Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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Left: Hohl looks to dish it off against Marquette. Below: Warren brings the ball up. Bottom: Rasmussen discusses the situation with his team. 149

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WOMEN ' S By Mike Larsen Take a schedule that includes games against national women ' s basketball powers like Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern Louisiana, and two games apiece against Kansas, Nebraska and Marquette. Throw in injury problems for four of five starters and four reserves so that the only women who played healthy the entire season were one starting guard, a freshman recruit and two walk-ons. Add multi-game road trips to Texas, Illinois and Louisiana. Then try to explain how the Lady Jays managed to compile a 20-8 record for the 1985-86 season. It ' s been a very rewarding season, Coach Bruce Rasmussen said. The kids have had to over- come a lot, 18 road games, a lot of games in a short amount of time, players coming back from serious injuries. We overcame more than at any other time. We ' ve shown that we can compete at a national level when there was a time that we had trouble competing on our own campus. Some highlights to the Lady Jays ' season included the record-breaking performance of Connie Yori, an 11-game winning streak that includ- ed a road sweep of four Chicago- area schools, and the extension of a home winning string to 28 games in a row. We were 20-8, and a 20-win season is something a lot of people shoot for, said Yori, who closed out her four years at Creighton with 2,010 career points. The 20-win season is the standard for what peo- ple consider a good season. And we could have won, realistically, at least four more games if we could have pulled out some of them. As she did her freshman and sophomore seasons, Yori led the team in scoring. She finished with 572 points, an average of 20.4 per game, while starting all 28 contests. Two teammates also averaged in BASKETBALL Left: Yori looks for an opening against Marquette. 148

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i; ; WOMEN ' S BASKETBALL Top left: Gradoville battles in the lane against Mankato State. Bottom left: against a Mankato State player. Top Allard launches a jumper from the right: Yori goes in for an easy two baseline. double figures for the Lady Jays, sophomores Tanya Warren with 379 points in 26 games (14.6 average) and Pam Gradoville with 406 points in 28 games (also a 14.6 average). Junior Janet Ensign added 215 points in 28 games (7.7 average), senior Amy Allard 195 in 28 (7.0) and senior Donna Chvatal 114 in 22 (5.2) Yori topped the team in minutes (999), field goals (229), free throws (114) and steals (67). Warren was the leader in free throw percentage (.847 on 83-of-98 shooting) and assists (184) with Gradoville first in rebounds (229) and Ensign leading the regulars in field goal percentage (.561 on 83-of-148 shooting). Starters Yori, Warren, Gradoville and Ensign accomplished their team-leading performances despite a variety of injuries that included: --A comeback from major reconstructive knee surgery and chronic arch problems for Yori. --A torn anterior cruciate that oc- curred in preseason practice and re- quired use of a brace throughout the season for Ensign. -Ligament damage in an ankle that slowed Warren from Thanksgiving on. -A torn calf muscle that slowed Gradoville. Injuries also cut into the playing and practice time of part-time starter Chvatal (knee problems after knee surgery on both knees that eventually led to her ending her career before the season was com- plete), sophomores Pam Rudisill (stress fracture) and Gayle Hiemstra (a deep bruise in the quadricep that sidelined her from Thanksgiving until early February) and freshman Jeannine Kardell (stress fracture). That left only Allard, freshman Mary Hohl (who had some ankle problems and lost her two front teeth) and two walk-ons - junior Kim Gilroy and freslynan Patty Stander -- relatively healthy throughout the season.