Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Sunday, January 23, 2005

It was a ton of fun to watch those two great Big XII games back-to-back yesterday. They featured some amazing players: Tiffany Jackson, Sophia Young, Erin Grant, and Kendra Wecker.

The game was close till the final few minutes, when Baylor suddenly imploded, turning the ball over again and again. Texas had been struggling before yesterday, losing four of its last six, but yesterday it got its running game going, and the inside-out combo of Jackson and Nina Norman was just too good.

"To me, Nina Norman doesn't get enough credit for Texas's basketball team," coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. "Either that or she can't stand Baylor. She commands a lot of attention because she goes where she wants with the basketball."

The second game went down to the wire. Wecker, still slowed by her ankle, took over the game in the final minutes. With seven seconds left, she drove and shot over Cisti Greenwalt. It rolled around the rim and fell through.

At the other end, Grant drove and shot just before the buzzer. Her attempt rolled around the rim and fell out. She was obviously disappointed, but she's an excellent point guard -- I wish she were a senior so the Lynx could draft her this year.

Coach Marsha Sharp was upset with K State's celebration after the game; she called it "not very classy."

On TV, it looked like all the Cats did was jump around a little near their bench. It didn't seem excessive considering the magnitude of the game and the way it finished. Some fans thought it went on too long, and it sounded like some of them started booing. Coach Sharp said that K State should have stopped celebrating and gotten off the floor once the school song game on. Coach Patterson quickly apologized "for any offense that coach Sharp and her staff may have taken."