Manhattan — Kansas State, riding the crest of a 17-2 record and a No. 11 national ranking in women's basketball, will start four players from the Sunflower State against Kansas tonight.
At the same time, the 5-14 Jayhawks have only one player from Kansas on their roster and Blair Waltz, a freshman from Leawood, probably won't play because of a stress fracture in her right foot.
KU coach Marian Washington has signed seven players for next season. Only one is from Kansas 6-foot-2 Crystal Kemp of Topeka High.
"We've had our share," Washington said about in-state players.. "People get really caught up in whether we're going to be able to get certain players in the state. You know as well as I do that some people bleed blue and some people bleed purple. It's not easy when you have a history with a school."
Washington noted that K-State starters Laurie Koehn, Kendra Wecker and Nicole Ohlde all native Kansans played on the same AAU team in the summer.
"We felt that they had kind of made up their minds where they were going to go," Washington said, "but we certainly recruited them. It wasn't an easy situation for us."
Among the former Sunflower State high school products who have played for KU are Lynette Woodard (Wichita), Angie Snider (Roeland Park), Lisa Braddy (Kansas City) and Lisa Dougherty (Leavenworth).
"What I'm excited about is that we are getting more players developing in our state who can play at this level," Washington said, "and I just think it's fantastic."
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