Monday, February 18, 2008
Sometimes free throw shooting just can’t be explained. Just ask Nebraska coach Connie Yori. During the course of a 20 point victory in Lincoln in January, Yori’s team made an astounding 30 of 32 free throws to blow out the Jayhawks.
Sunday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse the Cornhuskers never found their touch from the line, eventually losing 62-61 while making 17-34 free throws.
Freshman center Krysten Boogaard congratulates sophomore guard Danielle McCray after McCray sank the first of her two free-throw attempts, which gave the Jayhawks a 62-61 lead with just more than one second to go in the game. McCray led the Jayhawks with 13 points and 10 rebounds, recording her fifth double-double of the season.
“I think free throw shooting is the funniest thing in coaching,” Yori said. “You just don’t always understand it. Why do you make them on this day and not on this day? And today was the day we didn’t make them and it was costly for us.”
Although the Jayhawks will count this as the victory that may turn their season around, the Cornhuskers will mark it down as an opportunity lost. While Nebraska missed 17 times from the free-throw stripe, sophomore guard Danielle McCray delivered when Kansas most desperately needed it.
With 1.4 seconds remaining and the score knotted at 61, the Big 12’s third best free-throw shooter stepped to the line with the game in her hands. After making the first, McCray intentionally missed the second to seal Kansas’ third conference victory in its last four games.
“We just knocked ours down and were praying that they would miss theirs,” McCray said.
While McCray took home the glory, lesser-known Jayhawks stepped up to put her in the position to do so. Most noticeable was mercurial sophomore guard LaChelda Jacobs, whose aggressive and composed play late in the game helped keep the Jayhawks from folding.
“I think she stepped up big today,” freshman forward Nicollette Smith said. “She hit a lot of tough shots for us.”
Jacobs finished with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds and gave Kansas a ball handler with the athleticism to combat Nebraska’s Yvonne Turner. Although Turner picked the sophomore’s pocket in the backcourt and scored to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to two with just under four minutes remaining, Jacobs stayed calm.
“I knew that for us to win the game I couldn’t have another turnover,” Jacobs said. “So I just stayed focused, stayed composed and we came out with a big win.”
Coach Bonnie Henrickson said in the past she may have had to take Jacobs out of the game to calm down after such a frustrating and costly turnover. Henrickson said it was a testament to Jacobs mental and emotional growth that she was able to buckle down and help pull out a victory.
“Like Danielle has grown up emotionally, she has started to grow up emotionally,” Henrickson said.
That emotional growth has fueled Kansas’ resurgence after starting Big 12 Conference play 1-7. Though Nebraska missed 17 priceless opportunities to change the outcome, Kansas battled and showed a resiliency that they didn’t show last month in Lincoln.
“We knew it was going to be a great challenge to come in here and beat them,” Yori said. “They’re an improved basketball team. They are a young team that has made a step.”
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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