March 17, 2010

Boogaard Scores 37 To Lead Kansas To WNIT Victory

March 17, 2010

Boxscore in PDF Format

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Krysten Boogaard scored 20 of her career-high 37 points in the first half to lead Kansas to an 82-70 victory against Prairie View A&M in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Basketball Tournament Wednesday.

Kansas, which improved to 16-15 on the season, will host the winner of Friday’s Stephen F. Austin at Creighton game in the second round of the WNIT on Sunday at 1 p.m. Prairie View A&M’s season ended at 15-14.

Boogaard hit 12 of 19 shots from the field, as well as all 13 of her free throw attempts en route to her scoring outburst. The 6-5, junior, center had not reached double-figure scoring in any of the previous 16 games.

Playing without an injured Carolyn Davis, who had scored 31 points in KU’s last outing – a 76-69 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament – the Jayhawks relied on Boogaard.

Boogaard was nearly unstoppable inside as she either made her shots or was fouled and sent to the free throw line, where she was perfect on the night. Her 13 of 13 free throw shooting marked the second most free throws made on a 100 percent shooting game in school history behind a 16 of 16 game by Vickie Adams vs. Oklahoma in 1984.

Monica Engelman added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Jayhawks, while Sade Morris contributed 10 points and five assists. Prairie View A&M was led by Dominique Smith, who scored 19, while pacing a group of four double-figure scorers for the Panthers.

Both teams shot the ball well on the night as KU hit 54.4 percent of its attempts for the fourth-best shooting performance of the year. Prairie View A&M hit 50.8 percent. The difference came at the free throw line as KU outscored the Panthers 18-5 at the charity stripe.

After Prairie View A&M cut the lead to 42-35 to start the second half, Boogaard scored the game’s next six points as the Jayhawks pushed their advantage to 48-35. KU opened the half on a 13-5 run to lead 55-38.

KU built the margin to as many as 19 points en route to the victory.

Kansas jumped out early to start the game and led 11-7 as all five Jayhawks scored in the first four minutes of the game. However Prairie View A&M went on an 8-2 run to take a 15-13 lead at the 12:37 mark.

Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson called timeout and the Jayhawks responded as Aishah Sutherland scored four straight points for KU and Boogaard scored the team’s next seven points as part of a 16-5 run that put KU back up 29-20. KU held the visitors without a point for 3:40 before the Panthers hit a pair of free throws at the 6:09 mark.

The Jayhawks built up as much as a 13-point lead at 38-25 before Prairie View closed the game to 42-33 at the break.