Breaking News

Freshmen get chance to play exhibition

By Max Rothman

Friday, November 6, 2009

Exhibition games may not count toward regular season records. But the way the women’s basketball team is preparing, you’d never know it.

photo

Photo by Ryan Waggoner

Junior forward Nicollette Smith dives to maintain possession of the ball. In their first game of the 2009-10 season, the Jayhawks beat Pittsburgh State, 86-56.

“I’m not gonna approach it any differently,” sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland said. “I’m gonna play it like every other game — I’m gonna work hard.”

Key to the game:

Offensive rebounds

Against Pitt state the Jayhawks out rebounded the Gorillas by a 50-39 margin. The problem with that statistic, though, is that only 14 of the 50 rebounds came from the offensive glass. Coach Bonnie Henrickson and her team view this area as an advantage going in to the game against Pittsburg State. The Jayhawks should have ample opportunity to get things turned around against a small line up from Emporia State.

Keep an eye on:

Krysten Boogaard

Boogaard, a junior center, was quiet in the first half of her 2009-2010 preseason debut as she didn’t even attempt a shot from the field. She turned it up a little in the second half to finish four of five from the field for a total of thirteen points. Against an Emporia State line up where she has a three-inch advantage against their tallest players, Boogaard has a chance to put up big numbers. At the very least, she has an excellent chance to improve upon the measly two rebounds she grabbed against Pitt. State.

What to watch for:

Emporia State’s senior guard Cassondra Boston

When the Hornets and the Jayhawks last met two years ago, Boston lit the Jayhawks up for 29 points. Her contributions almost led to a stunning upset as Kansas barely snuck out a ten point overtime victory against their in-state foes. As the rematch looms this Sunday, the Hornets will enter Allen Fieldhouse with a number seven national ranking in the Division II coaches poll, thanks in large part to the talent of Brown. The Jayhawks will hope to contain the stellar senior athlete by trying to force her, a strong right-handed player, to go left more often than not.

Quote of the day:

“I think the consequences of making a bad defensive decision or a bad offensive decision is more magnified when someone can make you pay for that.”

— Coach Bonnie Henrickson on playing talented teams in exhibition games

— Andrew Taylor

Kansas will play host to Emporia State Sunday at 2 p.m. as a final test before the official start of the regular season. After finishing 26-6 last season, the Lady Hornets are ranked No. 7 in the WBCA/USA Today/ESPN preseason coaches poll. The team has spent 90 consecutive weeks in the Division II top 25.

The Lady Hornets are led by Cassondra Boston, who averaged 14.9 points per game last season.

“The Boston kid tore us up two years ago,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Though last week’s 86-56 bashing of Pittsburg State looked pretty on paper, the off-season cobwebs were still hanging around. Last week’s dominating offensive display, most notably from sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland and senior guard Danielle McCray, helped camouflage a glaring weakness: 20 turnovers.

Henrickson said there was no excuse for 20 turnovers.

However, Kansas did negate more than half of these errors with 11 total steals. That’s further evidence that a suffocating defense can open up so much for a juggernaut offense.

“Steals and turnovers get us in numbers where we’ve got two on one, three on one, three on two,” Henrickson said. “Those lead to high percentage shots.”

If Kansas can open up an early lead like they did last weekend, Henrickson will once again have the ability to allocate some valuable minutes to her bench.

Co-captain and junior forward Nicolette Smith were tied for second in playtime on the team with 23 minutes played, but the younger players also got a little taste of college ball.

“It’s experience for the young kids, just getting an opportunity to play with a crowd and in their uniforms,” Henrickson said.

Freshman guard Monica Engelman may have benefited the most from the lead, logging 12 of her 16 minutes in the second half.

“I think for my first game, I did all right,” Engelman said. “I just took it as a learning experience.”

Engelman said that she got a little anxious in her debut, forcing some shots that she normally would never take

“The pace is obviously completely different,” Engelman said. “There’s a lot more people here. It’s a different atmosphere.”

No matter who is in there, starters or reserves, a main focus will be on playing consistently solid defense.

“Before you can even think about offense, you need to play defense,” Sutherland said.

Kansas will be all business this Sunday. This one counts more than it shows.

“It prepares us and makes it more game-like,” Henrickson said.

— Edited by Adam Mowder

Comments

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

Advertisement