Cowgirls won’t overlook KU

When the Cowgirls beat Kansas 70-68 earlier this season, the Lady Jayhawks were still at full strength.

But soon after, Kansas lost preseason Big 12 Women’s Player of the Year, Danielle McCray, to a torn ACL and finished the last nine games of the season 2-7.

Despite the loss of its best player, Cowgirl coach Kurt Budke said his team was not the last to get Kansas’ best effort.

“They had Iowa State down and had Nebraska beat for 37 minutes and those are the top two teams in the league,” Budke said. “They have played very well without McCray.”

At 5 p.m. Thursday, the Cowgirls will face the Jayhawks again, but this time at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Budke said Kansas will be playing like there is nothing to lose.

“This is a team where it’s a do-or-die situation,” Budke said. “If (KU) wants to make the NCAA Tournament, they know if they make a run and get about three wins here they can make the tournament.”

Senior guard Andrea Riley said she doesn’t understand how Kansas could be underestimated, even without its third leading scorer in the school’s history.

“I think everyone is overlooking Kansas and I don’t know why,” Riley said. “You can’t overlook them and you have to continue with your intensity and playing as hard as you can.”

A few wins in the Big 12 tournament would bolster the Cowgirls’ NCAA Tournament résumé and senior forward Tegan Cunningham said it would also give her team a little added confidence.

“I think it would be very important for us as a team because it is so close to the NCAA Tournament,” Cunningham said. “I think we really need it and it would be an awesome way to finish it for our seniors.”

Riley said it would not only send the seniors out on a positive note, but winning a Big 12 Championship would be something she and her teammates would remember forever.

“It would mean a lot because we don’t want to go to Kansas City and go one and done,” Riley said. “It’s always good and if you get one more winning streak, then you have the rest of your life to think about it.”