KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010 / SPORTS
5B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Seniors changed the court
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Senior guard Danielle McCray walks onto the court with her family after her last home game. Senior guards McCray, Sade Morris, LaChelda Jacobs and Kelly Kohn and forward Porsche Weddington will all be graduating this spring.
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
twitter.com/maxrothman
Five seniors strolled off James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse for the final time Saturday, leaving it a better place than they found it.
Guards Danielle McCray, Sade Morris, LaChelda Jacobs and Kelly Kohn and forward Porscha Weddington could have taken their games elsewhere, perhaps to a more traditional women's basketball powerhouse.
Instead, they gave coach Bonnie Henrickson and her renovation project a shot.
"You're talking about five kids, when they had a decision to come here, took a chance on us trying to rebuild a program." Henrickson said.
Following a 2005-06 season in which Kansas finished 17-13 overall, uncertainties loomed in the future. The Jayhawks' three leading scorers, Crystal Kemp, Erica Hallman and Kaylee Brown, all graduated.
Then the next batch of freshmen piled in and the culture of Kansas women's basketball changed. It took two years of rebuilding, but in the 2008-09 season, the Jayhawks won 22 games, the most in Henrickson's tenure at Kansas.
The defining victories included a 58-47 upset against No. 21 Iowa State and a 69-45 victory against No. 5 Baylor.
"I'll be forever grateful and in debt to those five kids who chose here to try to be difference makers," Henrickson said. "That's not easy when you're young."
Morris and McCray headline the class that revamped the program. But even they had their doubts at first.
"I'll never forget, we always complained about the very first week that we got here in the summer," Morris said. "It was like 'Oh my God, I can't believe I'm doing all this. Basketball isn't supposed to be this hard'"
Going from celebrity status as high school seniors to freshmen at the University was a difficult transition for some.
Long days of weight lifting and sprinting were new and initially unwelcome.
"I remember looking at Danielle one day after we got done working out and I could barely open my eyes." Morris said. "We just laugh about it now. It's
just how far we've come. I can't believe that we made it that far after thinking, 'Man, I don't want to do this anymore.'
But they kept going.
Morris finished her career at the University ranking sixth all time in minutes played (3,634
minutes),tied for third in games played (127 games) and widely considered one of the greatest defenders in the program's history.
Even after her senior season was cut short by an ACL injury, McCray finished her career as the fourth leading scorer (1,934 points) in school history, among nine other all time categories where she sits in the top 10.
"I'm proud of what we've accomplished and what we've built," Morris said. "It's been a struggle for us seniors, but we had a lot of fun. We grew as teammates and as people."
WNIT appearance to come, the seniors can look past the numbers and recognize their vast influence on the future.
But the statistics pale in comparison to the less tangible effects of this class's four years at the University.
"You've got to look at the bigger picture. We came into the program here to try to build it up. We brought 16,000 people here
A victory in Manhattan. A conference championship. An NCAA tournament run.
This class once dreamed of a prettier picture at the end of the road.
But despite an injury-ridden senior season with a 15-14 record and likely another
"You're talking about five kids, when they had a decision to come here, took a chance on us trying to rebuild a program."
BONNIE HENRICKSON Coach
last year."
last year,
Kohn
said of
last year's
WNIT
champion-
ship game.
"We've
done a lot
of good
things
here — in
the community, on
the court."
After Saturday's 78-54 loss, the seniors strolled onto the court, parents on both arms, tears trickling down their cheeks, roses dropping at their feet and thousands of fans standing in ovation.
Henrickson greeted each family with huts and brief words.
Then, together, they walked off the court one last time. As seniors. As teammates. As family.
"Like a group of sisters. We've been through everything together. You go through every type of experience in four years, that really brings you closer together," Kohn said. "Nobody can really understand that besides us five. I think that's the most special thing."
MLB
Edited by Katie Blankenau
A-Rod's doctor under investigation
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sports doctor at the center of drug investigations in Canada and the United States said Monday he treated Alex Rodriguez after the Yankees slugger had hip surgery last year. He said he prescribed anti-inflammatories, but not human growth hormone.
