January 17, 2010

McCray's 26 Points Leads Kansas to 72-59 Victory Against Missouri

Jan. 17, 2010

Postgame Video: Henrickson |McCray |C. Davis

Box Score in PDF Format

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Senior forward Danielle McCray was close to unstoppable as Kansas broke a three-game losing skid and collected its first Big 12 victory, defeating Missouri 72-59 in front of 5,289 fans at Allen Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon.

Kansas moved to 11-5 on the season and 1-2 in Big 12 Conference play, while Missouri fell to 10-6 overall and 0-3 in the league.

McCray scored 26 points, 20 of them coming in first half, where the Jayhawks led by as much as 30. Freshman center Carolyn Davis scored 13 points and hauled in six rebounds, both career bests, in her first career start for KU. Senior guard Sade Morris also scored in double figures, chipping in 15 points and adding three assists for the home team.

The Jayhawks jumped to a 12-4 advantage in the first four minutes and never looked back, cruising to Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson’s seventh victory in 12 games against the Tigers. KU gave up only 18 points in the first half, the least it has allowed this season.

McCray shot 10-of-21 from the field overall and was nearly perfect from the field in the first half, making eight of her 10 attempts and three of four shots from beyond the arc. The senior scored in nearly every way imaginable, sinking deep three-pointers and finding her way to the basket to finish with contact.

Her teammates were nearly as efficient with seven players on the score sheet. The Jayhawks shot 59 percent from the field and made 19-of-32 field-goal attempts in the first period.

Though they went into the locker room with a 46-18 halftime lead, Henrickson’s team struggled to put Missouri away. The Tigers cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 16 with just under 10 minutes to play in the second half and both sides traded buckets for the remainder of the half, though Missouri never got closer than 13 points.

Kansas outrebounded Missouri 37 to 31 and scored 36 of its 72 points in the paint. Neither side was able to take care of the ball consistently, with the Jayhawks turning it over 23 times and the Tigers recording 22 giveaways.

Junior center Krysten Boogaard finished with eight points and sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland contributed six points and seven rebounds in the winning cause.

RaeShara Brown and Amanda Hanneman led the way for Missouri with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

The Jayhawks will look for their second conference victory on Wednesday, January 20, when they take on No. 20 Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, at 7 p.m.