench for nearly five crucial minutes during Marquette's second-half comeback.
As a team, Kansas committed 26 personal fouls. Six Jayhawks finished with three fouls and two players fouled out.
"We just couldn't get into a rhythm offensively because we kept getting in foul trouble offensively," sophomore forward
Nicollette Smith said. "We couldn't get into that flow"
Still, the Jayhawks played well enough to control the game in the first half. But with seven seconds left before halftime, Marquette senior Krystal Ellis scored three of her game-high 32 points to trim Kansas' lead to six.
By doing so, Ellis stole the momentum from Kansas and ignited the Golden Eagles' comeback hopes.
"They threw a punch right back at us going back in the locker room," Smith said. "Everyone's spirits went down a little."
"They had the energy coming back in. Knowing that they were down, they brought the intensity," McCray said.
Marquette took its first lead of the game with less than three minutes into the second half. With 16:22 remaining, Ellis' jumper grabbed the Golden Eagles a 39-38 lead — one they kept for the first time.
"It wasn't how they looked," Henrickson said. "It was how they didn't look; determined to get it back and make it a one possession game. That's where this team has to grow emotionally and get through adversity."
— Edited by Arthur Hur
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford (14) celebrates with offensive Ineman Brian Simmons after Oklahoma scored a touchdown against Missouri during the second quarter of the Big 12 Championship on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma, Florida will vie for title
BY EDDIE PELLS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (15) is stopped by Alabama's Javier Arenas (28) after a short gain in the first quarter of the Southeastern Conference Championship game at the Georgia Dome Saturday in Atlanta. Florida won 31-20.
Florida was an up-and-coming power and Oklahoma was a declining one when Bob Stoops made his move. He left his post as Gators defensive coordinator to take his first head-coaching job with the Sooners.
Ten years later, both programs are on top. On Sunday, they earned their invitations to play for the BCS national championship on Jan. 8 in Miami.
As expected, the final BCS standings had Oklahoma at No. 1 and Florida at No.2—the reverse order of their rankings in the Associated Press poll — setting up the first meeting between these storied programs.
"Nine weeks ago our team got together and said let's make every game count," Gators coach Urban Meyer said, speaking of Florida's rebound from its only loss, in September to Mississippi.
Tim Tebow and the Gators did just that. So did Oklahoma, which bounced back from a loss in October to Texas.
— outspokenly in favor of a playoff for college football — might have to agree that both these teams belong.
Two teams with one loss each doesn't normally make for a debate-free lead-up to the title game, but even President-elect Barack Obama
Florida (12-1) has averaged 49 points a game in the nine games since its only lost. Oklahoma (12-1) became the first team since 1919 to score 60-plus in five straight games.
Other teams had their chances this season, and also finished with one loss: Texas, Southern California, Alabama, Texas Tech and Penn State.
Of them, Texas had the best argument for why it should've been
playing for the title. The Longhorns finished in a three-way tie in the nation's toughest division — the Big 12 South — but were denied a spot in the title game because of the tiebreaker, which looks to the BCS standings.
Oklahoma won the tiebreaker.
Texas protested.
"They went to a system we all agreed upon before the season," Stoops said. "If someone didn't like it, they should have decided to change it before the season, and I'd have played by whatever rules they wanted to play by."
Instead, Texas finished third in the BCS and AP rankings and will
And who outside of Texas would argue that this title game is a dream matchup, with tons of entertainment potential?
play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Oklahoma's a traditional power just like Florida is now," said Steve Spurrier, the former Gator coach who brought Stoops on as his defensive coordinator in 1996.
The winner will join LSU as the second team with two BCS championships this decade and will also stake a pretty good claim on being called the best program of the 2000s.
The game could also include a Heisman Trophy winner.
Tebow is in position to become the only player to win the award twice, following Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975. Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is widely considered his biggest competition. If either wins, it would mark two Heismans for his respective program this decade, as well. (Jason White won it in 2003 for the Sooners.)
Oklahoma has the top-ranked scoring offense in the country, scoring an NCAA-record 702 points this season. The Gators are ranked third.
It's the kind of game that will send defensive coordinators running for cover. On the other hand, Spurrier, the former Gators quarterback and 'ball coach,' will probably love this one.
"I guess you naturally pull for your alma mater," he said. "But I pull for 'Stoopsie' all the time. It'll be a little bit of both. Should be a good game."
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