🏀 Kansas Falls to Texas Tech in OT
LUBBOCK, Texas – Despite a career game from Holly Kersgieter, the Kansas Women’s Basketball team dropped a wildly entertaining contest Saturday afternoon at Texas Tech, falling 99-98 in overtime to the Lady Raiders.
Kersgieter finished with career highs in points and rebounds with 29 and 16 respectively. Zakiyah Franklin added 20 points, while Aniya Thomas had 17 and Chandler Prater tied her career high with 14.
Tied at 86 with 35 seconds left in regulation, Thomas hit a monster 3-pointer from the corner to give Kansas a three-point lead. But just four seconds later, Texas Tech hit a deep ball of its own to tie the game back up. The Jayhawks (7-13, 3-11 Big 12) had a chance to retake the lead, but missed a shot with three seconds left that forced overtime.
In the extra session, Texas Tech (10-12, 5-11) jumped out to a 10-point lead at 99-89 with 3:07 to play. Kansas didn’t allow Texas Tech to score again. Kersgieter hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Thomas to make it 99-92 with 2:43 to play. The sophomore from Oklahoma then hit a pair of free throws at the 1:36 mark to make it a five-point game.
Franklin then converted back-to-back layups to get Kansas within one at 99-98 with 54 seconds to play. After the Lady Raiders missed a pair of free throws, Kansas missed a shot to give it back to Texas Tech. A shot clock violation got Kansas the ball back with five seconds left.
Coach Brandon Schneider called a timeout and drew up a play for Kersgieter, but the Jayhawks couldn’t get a bucket to take the lead and fell by one.
The second half and overtime period were a continuation of some high-level action throughout the game.
The first half was a high scoring affair with the Lady Raiders taking a three-point lead into the locker room at 42-39. Texas Tech built a 16-11 lead with two minutes to play in the first quarter, before the Jayhawks used a 7-2 spurt to tie the game by the end of the quarter.
Thomas started the run with a pair of free throws to make it 16-13, before Prater hit a 3-pointer to knot the game at 16. Prater then got a steal and a layup to give Kansas an 18-16 lead with 44 seconds to play in the quarter. Texas Tech scored the final hoop of the quarter to tie the game at 18.
In the second quarter, the two teams were never separated by more than six points at any point and there were eight lead changes during the 10 minutes. Mia Vuksic hit a 3-pointer with 6:19 remaining in the half to give Kansas a two-point lead at 29-27. Texas Tech then got a deep ball from Lexi Gordon to go up one and led for the rest of the half.
The Lady Raiders got it to a six-point lead at 35-29, but Vuksic hit another 3-pointer to get it back down to three. After a Vivian Gray jumper on the other end, Thomas connected from deep to make it a two-point game, 37-35. Texas Tech got it to 42-37, but Prater hit two free throws with six seconds left to make it a three-point game at half.
Kansas went 5-for-7 from deep in the first half with Vuksic hitting two and Prater, Kersgieter and Thomas all hitting one apiece.
The third quarter was more of the same. Neither team led by more than five the entire period. In fact, the Jayhawks got that five-point lead at the very end of the third when Kersgieter hit a layup to make it 65-60 heading into the final quarter.
Kansas led by seven at one point in the fourth, but Texas Tech mounted a comeback to set up the late-game dramatics.
The Jayhawks finished the contest going 11-for-17 from 3-point range, establishing a new season-best for 3-point field goal percentage in a game. Kansas shot 45 percent from the floor and had eight steals and six blocks in the game.
Kansas returns to action Wednesday night at home versus Texas. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. It will serve as the program’s senior night game.
