8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBUARY 25, 2008
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Weston White / KANSAN
Sophomore guard Danielle McCray drives to the basket for a layup over Missouri forward Jessra Johnson. McCray drew a blocking foul on the play and converted the free throw, finishing 2-3 from the line with 19 points in a 62-59 loss to Missouri Sunday afternoon at Mizouza Arena.
Weston White / KANSAN
Kansas players look on in dismay during the final moments of a 59-62 loss to Missouri Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
Kansas loses in Border Showdown
Only three Big 12 games remain
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Kansas learned just how quickly momentum can shift during Sunday afternoon's Border Showdown against Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
Down by 11 and fighting to keep the game within reach after seven lackluster second-half minutes, Kansas looked to have a slim chance of winning its first Big 12 road contest. With a little more than 11 minutes left, the energy finally looked to be shifting Kansas' way. Sophomore guard Danielle McCray drained consecutive three-pointers to bring Kansas within five and quiet the Mizzou Arena crowd.
As quickly as the Jayhawks found some hope, Missouri junior guard Alyssa Hollins snatched it back. Hollins' prayer from behind the arc with one second on the shot clock gave Missouri an eight-point lead it would never relinquish.
Hollins took over the game in the second half, scoring 22 points, including 19 of the Tigers' final 24 points. Despite heading to the locker room with only five points at halftime, Hollins said she found her offensive rhythm in the second half.
"I've always been streaky so when I get them to go down I just keep putting them up" she said.
Hollins' 27 points were enough to give Missouri a three-point victory at 62-59; just its second in conference play. Coach Bonnie Henrickson said although her team did a good job containing Hollins in the first half, she knew it would be difficult to stop the talented junior if she got enough touches offensively.
"What we were supposed to do was not let her catch it," Henrickson said. "She's a lot easier to guard when she doesn't have the ball in her hands."
With the loss, the Jayhawks are now 0-7 on the road in Big 12 conference play. Henrickson said to win on the road her team has to maintain its focus and intensity for the majority of 40 minutes. This is something they have rarely done this season.
"We have to have better sustained effort for 40 minutes," Henrickson said. "Right now we ebb and flow and we take plays off. I think from the tip we don't have the defensive intensity."
Even more importantly, Henrickson said Kansas couldn't continue to commit unforced errors and expect to have a chance to win. The Jayhawks committed 19 turnovers to eight assists while the Tigers recorded 13 assists to 11 giveaways.
"Offensively, the number one thing for us is that we do not value the ball and we throw it around," Henrickson said. "Half of those turnovers don't make any sense."
Kansas will have to start making sense of their offensive carelessness with only three Big 12 games remaining. Though the Jayhawks have made a habit of showing signs of progress in nearly every game, Henrickson said its time her young team started turning that progress into wins.
"We have shown great signs of resiliency," Henrickson said. "But you have got to string enough possessions together that you come out of here feeling better about yourself."
— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
》 BOXING
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wladimir Kiltschko, of Ukraine, punches Sultan Ibrahimov, of Russia, right, during the first round of a championship unification boxing match Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kiltschko won the fight.
Ukrainian eases in to win
BY GREG BEACHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — With one round to go in a dreary dominant performance, even Wladimir Klitschko's trainer implored him to provide a thrill for a whistling, booing Madison Square Garden crowd that had been promised heavyweight action.
"You have to knock him out, or this is going to be bad," Emanuel Steward pleaded with Klitschko in an exchange picked up by HBO's microphones before the final round of his fight with Sultan Ibragimov.
Klitschko wouldn't do it, sticking with his plan to slap and poke his smaller opponent into oblivion. He might not always be exciting, but he's probably the best heavyweight around — and he's one belt closer to the being undisputed champion.
Far too strong and much too long, Klitschko barely took a punch while winning a unanimous decision Saturday night, defending his IBF
title and claiming Ibragimov's WBO belt in the first heavyweight unification fight in nearly nine years.
