Turnovers doom KU women to loss

Jayhawks have 21 give-aways in 67-64 setback at UCLA

? Bonnie Henrickson sounded like she wanted to chew on the box score.

“It’s just so frustrating,” Henrickson said, “so, so frustrating.”

Kansas University’s women’s basketball coach was lamenting the Jayhawks’ 21 turnovers in Sunday afternoon’s 67-64 loss to UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.

“We go four straight turnovers after four straight stops,” Henrickson continued, referring to a late-second-half bout of butterfingers. “It’s just being sloppy and lackadaisical.”

It’s not like Henrickson is singing a new tune, either. Last season, Kansas committed more turnovers than any other Big 12 Conference team, and the Jayhawks seem to be picking up where they left off.

UCLA was credited with 22 points off turnovers. KU had 10 points off the Bruins’ 12 giveaways.

Most infuriating to Henrickson was the fact the bulk of Sunday’s giveaways were attributable to her backcourt regulars. Point guard LaChelda Jacobs was charged with seven, Danielle McCray five and Sade Morris four.

“This turnover stuff is a nightmare for me, and a nightmare for everyone in the program,” Henrickson said. “It’s a disaster.”

Turnovers were a disaster Sunday because they obscured KU’s 37-34 edge on the boards — UCLA was leading the nation in rebounding margin — and a yeoman performance from Krysten Boogaard.

Boogaard, who missed four games because of a stress reaction in her left leg and played sparingly in the last two, started for the first time since Nov. 18 and exploded for 20 points — a dozen in the last nine minutes — and added seven rebounds.

“She’ll keep getting better and better,” Henrickson said of the 6-5 sophomore.

Kansas also wasted near-perfect free-throw shooting.

The Jayhawks made their first 12 free-throw-attempts — half by Boogaard — and didn’t miss until Jacobs misfired on the front end of a one-and-one with 30 seconds remaining and KU trailing, 65-64.

“Another alarming issue,” Henrickson said, “is we go 12-of-13 at the free-throw line, and they get 24 (attempts) because we fouled too much.”

McCray had to sit out the last 91/2 minutes of the first half after picking up her second foul and never did get into rhythm.

McCray finished with only nine points — 11 below her average — while missing 11 of 14 shots, including eight of nine from behind the arc.

Three of McCray’s missed three-pointers were rushed attempts after UCLA’s Christina Nzekwe nailed a pair of foul shots with 28 seconds left to give the Bruins the 67-64 lead that stood up.

UCLA is off to its best start in two decades at 9-1, while Kansas slipped to 7-2. KU’s other loss was a 67-57 decision at Marquette.

The Jayhawks will continue their two-game West Coast swing at 3 p.m. Tuesday against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.

The next home game will be at 1 p.m. Dec. 31 against Houston.