Not many women college basketball players tower over Kansas University’s 6-foot-2 Crystal Kemp.

Northern Iowa’s Cassie Hager will. Hager stands 6-7 and, not surprisingly, ranks No. 2 in the NCAA in blocked shots.

“Wow, that’s going to be awesome,” Kemp said about the prospect of facing Hager. “I guess I’m going to have to throw a lot of head fakes.”

Tipoff for the preliminary-round WNIT game will be 7:05 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse. The game will not be on television, but the Jayhawk Network, including KLWN-AM (1320), will broadcast.

Thanks mostly to Hager, the Panthers rank No. 6 nationally in blocked shots, but they’re even better in another category. UNI ranks No. 2 in free-throw shooting with gaudy 78.5-percent accuracy.

Kansas, in contrast, is an average foul-shooting team at 69 percent.

“Obviously, we can’t send them to the free-throw line,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “We’ve got to be smart. We’ve got to defend without fouling.”

Inconsistent defense was the leading cause of the Jayhawks’ downfall during their Big 12 Conference schedule. KU had the worst field-goal-percentage defense in the league.

But Northern Iowa isn’t a Big 12 team. The Panthers finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings and bowed to Creighton twice and to Iowa State, teams KU defeated during the regular season.

On the flip side, Northern Iowa dropped an overtime decision at Colorado while Kansas fell decisively to the Buffaloes both at home and on the road.

“They don’t turn it over much, and they don’t beat themselves,” Henrickson said of the Panthers. “They’re pretty deliberate, and they’re very disciplined.”

The 6-7 Hager leads the Panthers with a 16.2 scoring average, but Tara King, a 6-0 junior, isn’t far behind at 14.3.

“The X-factor may be the King kid,” Henrickson said. “You have to guard her on the outside, because she can hit the three.”

KU’s X-factor could be Shaquina Mosley, a 5-7 guard who came to KU as the reigning national junior-college player of the year but failed to live up to her billing.

Mosley has made strides late in the season, however, and probably won’t stay on the bench for long.

“Shaq has shot the ball well, and her shot selection has been good,” Henrickson said. “She’s a kid I’d like to get in early and see what she can do.”

Tonight’s winner will advance to a first-round game against Ole Miss on Saturday. If Kansas wins, the Rebels will come to Allen Fieldhouse for a 2 p.m. game.

¢ Notes: Six of the Panthers’ top seven players are from Iowa. : KU reserve forward Jamie Boyd is from Underwood, Iowa, and made an unofficial recruiting visit to UNI when she was a sophomore. : KU freshman Sophronia Sallard won’t suit. She has missed the last three games, Henrickson said, “for medical reasons.” : Former KU football coach Terry Allen (1997-2001) came to Kansas from UNI. Allen is now head coach at Missouri State.