Sunday, February 08, 2009
By Brice Cherry
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A year ago, Baylor guard Jhasmin Player had to be carried off the court against Kansas State.
This year, she carried her own team.
Player scored the final seven points of a 13-0 run late in the game, allowing the No. 8 Lady Bears to put away No. 18 Kansas State, 59-50, in a national TV matchup of Big 12 title contenders before a crowd of 6,125 Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
On Feb. 2, 2008, Player suffered a season-ending knee injury in a road win over the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan. As much as the senior guard tried to forget that fact heading into Saturday’s game, she found it impossible.
“I tried to downplay it a lot,” said Player, who finished with a season-high 16 points. “I honestly didn’t think that would even cross my mind, but from the day we started doing our scouting report, watching film, I thought about it. I just tried to keep it in the back of my mind.”
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said Player gave the Lady Bears a lift when they needed it most.
“It’s fulfilling, because she didn’t forget the last time she played Kansas State and what happened,” Mulkey said. “You try to say you forget about it, but you don’t. You remember the moment, the feeling, the time, the score, the bus ride to the airport, the airplane ride, you remember all that. Jhasmin was very alert today. She was getting to a lot of things.”
In a game of runs, Baylor’s finishing kick proved emphatic. Up 45-43 with 7:53 remaining, the Lady Bears (19-3 overall, 7-2 Big 12) scored the game’s next 13 points to accelerate into Victory Lane. Baylor’s defense harassed K-State’s ballhandlers, deflecting several passes that turned into fast break-igniting steals.
Player capped off the run by sticking in a putback, swishing a 3-pointer with a defender in her face and then squeezing in between two defenders for an inside bucket.
That inspired play by her senior captain and the rest of the squad had Mulkey screaming and shouting in glee on the sideline. It was a much different scene than Baylor’s last two home games, when off-target shooting led to losses to Oklahoma and Texas.
“That’s what I got excited about,” Mulkey said. “When you miss point-blank shots, sometimes your confidence goes down. They want Coach to fix it, they want Mom and Dad to fix it, they want somebody to fix it. You can’t fix some of that. You just play your way out of it. To watch Jhasmin hit a shot and then the next one hit a shot, it kind of snowballs and then they’re all feeling better about themselves.”
Baylor ripped the nets for a torrid 54.5 percent shooting in the second half. Jessica Morrow scored a team-high 17 points, including a seven-point outburst of her own in a 10-2 Lady Bear run to start the second half.
Morrow and Kelli Griffin also drew praise for their defense on Shalee Lehning, Kansas State’s senior all-conference point guard. Lehning, the national leader in assists at 8.2 per game, tallied just four assists and six turnovers against Baylor, including no assists in the second half.
“Lehning is one of the best point guards, if not the best, in the country,” Mulkey said. “Anytime you can get a kid like that to have those kind of stats . . . something good is happening on the defensive end on the floor.”
Until Baylor’s final surge, the Wildcats (19-3, 6-3) remained within scratching distance. The teams traded the lead back and forth in the first half until Player nailed a baseline jumper to give the Lady Bears a 26-25 edge at the break.
In the second half, Mulkey decided to go small, inserting Melissa Jones in at forward. What the shorter lineup perhaps lost in glass-polishing dominance — for the first time all season, Baylor didn’t win the rebounding battle, as K-State matched the Lady Bears with 34 boards — it made up for with its quickness and willingness to run.
“On the road, playing a team like Baylor, when you rebound them even, you have to take care of the ball,” K-State coach Deb Patterson said. “I think the points off of turnovers, 21 points off turnovers, against a team of this caliber, that’s the difference.”
The Wildcats were nearly perfect from the foul line, hitting 12 of 13 shots, not missing until Jalana Childs rimmed one in and out with 2:05 left. Baylor, conversely, struggled mightily with its freebies, hitting a season-low 42 percent (8 of 19).
Ashley Sweat notched 17 points to lead Kansas State, but also committed seven turnovers. Kari Kinkaid added 11 points, knocking down three treys.
Danielle Wilson contributed to BU’s cause with her 12th double-double of the year — 14 points and 12 rebounds to go with two blocked shots.
The Lady Bears, a perfect 4-0 in Big 12 road games, will try to keep that streak intact Wednesday at Oklahoma State.
bcherry@wacotrib.com
757-5714
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