Kansan file photo

Senior guard Aquanita Burras, goes for a layup Feb. 16 against Texas Tech. Burras is one of the only two seniors on the team that will play tonight in the Senior’s Night game against Baylor.

Playing a home game against a top-10 team that sits atop the Big 12 Conference should make tonight’s game with No. 6 Baylor the most memorable of the season.

For at least two other Jayhawks, though, the showdown will represent something much more significant.

To seniors Aquanita Burras and Blair Waltz, tonight will embody the grandest of finales: Senior Night.

Baylor enters the game with a 21-3 record and an 11-2 mark in the Big 12.

As the conference’s top team comes to Lawrence, emotions will run high for Burras and Waltz, who will play the final game of their college careers at 7 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.

Although the attempt might prove to be impossible, Burras said she would try to put aside the sentimental aspect and focus on the business at hand.

“Even though it’s senior night, I can’t get my emotions up high and get too pumped up,” Burras said.

Following her freshman year at Central Arizona Community College during the 2001-02 season, Burras transferred to Kansas for her remaining three years of eligibility and has found a home in the Jayhawk starting lineup. She has been a mainstay since her arrival, and tonight’s match-up will be her 82nd consecutive start.

During her tenure as a Jayhawk, the 5-foot-9 guard from Colorado Springs, Colo., has acquired a reputation for hard work and unrivaled defensive pressure.

Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said Burras made an immediate name for herself during the early stages of the season.

“She’s been a defensive leader since we got here,” Henrickson said. “I told her the first week of practice that she might be the best on-ball defender I’ve ever coached.”

Burras leads the team in steals and sets the defensive tone on a team that has held every Big 12 opponent under its scoring average.

Henrickson credits both Burras and Waltz with showing the type of leadership expected from seasoned seniors, especially during a transitional period in the program.

“They might have different roles, but both have important roles,” Henrickson said. “Both, from day one, have bought in and have tried to say the right thing and do the right thing in the face of all of this change.”

Although Burras has faced only the prospect of adapting to a new system, Waltz has found herself in an entirely different scenario than her previous three years.

In her first three seasons as a Jayhawk, the guard/forward averaged 17 starts a season. This season she has started only two games.

“How she has handled it speaks volumes to how she’ll handle adversity the rest of her life,” Henrickson said.

Waltz is the only four-year senior on Kansas’ roster, but has not received a great degree of media attention because of her diminished playing role on this year’s squad. Still, Henrickson heaps praise on the work ethic of the 6-foot Leawood native.

“Blair isn’t in the stories a lot in terms of minutes, but that kid comes right every day to work hard,” Henrickson said. “You can’t discount or under-appreciate a lady like that.”

Bouncing off a 67-53 victory against Nebraska, the Kansas seniors will try to fuse their emotion with budding confidence to pull off the upset.

Standing in their way are the Baylor Bears, who have won eight straight games.

Even though Henrickson’s team, 12-12 (5-8 Big 12), may seem vastly over-matched on paper, the coach said she knew that anything could happen with this team and at home.

“We’re foolish enough to think we’ve got a chance every single night,” Henrickson said. “Certainly to have the opponent to play at home will be a great opportunity for us.”