Women's Basketball Hosts New Mexico State Sunday Afternoon

Jan. 2, 2009

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Game Notes in PDF Format

OPENING TIP

The University of Kansas women’s basketball team hosts New Mexico State on Sunday, Jan. 4 to open the 2009 portion of its schedule. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m., in Allen Fieldhouse, with a live broadcast on Sunflower Cablevision. KU (9-2) is trying to pick up its third-straight win as the Jayhawks have knocked off Pepperdine and Houston in their last two outings. New Mexico State enters the contest with an 4-9 overall mark.

FAST BREAKS

-Kansas is playing the second of three-straight home games when it welcomes New Mexico State to Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks defeated Houston, 73-56, on Dec. 31 and will host Fairfield on Wednesday, Jan. 7, before hitting the road for their Big 12 Conference opener at Kansas State.

-The Jayhawks are 9-2 for the second-straight season under head coach Bonnie Henrickson.

-Junior guard-forward Danielle McCray was dominant in KU’s win over Houston, posting 26 points and nine rebounds. McCray made 11-of-20 shots from the field and also collected three steals. On the season, McCray is the top Jayhawk in both scoring and rebounding as she averages 19.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

-Senior guard Ivana Catic cracked the starting line-up for the first time this season in the Houston game. Catic, who started 30 games as a junior, replaced junior LaChelda Jacobs at the point guard position. Catic finished the game with three points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals.

-Kansas is making 47.4 percent of its shots from the field. The Jayhawks made a season-best 67.9 percent of their shots at Pepperdine. The Jayhawks were especially hot in the second half versus the Waves as they connected on 18-of-23 buckets. On the season, five Jayhawks are shooting better than 50 percent from the field.

-KU is sharing the ball well as it collected 171 assists on its 303 field goals. Kansas is averaging 15.5 assists per game, compared to just 8.1 for its opponents. Junior guard LaChelda Jacobs leads KU in assists with 64 on the season. Junior guard Sade Morris had collected 31 assists and senior guard Ivana Catic has 33 dimes.

A LOOK AT NEW MEXICO STATE

New Mexico State arrives in Lawrence with a 4-9 mark after falling at Illinois-Chicago in its last outing. NMSU is led by sophomore guard Madison Spence with 14.5 points per game, while fellow sophomore guard Danisha Corbett is also in double figures with 12.2 points per game. Tabytha Wampler comes off the bench to lead the Aggies on the boards with 5.5 rebounds per game. Corbett and senior forward Niki Holt each pull down 4.5 caroms per contest. Spence leads NMSU in assists with 28 on the season, while Corbett is the top Aggie in steals with 25 thefts on the year. Spence has knocked down 60-of-131 shots from the floor, good for 45.1 percent. She has gone to the line 59 times, making 47 of her attempts, good for 79.7 percent. Head coach Darin Spence is in his sixth season with the Aggies, having collected a 74-91 coaching record at NMSU. His overall coaching mark is 389-171 in his 18th season in the business.

KU-NEW MEXICO STATE SERIES HISTORY

New Mexico State leads the all-time series with Kansas 1-0. The Aggies claimed a 64-62 win over the Jayhawks in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 3, 1987 in the only game in the series. The following is the series history:

Date Result Location

1-3-87 New Mexico St., 69-67 Honolulu, Hawaii

A LOOK AT KANSAS

Kansas is off to a 9-2 start to the 2008-09 season behind the strong play of its junior class. Led by a trio of guards in Danielle McCray, Sade Morris and LaChelda Jacobs, the Jayhawks are outscoring their opponents by 18.5 points per game. McCray tops the Jayhawk scorers with 19.4 points per game, while Morris adds 12.7 and Jacobs turns in 8.5. In addition, sophomores Krysten Boogaard and Nicollette Smith are adding 10.9 and 7.7 points per game, respectively. KU is shooting 47.4 percent from the field, while holding its opponents to just 33.5 percent field goal shooting. The Jayhawks have recorded 96 steals compared to just 71 for their opponents, led by Morris and McCray with 20 pilfers. Jacobs is the leader in assists with 54 dimes in 11 games, while McCray is pulling down a team-leading 8.3 rebounds and Boogaard is grabbing 5.7 per game. Kansas is also shooting well from the three-point line as it has connected on 71-of-171 shots from beyond the arc, good for 41.5 percent, tops in the Big 12 Conference. McCray is leading the way from beyond the arc as she has knocked 24-of-61 shots, while Smith has made 20-of-47 attempts from three-point range. Ivana Catic leads the Jayhawks from the foul line as she has connected on 17-of-18 attempts, good for 94.4 percent.

MCCRAY NEARS 1000

Jayhawk junior Danielle McCray is on her way to entering the prestigious 1,000 point club at Kansas. The Olathe, Kan., native, currently has tallied 975 points, leaving her just 25 points short of 1,000. KU currently claims 19 1,000 point scorers in program history. Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson has seen two players enter the elite club during her Jayhawk tenure as both Crystal Kemp and Erica Hallman reached 1,000 points while playing for Henrickson. Kemp joined the club during her junior season in 2004-05, while Hallman was the most recent KU player to go over 1,000 points, doing so in her senior campaign in 2005-06.