HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS: LHS girls, both Veritas teams claim victories. 3B
SPORTS
TEXAS SLAMS TIGERS Texas’ Tristan Thompson and the Longhorns downed Missouri, 71-58, Saturday in Austin. Story on page 5B.
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LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD ● LJWorld.com/sports ● Sunday, January 30, 2011
KANSAS 90, KANSAS STATE 66
Uplifting experience
Robinson heroic vs. ’Cats By Gary Bedore
gbedore@ljworld.com
His Kansas University basketball teammates and coaches — as well as the fans — would have understood had Thomas Robinson decided to take a leave of absence and skip Saturday’s Sunflower Showdown against rival Kansas State. The grief-stricken sophomore forward, whose mom, Lisa, died on Jan. 21 and was buried Thursday, elected to take the court, however, and after a slow ■ For more start, emerged on Kansas’ as one of the Sunflower heroes in a 90Showdown 66 rout of the victory over Wildcats in Kansas State, Allen Fieldincluding a house. photo gallery, “I played message tonight boards, The because I canKeegan Ratnot sit around ings, audio, too long. I video and knew my more, go to mother wouldKUsports.com n’t want me to sit around crying about it forever,” Robinson said. He missed his first three shots — including a dunk try after checking into the game to wild Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos applause with 16:47 left in the KANSAS FORWARD THOMAS ROBINSON (0) GETS AIRBORNE for a flying bump from the Morris brothers, Markieff (21) and Marcus, during a timeout against Kansas first half — yet rallied for 17 State during the second half. Two days after his mother’s funeral, Robinson had 17 points in KU’s 90-66 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse. points off 7-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds in 20 minutes. “Coming into this game, I felt I owed it to all the fans and all the people across the country that showed me support helping me get through this time. I felt I owed it to all those to at least give In a building packed with so They’ll remember looking at it my all,” Robinson said. much history, so many banners the video of Robinson getting There were many signs in the and so much talent running on hugs and words of encouragestudent section including “We the hardwood through the ment from each K-State player love T-Rob” and “Jayhawks for Jayla,” a reference to his 7-yearyears, calling a game played in in the postgame hand-shake old sister who is now staying with Allen Fieldhouse a memorable line. They’ll remember feeling her father in Washington, D.C. one requires meeting a mighty good that Robinson had cause All the love didn’t help Robinlofty standard. to smile in the wake of the son convert that first dunk try. Kansas University’s 90-66 unspeakable tragedy of losing, “I was thinking I was jumping blowout victory Saturday night in rapid succession, his grandtkeegan@ljworld.com higher than I was, trying to pull against overmatched in-state mother, grandfather and moththe rim down, and the ball came rival Kansas State won’t soon be er. out. It was just a little mental forgotten by the 16,300 voices he checked into the game. They’ll Not a hint of travel-weariness mistake,” the 6-foot-9, 237that erupted with extra volume remember the even louder one was evident for a team long on pounder said. every time Thomas Robinson when he checked out after a air miles and short on sleep in “I’ve not been sitting around, made a contribution, and that tremendous 17-point, ninerecent days. On the contrary, but not been playing basketball was often. rebound performance two days Kansas was sharp in the ways it for a whole week. For somebody Those fortunate enough to after his mother’s funeral in always is when on its game. KANSAS FANS REACH OUT to forward Thomas hold a ticket will remember the Washington, D.C., attended by his Please see KANSAS, page 4B Robinson as he leaves the court. Please see JAYHAWKS, page 4B ovation they gave Robinson when teammates and the coaching staff.
ONLINE
Blowout memorable for several reasons Tom Keegan
KU women make ‘progress,’ but lose By Matt Tait mtait@ljworld.com
MANHATTAN — Winning on the road in the Big 12 is hard enough without trying to do it with your leading scorer on the bench. That’s what the Kansas University women’s basketball team was forced to do Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum, where foul trouble and an off night from sophomore forward Carolyn Davis helped Kansas State top KU, 65-60. “We just came up a couple possessions short,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “In a onepossession game, that’s just gutwrenching. It’s progress. It’s not good enough, I promise you. But it’s progress, just from a digdown-and-compete (mentality).” Coming into Saturday’s game,
Davis was averaging 18 points, eight rebounds and 30 minutes per game. Saturday, thanks to two fouls in the first five minutes, she was limited to nine points and one rebound in just 19 minutes. After picking up her second foul at the 4:47 mark of the first half, Davis went to the bench and did not play again until the second half. Davis’ absence, along with redhot three-point shooting by the Wildcats, allowed Kansas State to build a 34-26 halftime lead. The halftime deficit would’ve been worse had it not been for Monica Engelman’s three-pointer at the buzzer. Still, with Davis John Young/Journal-World Photo out, the Jayhawks struggled to FREE STATE JUNIOR LYNN ROBINSON (14) tries score. “It hurt, certainly,” Henrickson to drive past Blue Valley senior Aerial Smith said. “A big chunk of the playcard during Free State’s 60-45 loss in the championship game of the Firebird Winter Classic on Please see KU WOMEN, page 3B Saturday at FSHS.
FSHS girls second at own tournament By Ben Ward Journal-World Sports Writer
Finishing as the runner-up doesn’t garner any trophies or accolades, but Free State High’s girls basketball team handled it in stride. The Firebirds fell, 60-45, to Blue Valley in the final game of the Firebird Winter Classic on Saturday at FSHS, but had few complaints with their tournament run. “We don’t want to call it a great weekend, because we didn’t win the thing,” coach Bryan Duncan said. “But it was a very good weekend.” With five players at or around 6-feet tall, the Tigers (9-3) were simply too much for the Firebirds to handle. The physical, experienced Tigers gathered nine offensive
rebounds, many leading to putback layups or earning them trips to the free-throw line. Both teams shot the ball at an 18-for-43 clip, but the Tigers continued to draw fouls and get to the line, where they were 20-of-28. By comparison, the Firebirds were only 4-of-6 from the stripe. While their teammates got good looks at the basket inside, Bailey Geiman and Rylie Hanson were able to knock down perimeter jumpers, seemingly whenever the Firebirds threatened to make a run. “They present a really difficult challenge for everybody,” Duncan said. “They’re big so they can score inside, but if you doubledown on them too much, they also have people who can shoot the ball.” Please see FSHS GIRLS, page 3B