KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010 / SPORTS
3B
MEN'S GOLF
Jayhawks finish fourth in Diet Pepsi Shocker Classic
BY ANDREW WITUSZYNSKI
awituszynski@kansan.com
Bryan Hackenberg, a senior from Denver, broke out of a slight slump this week and helped lead the Jayhawks to a top five finish in the Diet Pepsi Shocker Classic in Wichita. Hackenberg shot a three-round total of 223 strokes, finishing in a tie for 10th place.
"Hack is back shooting the scores we need him to," coach Kit Grove said.
After a slow start to the spring, Hackenberg said he was happy with his performance in Wichita.
for me to shoot a few good scores." Hackenberg said.
"Obviously I've struggled this spring a little bit, so it was great
T h e I a y h a w k s recorded the best team score of the day, jumping from a tie for seventh to fourth place and gave Kansas yet another top
five finish this season.
Hackenberg
"We took a step in the right direction this week." Grove said. "Anytime you score the low round for the day you have to be pleased with that."
Despite its best effort, Kansas was unable to avenge the loss it suffered to Wichita State in a playoff two weeks ago.
Witchia State won the tournament by 12 strokes. Shockers' golfers Dustin Garza and Tyler Gann finished in first and second individually.
"It was tough to grind through the wind the last two days, but we all pulled together to finish in the top four," Hackenberg said.
Nate Barbee, a junior from Dakota Dunes, S.D., finished in a tie for fifth place, securing his eighth top five finish of his junior campaign. Barbee, with rounds of 77, 71 and 72 recorded a team-
best total of 220 strokes.
The Jayhawks' lineup also featured Blake Giroux, a sophomore from Omaha, Neb., who saw his first action in a tournament since September.
Playing as an individual, Giroux capitalized on the opportunity and finished in a tie for 15th place.
Dan Waite, a freshman from Surrey, England, also finished in a tie for 15th place individually.
He shot a 72 Tuesday, which was his best round of the tournament.
"Dan played solid again this week and that is really building his confidence," Grove said.
Fellow freshmen Alex Gutesha.
from Greenwood Village, Colo., and Chris Gilbert, from Simi Valley, Calif., rounded out the lajayhawks' lineup. Gutesha finished in a tie for 26th place with a three-round total of 228 strokes and Gilbert finished in a tie for 42nd place with a total 232.
Every team gets to drop the worst score by one player in each round on the final day. Grove said he was happy with the score they dropped.
"We threw out a 76 today and that is pretty impressive," Grove said. "Wed like all our scores to be 75 or below."
Kansas will play in its final tournament before the Big 12
championship April 12 and 13 when the team heads to Columbia, Mo., to play in the Missouri Intercollegiate.
"We're making improvements every week," Grove said. "We're getting better at finishing off rounds and becoming more consistent, so I'm excited about what we can do in Columbia."
The layhawks are looking forward to next week, especially after Tuesday's performance.
"We still haven't played to our full potential this year and if we do we can definitely win the whole tournament," Hackenberg said.
Edited by Kirsten Hudson
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Huskies scratch their way to win national title
Connecticut secures 78th straight victory defeats Stanford
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Every basket built their streak, every romp enriched their legacy.
From the first shot of the season, it seemed inevitable that Maya Moore, Tina Charles and the Connecticut Huskies would win the NCAA championship.
And so they did Tuesday night, rallying from a horrible first half to beat Stanford 53-47 for their 78th straight victory and stamping themselves as one of the most dominant teams ever — in their sport or any other, men or women.
Held to only five points through the first 12 minutes and
running 26 to
at the break,
coach Geno
Ariemmana
team bounced
back and played
like champs.
Moore
the game's
outstanding
player, scored
23 points
school at which she served as provost for six years.
Stanford played a nearly flawless defensive first half, holding UConn to 12 points — the lowest ever in a championship game and the lowest in school history.
But then Moore and the Huskies took over.
She visited with the team at a morning shootaround offering words of encouragement. Rice had hoped to see the Cardinal win their third championship and first since 1992.
Her 3-pointer from the top of the key made it 23-22, giving UConn its first lead since it was 5-0. That ended a 19-minute stretch in which UConn was behind — the longest
UConn opened the second half by scoring 17 of the first 19 points to take its first lead since early in the game. Moore had 11 points during the spurt, scoring from all over the court.
UConn scored the fewest first-half points (12) in school history before becoming the first school to ever have consecutive unbeaten seasons.
and grabbed 11 rebounds to
help Auriemma win his seventh
national championship, moving
within one title of Pat Summitt
and Tennessee. He's never lost in
the title game.
They've been unstoppable over the past two years, winning every game by double figures until Tuesday night, and passing their own NCAA women's record of 70 straight wins set from 2001-03 in early March. The championship victory put them within 10 of the vaunted 8-game winning streak set by the UCLA men in the early 1970s.
The Huskies became the first team ever to have consecutive unbeaten seasons, but that doesn't cover it.
Charles added nine points, 11 rebounds, and 6 blocks for UConn (39-0) in front of a crowd of 22,936 that included Vice President Joe Biden as well as former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. While Biden showed impartiality in his cheering, Rice was rooting on Stanford — the
the Huskies UConn had trailed this season. The only time that the Huskies were behind more than 10 minutes during this season also had been against Stanford
Moore followed up her 3 with a sweet jumper and a layup on the break after Charles had blocked Nnemkadi Ogwumike on the other end.
JJ Hones' 3-pointer with 11:46 left in the game cut the deficit to 29-25, but then Charles made her presence felt, scoring seven of the Huskies next nine points to make it 38-27 with 7:42 left.
Stanford would only get as close as five the rest of the way. UConn let the Cardinal close the gap late making just 9 of 22 free throws.
This was the sixth time the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the final AP Top 25 poll met for the title. The last came in 2002 when UConn beat Oklahoma in San Antonio
Red Sox hand over victory to Yankees
Connecticut's Caroline Doty signals to her teammates as she runs up court during the second half Tuesday night. The Huskies Maya Moore scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, helping coach Geno Auriemma win his seventh national championship.
MLB
BOSTON — Hideki Okajima walked Nick Johnson to score the tiebreaking run after a costly error by shortstop Marco Scutaro loaded the bases, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-4 Tuesday night.
outs in the eighth. But his throw went in the dirt and off first baseman Kevin Youkilis' glove. Then Okajima (1-1) walked Johnson, scoring Jorge Posada and making the score 5-4.
Scutaro, part of Boston's offseason emphasis on improving its run prevention, fielded Derek Jeter's routine grounder with two
Alfredo Aceves (1-0) pitched two hitless innings and Mariano Rivera got his first save of the year and 527th of his career, the most in AL history.
Robinson Cano added his first homer of the year in the ninth.
ASSOCIATED PRES.
Associated Press
Stanford's Kayla Pedersen drives past Connecticut's Tiffany Fayes, right, in the first half Tuesday night. The Cardinal put on a defensive show, holding the heralded Huskers to just 12 first-half points, the lowest in school history. With its six-point defeat, Stanford became the only UConn opponent this season to lose by fewer than 10 points.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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