PAGE 22E AUGUST,1996
KUED·SPORTS
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
KU women want to reach pinnacle
BY ANDREW HARTSOCK
JOURNAL-WORLD SPORTS WRITER
As sweet as the Sweet 16 was for Kansas University women's basketball coach Marian Washington, she's convinced the Jayhawks have just begun to break new ground.
"Everybody wants to go all the way," Washington said. "Everybody wants to win it all. But we can't downplay the fact that we continue to make progress. To me, that's the bottom line. To get to the Sweet 16 was really a big step for us. That does nothing but help the program."
Washington has reason for optimism. The Jayhawks, 22-10 overall a year ago, made their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, and they lost just two players to graduation.
Back are last year's Big Eight coach of the year (Washington) and Tamecka Dixon, the
O
Big Eight player of the year. Returning are the top two scorers and eight of the top nine. Back, too, is the team's leading rebounder (Nakia Sanford).
All that returns to the team that won the final Big Eight regular-season championship and ranked No.20 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the CNN/USA Today coaches' poll.
"We're going to have a great group of freshmen and a lot of returning players who have been to the Sweet 16," Washington said."We have so much to look forward to, but you never know how the ball is going to bounce."
That's not to say the Jayhawks suffered no losses. Gone is Charisse Sampson, a preseason All-America candidate
See Five seniors, page 23
FILE PHOTO
Tamecka Dixon, right, was the Big Eight player of the year last fall.
FILE PHOTO
Lawrence High product Jennifer Trapp returns for her senior year.