8B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DABY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jared Gah/KANSAN
LaChelia Jacobs, freshman guard, goes for a layup off of a fast break down the court. Jacobs scored 14 points, including four down the stretch, in the Jayhawks 75-63 victory against Western Illinois at Allen Fieldhouse last night.
Freshman sparks KU offense
BY ASHER FUSCO
Four games into the 2006 season, the Kansas women's basketball team had not yet found a sparkplug on the offensive end.
After freshman LaChelda Jacobs' performance Wednesday night, coach Bonnie Henrickson may have unearthed a bona fide offensive weapon.
Helped by Jacobs' 14-point performance, Kansas defeated Western Illinois 75-63.
Jacobs asserted herself early and often on offense, finding seams in the defense and driving through the lane at every opportunity.
"I love her aggressiveness," Henrickson said. "She did a great job of getting to the hoop."
Entering Wednesday's action,
Jacobs had tallied nearly as many
fouls as points and struggled to find
consistency, committing as many turnovers as she had assists.
Because of her early-season foul trouble, Jacobs was only able to stay in the game for short stretches of time. Only playing 11 minutes per contest, it was difficult for Jacobs to get in any sort of rhythm. On Wednesday evening, Jacobs did not commit her first and only foul until the game was all but decided.
"Coach has tried to stress discipline on defense," Jacobs said. "I focused on moving my feet and avoiding fouls."
Against Western Illinois, Jacobs never turned the ball over. She made tive of her nine field goals and displayed constant hustle on defense in her nineteen minutes of court time.
"I just tried to play my game tonight," said Jacobs. "I wanted to get to the rim and draw fouls."
The freshman converted on only four of 11 opportunities from the charity stripe.
"LaHelda was good drawing fouls tonight," Henrickson said. "But she needs to be making her free throws."
If jacobs' performance had one flaw, it was her free-throw shooting.
Jacobs also expressed concern about her free throw shooting, but was confident she would find her stroke before Sunday's game at Wisconsin.
During a two-minute stretch in the second half, Jacobs created some separation between the Jayhawks and the Westerwinds. She scored four straight points to stretch the Kansas lead to 12 points.
Kansan sportswriter Asher Fusco can be contacted at afusco@kansan.com.
The jayhawks never looked back.
Edited by Travis Robinett
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks clinch fourth victory
Taylor McIntosh, junior guard, reaches for a rebound during last night's game against Western Illinois. The Jayhawks grabbed 32 rebounds, compared to the Leathernecks' 25.
BY CASE KEEFER
Freshman guard LaChelda Jacobs had a breakout performance with 14 points, shooting 56 percent from the floor. Jacobs, however, was only 4-for-11 from the free-throw line.
"It's back to the drawing board for me," Jacobs said, "I've got to make some free throws."
In the first four games of the season, it was easy to pinpoint an individual standout performance. That was not the case in Wednesday night's 75-63 victory against the Western Illinois Westerwinds.
"I was just trying to get in there and help out as much as possible," she said.
Three Jayhawks scored in double figures and six players recorded at least three rebounds en route to the third straight victory, putting the overall record at 4-1.
Jared Gab/KANSAN
"We need to have that balance," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "We don't have a girl that is going to put up 30 points; we don't need that."
For the second straight game, junior forward Jamie Boyd recorded a career best in points. Seeing increased minutes in part because of foul troubles in the starting frontcourt, she had 10 points and also finished with a team-high five rebounds.
The game was full of fouls. In total, each team finished with 25 fouls. Western Illinois out-shot Kansas from the free-throw line, 67 percent to 57 percent.
"It was a foul-fest for both of us and a free-throw shooting competition." Henrickson said.
Despite shooting 63 percent, the Jayhawks were down most of the first half. Sloppy defense and excessive fouls contributed to a Western Illinois lead that was as high as six points in the first half. Kansas committed 12 fouls in the first 20 minutes of play.
Westerwind guard Sarah Miller created the most problems for the Jayhawks in the first half. She had 13 points, seven of which were
from the free-throw line. Overall, the Westerwinds made 10 of 13 free-throw attempts in the first half.
That was before McCray hit two three-pointers in thirty seconds, making the score 59-48.
The Westerwinds kept it close at the beginning of the second half. Ten minutes in, they hadn't trailed by more than five points.
Freshman forward Danielle McCray also had six points in the final four minutes of the half, propelling Kansas to the lead.
Sophomore guard Ivana Catic hit a wide open jumper at the buzzer that put the Jayhawks up 36-34 at half.
said. "So that's what I've been working on"
Western Illinois never recovered, despite another strong half by Miller. She finished with a game-high 20 points and had five rebounds.
Kansan sportswriter Case Keefer can be contacted at ckeefer@kansan.com.
"She'll play a vital role when she decides she can physically excel from a conditioning standpoint," Henrickson said.
McCray finished with a teamhigh and career-best 15 points in the game in only 15 minutes from the floor.
Edited by Natalie Johnson
"Coach Bonnie makes me make
three pointers a day", McCray
Jarad Gah/KANSAN
Maria Zinc, sophomore forward, grabs a rebound after a missed jump shot. After being fooled on the play, Zinc went to the line to sink a free throw. Zinc scored nine points during the game.
Kansas 75. Western Illinois 63
Western Illinois 34 29—63
Kansas 34 36—75
KANSAS 5 — McCray 6-8 1-12 15. Jacobs 5-9 14-11 14, Boyd 5-0 10, Zinct 4-7 1-2 19, Catic 3-5 0-16, Kohn 1-2-2 4, Mcn忠逊 2-0, 4 Morris 1-5 2-2 4, Moseley 1-3 2-2 4, Weddington 0-4-4 4, Smith 0-0 1-0 10, Ballweg 1-0 1-0 0, Totals 28-47 16-28 75.
WESTERN ILLINOIS — Miller 6-14-8 11-20, Walker 3-10-4 6-10,
Lovingood 2-4-3-4-7, Myers 2-1-2-15, Murphy 2-6-0-1-5, 'O Brian 2-4-
1-2-5, Boss 1-2-2-2-5, Clark 1-1-2-13, McEroy 1-1-1-2-3, Quigle 0-0-
0, Hugelier 0-0-0-0-0, Totals 20-4-17-21-32.
RECORDS — Kansas 4-1, Western Illinois 1-4.
REBOUNDS Kansas 25, Western Illinois 25
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