Topeka Capital-Journal, The: [ Sports ]

TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2003

On to Emporia

Washburn's nationally ranked men's and women's teams travel to Emporia State in MIAA play.

Thursday in Sports

In the NFL they're called "Sunday players." They're a coach's nightmare during the work week when they sometimes don't sweat a drop. But on Game Day, they become a fantasy player's dream.

Kansas State women's basketball coach Deb Patterson, however, has a player who, until the past week, had the opposite pattern.

Sophomore guard Chelsea Domenico, it seems, was a workout warrior.

"At practice, Chelsea is a drop-dead shooter," Patterson said. "You leave her open, she's gonna hit shots."

But when the lights came on for Game Day...

"It's taken her awhile to do that in competitive situations," Patterson explained delicately.

It's OK now to talk that way in the wake of Domenico's performance in her last two games for the No. 3-ranked Wildcats.

Showing that her 14-point effort --- when she hit 4 of 9 shots from 3-point range --- in her second start of the season against Western Michigan on Dec. 20 was no fluke, Domenico combined for 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting beyond the arc in the Cats' last two victories against Iowa State and Nebraska.

Now, that modest 13.0 two-game average won't catapault Domenico over Kendra Wecker, Nicole Ohlde or Laurie Koehn as a K-State candidate for All-America consideration.

Still, it was a two-game performance that should make the growing legion of Wildcat fans feel a little better about the short-term prospects of Life Without Laurie.

Not that anyone has suggested that Domenico fully has filled the shoes in which Koehn is limping these days.

Her nine 3-pointers in the last four games, while coming on 20 shots, remain one shy of the 10 treys Koehn scored in a game Jan. 5. against Iowa. Koehn remains the reigning NCAA 3-point champ --- her 122 treys last year still represent the second-best single-season total in NCAA history.

But it's also true that Koehn still is hobbling on a bad ankle, and right now there's no telling when she won't be.

This year's injury is different from the foot injury that kept Koehn out of what should have been her freshman season, Patterson said. But it still kept Koehn out of Sunday's 88-54 romp at Nebraska after she played only sparingly (13 and 26 minutes) in the previous two games.

Koehn's status, Patterson said, is "day-to-day." That's coach- speak for "I don't know when she'll be at full speed, so stop asking."

That's why Domenico's step-up performance in the last two games of the Cats' 12-game winning streak is so important. The Denver-area player may not have filled Koehn's Nikes, but she's shown the ability to wear at least one of them. That alone has Patterson breathing easier.

"Our team is in a state of transition because of the loss of Laurie Koehn on a day-to-day basis," she said Sunday. "When you're not a deep team and you lose a significant player, it changes everything. To get the kind of victory we did today (a 34-point margin on the road) without Laurie is very gratifying and impressive.

"Chelsea's bringing that quarterback mentality to the floor, she's making good decisions. You can see that she's starting to become comfortable out there. As she's matured, our team has begun to become resilent and able to take some hits.

"When she steps up and hits those (3-pointers), it makes teams think twice about doubling or even tripling Ohlde inside.

"It puts teams in the position of playing Russian Roulette. And I have full confidence that she can punish teams who don't guard her."

Rick Dean can be reached at (785) 295-1289 or rdean@cjonline.com.

Domenico able when Koehn isn't