LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas Jayhawks led wire-to-wire Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse and throttled Missouri 75-47 in the second round of the WNIT.
The Jayhawks, who led by at least 14 points the entire second half, saw all five starters score in double figures. Zakiyah Franklin led the way with 21 points, while Wyvette Mayberry added 16 and Taiyanna Jackson finished with 14. Holly Kersgieter and Chandler Prater each posted 12 points apiece in the win.
Kansas moved to 21-11 on the season and will now face Nebraska in the third round of the WNIT on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., at Allen Fieldhouse. Mizzou’s season is now finished with a record of 18-14.
"I thought we played really connected and with a lot of desire. We competed very hard and represented our program, school and state in a great way. It meant a lot to our team and they know they may not get to play them again. They took advantage of every opportunity, because these are the types of games they are going to tell their kids about."
Kansas Coach Brandon Schneider
Kansas opened the game on a 9-0 run and didn’t allow a Mizzou field goal until the 6:30 mark of the opening quarter when the Tigers hit a 3-pointer. When the first media timeout of the game occurred with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter, the Tigers still had not scored and were 0-for-6 from the floor and 0-for-3 from 3-point range and trailed 7-0. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, started 3-for-6 from the floor to build their early lead.
Missouri answered back with a 7-0 run of its own to cut it to 9-7, but a 3-pointer from Prater extended the lead to five. The two teams went back and forth from there over the final 90 seconds of the quarter with Kansas eventually grabbing an 18-13 lead after the opening frame. The Jayhawks shot 60 percent from the floor in the first quarter and got six points from Franklin and five from Jackson.
Just more than a minute into the second quarter, Missouri cut it to a two-point game at 20-18 when Haley Troup hit a 3-pointer. But the Jayhawks responded with an 8-0 run after Troup’s bucket to push the lead to 10 at 28-18. Franklin started the run with a 3-pointer, before Kersgieter scored five straight points, including a three of her own, to push the lead to 10, which forced a timeout from the visitors.
The Tigers trimmed it to seven at 30-23, but the Jayhawks answered loudly to extend the lead right back to double digits. Kansas went on a 12-3 run to end the first half to take a 42-26 lead into the locker room. The 12-3 run to close out the half came courtesy of a 3-pointer from Kersgieter, a three-point play from Franklin and buckets from Jackson and Chandler Prater. Franklin closed it with a short jumper right before the halftime buzzer to give the Jayhawks a 16-point lead at the break.
The lead grew to 21 to start the second half, with it again taking Missouri more than four minutes to score a bucket. The Tigers finally got on the board in the second half when Hayley Frank hit a pair of free throws to make it 49-30. But, Kansas pushed it right back to a 20-plus point lead when the Jayhawks hit back-to-back 3-pointers, thanks to Mayberry and Franklin, to make it 55-30.
Kansas cruised from there, stifling the Missouri offense possession after possession. The Tigers shot just 19 of 50 from the floor and 5-for-21 from deep with a total of 15 turnovers in the loss.
The Jayhawks will now get a chance to atone for a triple-overtime loss to the Cornhuskers in Lincoln earlier this season when Nebraska outlasted Kansas 85-79 in a thriller.
