Jayhawks suffer Tech defeat

Henrickson disappointed in team’s lack of effort, focus

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry had a lot to say to her team at halftime after allowing Kansas to go up 33-21 at the break.

photo

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Guard Danielle McCray shoots a jump shot over Texas Tech forward Ashlee Roberson in Lubbock, Texas last night. Texas Tech slipped away with a victory. The Lady Raiders capitalized on Jayhawk turnovers during the second half of the game. The score was 65-61.

Curry felt her message was so important that she kept the Lady Raiders in the locker room longer than usual, preventing them from getting any practice shots before the second half began.

Curry’s pep talk was all the warm-up Texas Tech needed, though, as the team erased Kansas’ lead with an 18-4 run and hung on to win 65-61.

“The first six minutes of the second half, we didn’t have an answer to their run,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “We just didn’t play with the toughness that I thought we did in the first half.”

The Jayhawks led by at least eight points for much of the first half thanks to solid three-point shooting, their ability to capitalize on turnovers and 13 points from center Krysten Boogaard. Kansas hit 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and scored 12 points off of 17 Texas Tech turnovers.

In the second half, though, the two teams seemed to switch uniforms because everything that Kansas was doing to Texas Tech early, Texas Tech did to Kansas late.

Lady Raiders’ forward Dominic Seals started to dominate the post, scoring 12 second half points while the switch to a 2-3 zone defense nullified Boogaard.

“The zone really got us out of rhythm,” Henrickson said. “There was no purpose or intent to go away from her (Boogaard), but I thought we just lost our poise and started jacking up some shots.”

Kansas (15-10, 4-8) couldn’t handle Texas Tech’s pressure and turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes. The Lady Raiders (15-11, 3-9) were incredibly efficient with the Jayhawks’ nine second half turnovers, scoring 16 points off of them.

Texas Tech guard Maria Moore scored two of those points when she stole the ball and went the length of the court for a layup to put her team up 38-37 with 14:12 remaining. Kansas would never regain the lead.

The Jayhawks did have a chance late in the game as freshman forward Nicollette Smith hit two free throws to pull the deficit back to three with 47 seconds on the clock.

However, Lady Raider guard Jordan Murphree made a jump shot with 21 seconds left despite being surrounded by three Jayhawk defenders.

Sophomore guard Sade Morris was given an easy layup with 12 seconds to go, but Texas Tech pushed the margin back to four with a free throw and Kansas failed to get off a final shot.

The loss drops Kansas to 0-6 in Big 12 road games.

“We’ve got to grow up and show some toughness because everybody’s fighting for something,” Henrickson said. “It will come down to players making plays and playing with some toughness whether you’re at home or on the road.”

In all, the Jayhawks had four players score in double figures – Boogaard (17), guard Danielle McCray (15), Smith (11) and Morris (11) – but they also had six players commit at least two turnovers.

“You’ve got to be able to sustain great effort, great focus and concentration,” Henrickson said. “And we just didn’t do that.”

—Edited by Madeline Hyden

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement