March 21, 2010

Davis Paces Kansas To 71-68 WNIT Victory

March 21, 2010

Boxscore in PDF Format

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Carolyn Davis scored 10 of Kansas’ final 18 points en route to 25 points on the afternoon to lead the Jayhawks to a 71-68 victory against Creighton in a second round Women’s National Invitation Basketball Tournament game.

Kansas, now 17-15 overall, will play at Illinois State on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the round of 16. The Jayhawks are now 6-1 in the WNIT in the last two years as they reached the championship game last season.

Leading 53-51 with 6:25 remaining in the game, Kansas went on a 13-2 run behind eight points from Davis to post its biggest advantage of the game at 66-53 with 2:53 left in the contest.

Creighton responded with its own 8-0 run to pull within 66-61 with 1:43 left. Creighton then cut the margin to 70-68 with 20 seconds left on a long jumper by Kelsey Woodard.

KU turned the ball over on its next possession and Creighton worked the ball to Jasmin Corbin in the corner. Corbin missed the long jumper and Sade Morris corralled the rebound and was fouled with just 0.3 seconds left. Morris hit the first of two free throws and a desperation three-quarter court shot wasn’t even close as the Jayhawks pulled out the victory.

Davis hit nine of 10 shots from the field and seven of 11 from the free throw line en route to her game-high 25 points. She also pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds while recording her sixth double-double of the season.

Morris added 14 points and six assists for the Jayhawks. Monica Engelman had a solid game with six points, a career-high seven assists and a career-high seven rebounds. Creighton had a trio of players reach double-digit point totals, paced by Sam Schuett, who scored 18.

Kansas shot 55.3 percent from the field marking its second consecutive excellent shooting performance as the Jayhawks made 54.4 percent of their shots in the first-round game against Prairie View A&M.

Sunday’s game was a re-match from earlier this season when Kansas defeated Creighton 77-56 in mid-December. In that game Kansas was led by Angel Goodrich and Danielle McCray, who scored 20 and 18 points respectively before both players suffered season-ending injuries later in the year.

In the first half the teams stayed even for most of the period. KU scored the first five points of the game on consecutive baskets by Nicollette Smith, but Creighton tied the game at 5-5. While Creighton would never lead, Kansas never led by more than four points until the final four minutes of the half.

That is when the Jayhawks turned a 22-20 lead into a 31-22 advantage, outscoring the visitors 9-2 while holding the Blue Jays without a field goal for five minutes.

Kansas took a 33-27 lead into the break behind 13 points from Davis off the bench. The freshman, who missed the first round of the WNIT due to injury, hit five of six shots and pulled down seven rebounds in 16 minutes of action in the half. No other Jayhawk had more than five points at halftime.