KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY APRIL 22, 2010 / SPORTS
7B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Rhea Codio, Annette Davis will transfer from Kansas
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Drastic change was already expected with next season's women's basketball team.
Five seniors, including guard
Sade Morris and Danielle McCray, who was recently drafted by the Conneticut Sun, will graduate. Four freshmen and two new assistant coaches will join the team.
But now junior guard Rhea Codio and freshman forward Annette Davis can be subtracted from
Codio
Davis
the renovation project.
Both players are seeking to transfer schools after this semester.
Davis played sparsely as a freshman. She scored a career-high nine points after sinking all attempts in a 77-52 loss at Nebraska on March 3.
"I'm starting the whole recruit process over," Davis said.
"I think the Big 12 is the hardest conference that there is," Davis said.
Davis said that she would look for more playing time and consider some of the schools that recruited her out of high school. She wants to be closer to her home in Houston and mentioned San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Stephen F. Austin, University of Houston and Houston Baptist University as candidates. She also said that schools in Louisiana and Arkansas had shown interest.
"You never know how good you're going to be until you start playing," Davis said.
Codio transferred to Kansas from Independence Community College and appeared in 22 contests this season, with one start.
Codio, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, began the season turning the ball over frequently and rarely earned minutes.
Codio said that she didn't know whether she wanted to go to a school closer to home or stay in the Midwest. She did say her time at Kansas was valuable for her development as a point guard.
But when freshman guard Angel Goodrich torre the ACL in her right knee, Codio was forced into a greater role and looked more comfortable despite her relative inexperience in the Big 12. Wednesday she said that Kansas wasn't the right fit and that her decision was strictly basketball based.
"I learned to be tougher, to push myself, to be more patient and to be more tolerant of things," Codio said. "I definitely know the definition of being consistent."
"It's necessary that me and KU's program go different ways," Codio said.
Edited by Jesse Rangel
NBA
LeBron praises Windy City as series changes venues
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio LeBron James wants to be sure that residents of the Windy City know that Chicago is his kind of town.
Unlike Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, who went out of his way to say unkind things about Cleveland, James said he loves hitting Chicago. "We all love it," he said of his Cavaliers teammates.
James' exchange with reporters was an example of just how loose the Cavs are as they prepared to fly to Chicago on Wednesday afternoon.
It was also a stark contrast to the harsh words uttered by Noah, even after his team dropped to 0-2 against the Cavs in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Given a chance to say that he regretted his remarks after Game 2 on Monday, Noah held firm.
There were no such declarations from James regarding Chicago. He spent three summers there training at Michael Jordan's facility.
"You think Cleveland's cool? I never heard anybody say, I'm going to Cleveland on vacation," he said. "What's so good about Cleveland?"
"It's a great city. It's one of the best cities we have in America. It has great restaurants, great shopping," James said. "I have nothing
bad to say about Chicago and I'm not saying that because of what he said about Cleveland."
James even admitted that "I go on vacation in Chicago sometimes."
The Cavs are going to Chicago with one goal in mind: To ensure that Noah and his teammates won't have to suffer the indignity
of returning to Cleveland until next season.
But before they can entertain any thoughts of attaining dominance over the Bulls, the Cavs still have plenty of stuff to clean
up before tonight's game.
"Hopefully, (the practice) will carry over." Brown said.
the paint compared to the Cavs' 38 in Game 2.
The Bulls beat the Cavs in almost every facet of Game 2 with the exception of 3-pointers and overall shooting. The Bulls created extra possessions by beating the Cavs 13-5 in offensive rebounds and 21-7 in second-chance points.
But there will be more to tonight's game, a huge factor being that the Bulls return to their home at the United Center.
"We just have to have a little bit better effort, like we had in Game 1, where we didn't give up that many offensive rebounds and second-chance points." James said.
"I think a lot of teams play with more confidence at home." James
Coach Mike Brown said the Cavs focused on those elements along with interior defense, because the Bulls had 56 points in
Cavaliers forward LeBron James' positive comments came after Bulls forward Joakim Noah made disparaging comments about Cleveland Monday.
said. "They shoot the ball particularly well from the outside at home because the crowd is into it. This is a team that definitely runs a lot more on every possession at home because when you have that crowd energy, it definitely helps you."
The Bulls outscored the Caws 18-15 on fastbreak points in Game 2. If the Bulls are more aggressive at home, James and company will have to step up their game.
"We're a confident bunch; we know what we can do better and we know what we can control," James said. "We gave them too many transition points and too many paint points. We've got to control what we can control."
NBA
Vince Carter helps Orlando pull away from Charlotte
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Dwight Howard-Vince Carter combo again wasn't perfect — just good enough to win.
Eventually, they would. The Magic's star pairing finally showed up.
turnovers, though, they could've been up more.
Orlando 92,
Charlotte 77
(Orlando leads the series, 2-0)
Then, Carter took the reigns.
Howard used a drop step, spun right and hammered home a rim-rocking dunk over Tyson Chandler that started a big Magic push.
Stephen Jackson showed no effects from his hyperextended left knee to score 27 points, and Gerald Wallace had 15 points for the Bobcats. But their 21 turnovers are a big reason why they're heading home still searching for the franchise's first playoff win.
This one wasn't the prettiest playoff basketball.
Carter finished with 19 points. Howard scored 15 and the Orlando Magic took a 2-0 series lead with a 92-77 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Orlando's biggest offseason acquisition, Carter sliced his way through the lane for several layups late in the third quarter. He anchored a run that put the Magic ahead 75-55 after three quarters.
The Magic's star duo was less than stellar but took over when it counted most. They combined for 21 second-half points to help Orlando build a 20-point lead and hold on late.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Charlotte.
The Bobcats went more than eight minutes to start the game
with only three points, and had just one field goal with six turnovers during the stretch. The goods news for them: The Magic were almost as bad early.
The first half was a turnover fest for both teams, and nobody could consistently hit a shot. Things were so out of sorts that the normally sharpshooting J.J. Redick even badly missed the free throw from Charlotte coach Larry Brown's technical foul in the second quarter.
DALLAS — Richard lefferson bounded right out of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's doghouse.
The Magic put together the closest thing to a run, and they slowly went ahead 41-30 at the half on Ryan Anderson's 3-pointer. With Charlotte's 14 first-half
Knowing he was among the guys Popovich thought "played like dogs" in the opener, Jefferson scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to help San Antonio beat the Dallas Mavericks 102-88 in Game 2 on Wednesday night to tie their first-round series at a game apiece.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mavericks lose Game 2, give away home court advantage to rival Spurs
NBA
Jefferson responded exactly the way Popovich hoped. He matched his Game 1 points in the opening minutes and was 7-of-9 by halftime, several coming during a 12-1 surge that broke the game open for good.
Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki went from hardy missing in Game 1 to
San Antonio 102,
Dallas 88
(Series tied, 1-1)
hardly making. The Spurs didn't even smother him; merely knowing they were creeping his way threw Nowitzki out of whack. He missed six of his first seven shots, and even missed a free throw after having made 88 in a row. He finished with 24 points, down from 36 in the opener.
The Mavericks played their
best only after they seemed to have buried themselves — down 16-5 early, they got within one by the end of the quarter; down 80-60 late in the third quarter they scored 12 straight points; down 13 again early in the fourth, they clawed within five. However, they never led and have now given away home-court advantage.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls. 6:00, TNT Channel 45 Los Angeles Lakers at Oklahoma City Thunder, 8:30 p.m. TNT Channel 45
NBA PLAYOFFS ON TV TONIGHT
Phoenix Suns at Portland Trail Blazers, 9:00 p.m. NBATV
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