Dr. Anthony Galea also told The Associated Press that an assistant who was stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border in Buffalo, N.Y., last year was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH — which Galea said was for his own use. The doctor reiterated that he has never given the drug to an athlete.
"They made it look like I had 100 vials. I had one little vial and two doses were for me and you think that someone along the line would ask "Well how much is there?"
"I only brought enough for her to do two injections into me because I was away for two nights," said Galea, who believes authorities and the media have exaggerated the accusations involving him and his practice.
Rodriguez and other highprofile baseball players including Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran
have been contacted by U.S. federal investigators regarding Galea. Reyes and Beltran each say they did not receive HGH from Galea.
Rodriguez said last week he was "aware" of the investigation and plans to cooperate with the government. He declined comment again when asked about Galea after he left New York's spring training game Monday against the Pittsburgh.
the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Galea said that he helped with Rodriguez's rehabilitation from hip surgery last March.
agreement likely would hinge on whether treatment was elective or necessary.
He is facing four charges in Canada related to the drug known as Actovegin, which is used as another healing technique.
The drug, extracted from calf's blood and used for healing, is not approved for sale in Canada, but doctors can prescribe it if they
"I'll be forever grateful and in debt to those fice kids who chose here to try to be difference makers."
DR. ANTHONY GALEA
Sports doctor for Alex Rodriguez
damaged," Galea said in an interview at his clinic. "He needed anti-inflammatories for his hip. I was basically helping in the rehab."
The Yankees released a statement last Monday saying they never authorized Galea to treat the slugger. If Rodriguez was treated without club consent, any attempt to determine whether he violated his record $275 million, 10-year contract, its guarantee language or baseball's collective bargaining
informpatients about what it is. Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States; it is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The 51-year-old Galea says
that he's taken HGH — which is banned by the major sports — for a decade because it can improve the quality of life for people over 40.
He became the focus of authorities' attention last year when his assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, was stopped at the border. U.S. federal court documents say "20 vials and 76 ampoules of unknown misbranded drugs.
ΣΦE & ΣK
CANDYLAND
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Rock Chalk Revue
Best in Show Best Production by a chorus Best Costumes
Best Choreography Best Pre-Show Video Best Supporting Female
X0, the "Gingerbread"men of SigEp
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Huskies headed for second No.1 season
The Huskies won their NCAA record 71st straight game Monday night, beating No. 6 Notre Dame 59-44 in the Big East tournament semifinals.The
NEW YORK—A few more wins and Connecticut is set to become the second team to run through two straight seasons as the No.1 team in women's basketball.
The Huskies are No. 1 in The Associated Press women's Top 25 for a 42nd straight time over a two-year span after receiving all 40 first-place votes from the AP's media panel.
Louisiana Tech is the only team to pull off the feat, from 1980-82. In all only six teams have run through the poll from start to finish at No. 1 — including three times by UConn.
victory broke their own mark set from 2001-03.
Stanford, Nebraska, Tennessee and Xavier round out the top 5 for the third straight week. Duke moved up two places to seventh after winning its first ACC conference tournament since 2004 on Sunday. Ohio State climbed to eighth after winning the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes were followed by West Virginia and Florida State. Both teams dropped two spots.
Texas A&M jumped four spots to 11th and was followed by Oklahoma and Georgetown. The Hoyas were followed by three more Big 12 teams — Iowa State, Texas and Baylor.
UCLA entered the poll for the first time since 2006. Virginia was the only team to drop out.
MLB
Associated Press
DeRosa steps up with single swing
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—One pitch, one swing and Mark DeRosa showed the kind of threat he can be for San Francisco's offense.
DeRosa lined a sharp single over shortstop Omar Vizquel's head in his debut at-bat after being limited following October wrist surgery, and the Giants beat the Chicago White Sox 6-2 on Tuesday.
Fred Lewis and Buster Posey hit consecutive homers in the eighth for San Francisco.
The game was delayed an hour by heavy rain in the desert.
White Sox starter John Danks struck out four over three scoreless innings. He has not given up a run in his five spring innings.
Associated Press
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