February 07, 2010

Engelman and Davis Lead Kansas to a 70-60 Victory Against K-State

Feb. 7, 2010

Balanced Attack Propels Jayhawks to Victory

McCray | Engelman | Morris | C. Davis

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

With just seconds remaining in a 70-60 victory against Kansas State, senior guard Danielle McCray, her left knee wrapped in a thick, black brace and a wide grin spread across her face, stood and applauded her teammates.

Kansas put together a complete team performance in its first game without McCray, defeating Kansas State in the third-annual Jayhawks for a Cure “Pink Zone” game Sunday afternoon in front of 7,580 fans at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks improved to 14-7 on the season and even their score in Big 12 Conference play at 4-4. K-State fell to 11-11 and 3-5 in the Big 12. Kansas avenged a 59-35 defeat in Manhattan earlier this season and is now 3-0 in “Pink Zone” games.

Days after losing McCray to a season ending knee injury, seven Kansas players scored more than six points and the team dished out 14 assists to even the all-time series at 24 in games played in Lawrence.

Freshman guard Monica Engelman had an impressive game in her first career start, scoring a career-high 16 points on six of nine shooting, while also grabbing four rebounds and distributing five assists. Freshman Carolyn Davis continued her string of solid performances, dropping her second career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Sade Morris chipped in with nine points and also contributed five assists.

Kansas jumped to an early 9-2 lead to begin the game behind the inside play of Davis. The freshman forward ran the floor and finished in the paint twice, once drawing the foul and converting a three-point play.

The home team went to the locker room with a 36-26 advantage and never trailed after the 19-minute mark of the first half. Much of that had to do with the combination of Engelman and Davis playing possibly their best games in Crimson and Blue.

In addition to Davis’ 14 points, the previous week’s Big 12 Freshman of the Week, blocked a career-high four shots. Kansas finished with a season-best eight rejections and its post defense held K-State’s Ashley Sweat to 17 points on 16 shots.

Senior guard LaChelda Jacobs finished with a season-high 10 points on four of six shooting and played a season-high 28 minutes. Junior forward Nicolette Smith was the definition of efficient, scoring seven points without missing a shot and also pulling in 5 rebounds.

Kansas last beat K-State on Feb. 18, 2007, when the Jayhawks knocked off their in-state rivals 82-74 in overtime.

The Jayhawks shot 53.6 percent from the field and held their opponent to 40.7 percent shooting, while allowing only six free-throw attempts. Kansas was 14-18 from the charity stripe.

Freshman guard Brittany Chambers and senior forward Ashley Sweat led the way for K-State with 14 and 17 points, respectively.

Kansas will look to continue its conference winning streak on Wednesday, when it takes on the No. 4 Nebraska Cornhuskers at 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.