"I'm happy to have three belts," said Klitschko, who also holds the IBO title. "I'm happy to get the WBO belt back. That was the first title I had."
Klitschko, the chess-playing Ph.D. from a famed Ukrainian fighting family, used physics and simple geometry to remove nearly all risk from his meeting with Ibragimov, the previously unbeaten Russian underdog. The 6-foot-7 Klitschko is at least a half-foot taller and 20 pounds heavier than Ibragimov, who constantly appeared to be flailing against a mean-spirited older brother.
With little more than an insistent jab, Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) slapped and herded ibragimov around the ring in front of a crowd of 14.011.
"He was very difficult to fight," Klitschko said. "He kept backing off. He's very careful, but the result counts."
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Rookie hopes for backup job
MLB
BY ARNIE STAPLETON ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Just all these guys that have been there where I want to be, it's important for a young guy to look at them, see how they carry themselves, see how they take care of their business and go about their daily routines," Smith said.
TUCSON, Ariz. — It seems Seth Smith has been watching and waiting his whole life.
The 25-year-old rookie who helped fuel the Colorado Rockies' remarkable run to the World Series with his clutch bat off the bench is among four outfielders competing for two backup jobs with the NL champions.
"Backing up Eli definitely helps me with patience," Smith said. "But at the same time, instead of worrying about when it is going to be my time, you kind of worry about what you can learn from the guy who's doing it right now."
Nowadays, his teacher is right fielder Brad Hawpe, although Smith watches others such as Todd Helton and Matt Holliday with a keen eve, too.
Smith never did displace Manning as the first-string quarterback at Mississippi, where he didn't take a snap in three seasons. But he went to Oxford to play baseball anyway, and on the diamond he was the star, not the stand-in.
Being an understudy is nothing new to Smith, who spent his college football career as Eli Manning's backup at Ole Miss. So he knows all about biding his time and picking up tips from the stars.
Smith has his work cut out for him as he tries to beat out last year's incumbent backup outfielders Cory Sullivan and Ryan Spilborghs, along
"That's the first time you can sit back and enjoy what just happened." Smith said. "When it's happening, you're worried about winning baseball games and taking care of business. But then you get into the offseason and you reflect on the emotions and the ups and downs and the victories and defeats that you've just gone through. Hopefully I'll feed off my experiences from last September and October."
He produced key pinch hits against Philadelphia and Arizona after earning a spot on the playoff roster by going 5-for-8 in his September call-up.
The Rockies drafted Smith in the second round in 2004, and after a quick rise through the ranks, which included 17 homers and 82 RBIs at Triple-A Colorado Springs last year, Smith made his major league debut last September on the night the Rockies began their 21-1 run-up to the World Series.
When the season ended, he reclined in disbelief at his .571 batting average against big league pitching.
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Colorado Rockies' Seth Smith runs sprints during baseball spring training Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
from wires
with free agent Scott Podsednik
Sullivan is the team's top defensive outfielder and hit .286 in 72 games last season. Spilborghs often filled in for an injured Willy Taveras in center field and hit .299 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs in 97 games.
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Podsednik said he was healthy again after two injury-riddled seasons, and if so, he could provide the Rockies with some speed on the basepaths following the departure of Kaz Matsui to Houston and also insurance should Taveras' leg injuries dog him again this season.
"Obviously, you've got to like some of the things some of the guys we've had for a while," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Sullivan acclimated to that role so well last year, a role he'd struggled in previously. Spilborghs was like your sixth man in basketball. But also you're talking about another left-handed bat. With Podsednik, you got a guy who's a legitimate leadoff hitter with speed. Maybe we can rekline him."
Hurdle bristled, however, when it was suggested Smith had no shot behind those three.
"You cannot overlook what he was able to bring to the table late in the season," Hurdle said. "He has that going for him."
Smith also will get a look in center field in mid-March, which "would make him a much more attractive fit," Hurdle said.