No one wanted to forget about defense. But there really wasn’t a choice. The regular season opener at Allen Fieldhouse swiveled heads of fans back and forth like a seesaw on loose hinges.

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Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Oral Roberts

The Jayhawks opened their 2009-10 regular season on Sunday, Nov. 15 against Oral Roberts. Behind 27 points from senior guard Danielle McCray and 24 points from sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland, Kansas defeated Oral Roberts 106-80.

Kansas defeated Oral Roberts 106-80 in a contest of who could get to the hoop faster. There were 28 total points scored in the first four minutes of the game, 16 by Kansas.

“It ended up being a possession game,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “Both teams were back and forth.”

Janae Voelker led Oral Roberts with 29 points and 9 rebounds. Voelker’s cross-court heaves opened up shots for her teammates, as the Golden Eagles finished with 29 three-point attempts. Freshman guard Kevi Luper surprised everyone but her coach, finishing with 24 points. Oral Roberts seemed to get a shot off in under five seconds on nearly every possession. Oral Roberts trailed by a 22-point halftime deficit.

“They came out and hit almost everything,” Voelker said.

Defensively, Oral Roberts played in a 3-2 zone for most of the game. The formation hassled Kansas’ point guards into turnovers and hesitation.

“Them being spread out kinda messed with us,” freshman guard Angel Goodrich said.

But Kansas’ offensive proved to be too much for Oral Roberts.

Senior guard-forward Danielle McCray earned a double-double, finishing the game with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

“Coach challenged me today for getting on the boards,” McCray said. “That really helped me get going.”

The shallow coverage in the post enabled sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland and junior center Krysten Boogaard to draw fouls and convert easy shots.

“I noticed they didn’t watch me sneak in the back,” Sutherland said. “I just looked for a lob.”

Together Sutherland and Boogaard finished with 43 points, 18 rebounds and 5 blocks.

“The pace was good,” Sutherland said. “We ran the floor a lot.”

Oral Roberts opened the second half on a 14-6 run and threatened a comeback by throwing Goodrich out of sync and consistently finding Voelker and Luper for buckets with extra passes in the paint.

“We’ve got to find something inside of us to be better out of the gate,” Henrickson said.

But after a timeout, Kansas forced a five-second violation on an attempted inbound pass and a backcourt violation.

With 12 minutes to go and the lead at 21, Kevi Luper fell to the ground and was called for a travel.

After surviving their first test of the regular season, the Jayhawks will head to Iowa City, Iowa, this Wednesday to take on the Hawkeyes in a Big 10 vs. the Big 12 meeting.

“We expect a great challenge,” Henrickson said. “There’s gonna be a big ol’ bull’s eye.”

— Edited by Alicia Banister