Davis Scores 21 in Return; Jayhawks Fall to Mountaineers

Thursday, January 1

Lawrence, Kan.

12 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

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West Virginia

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West Virginia

Kansas

Davis Scores 21 in Return; Jayhawks Fall to Mountaineers

1/1/2026 3:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Freshman Jaliya Davis scored a team-high 21 points Thursday afternoon in her return to the court, but West Virginia used a strong fourth quarter to outlast Kansas, 79-72, in Big 12 action at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks dropped to 10-4 on the season, 0-2 in Big 12 play and 7-1 at home, while the Mountaineers moved to 12-2 and 2-0 in league play. Davis, who had been out since Nov. 15, scored 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while adding seven rebounds in her return. S'Mya Nichols (16), Lilly Meister (13) and Elle Evans (11) all scored in double figures as well for the Jayhawks.

Kansas led by five after the first quarter and by one at half, before West Virginia grabbed a small lead in the third and extended it in the fourth. The Mountaineers shot 13-for-27 from deep in the win.

"You have to credit their players, the difference in this game was the 3-point shot," Coach Brandon Schneider said. "And then we didn't rebound well in the third quarter, and that did us in. Jaliya did some good things, and we need to get her caught up when it comes to execution. Right now, it's just playing catch up and she's a click away."

Kansas shot 50 percent from the floor over the game's first 10 minutes and grabbed a 19-14 lead. Davis picked up right where she left off earlier in the season, leading Kansas with nine points in the first quarter. The freshman was 4-for-5 from the floor in the opening quarter and played eight minutes in the first quarter.

Nichols also had a strong start to the game, scoring seven points on just two shot attempts in the first quarter, going 5-for-5 from the free throw line. The Jayhawks also held the Mountaineers to 39 percent shooting the opening quarter to open the early lead.

The action tightened up in the second quarter. West Virginia cut into the KU lead right away, knocking down a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the frame to make it a two-point game. Davis scored a bucket and Nichols added two more free throws to push the lead to six at 23-17. But from there, the difference never went higher than six and the Mountaineers grabbed a lead three separate times.

Training 23-17 with 7:30 to go in the half, West Virginia knocked down a 3-pointer and then got a bucket from Carter McCray to make it a one-point game nearly midway through the second quarter. McCray then converted a three-point play to give WVU a two-point lead at 25-23. Lilly Meister and the Jayhawks had a response, however, as she knocked down a 3-pointer to back up one. West Virginia's Gia Cooke and Meister then traded buckets to keep Kansas up one, before Elle Evans knocked down her second 3-pointer of the half to put Kansas up four.

After Cooke went 1-for-2 from the line, Evans hit another one from deep to put Kansas up six, equaling its largest lead of the quarter. But the Mountaineers then rattled off seven straight points to go up one briefly in the final minute, before Meister hit a putback in the final seconds to put Kansas up one, 36-35, at the break.

The Mountaineers came out of the locker room in the second half in strong fashion and eventually erased KU's small lead and built a lead of their own. The two teams traded leads throughout the first seven minutes of the half. With 3:05 to play in the third, Laia Conesa scored on a layup to put KU up 51-50.

But from there, WVU scored the next seven points to take a six-point lead into the fourth quarter. Sydney Shaw hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds after Conesa's bucket to get the lead back and then a Jordan Harrison layup with 2:10 to play in the quarter made it a four-point game. McCray then hit two free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to make it 57-51 heading into the final quarter.

There, the Mountaineers stretched their lead into double figures less than two minutes into the quarter and led by as many as 17, at 73-56 with 6:17 to play. The Jayhawks chipped away and got it down to as few as the final deficit of seven. Gia Cooke led all scorers in the game with 24 points, while Shaw added 18.

Kansas will return to action Sunday when it travels to UCF for a 1 p.m., Big 12 Conference matchup at Addition Financial Arena.

NOTES

Jaliya Davis returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 15 vs. Missouri and started her fourth game of the season. Davis missed nine games in that span.
Davis finished the game with 21 points, her second most this season and her second 20-point game of the year. Davis has scored in double figures in all four games she has played in this season.
S'Mya Nichols ended the contest with 16 points and moved into 18th on the Kansas career scoring list, currently with 1,341 points. She passed Kylee Kopatich (2016-19) who scored 1,340.
Nichols' 16 points marked her 13th game this season, 68th of her career, with 10 or more points.
Lilly Meister scored 13 points and has six games this season with 10 or more points, including four of her last five games.
Meister just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. She has pulled down five or more boards in six-consecutive games and 12 times this season.
Meister also had two steals for her second-straight game and the fourth time this season.
Elle Evans was 3-for-4 from three-point range and has made three or more threes in seven games this season.
Evans tied season high with three assists, marking the fifth time this season she has posted three assists.
Laia Conesa recorded four assists and has had four or more assists four times this season.
Libby Fandel was 2-for-2 from three-point range. She has made 12 threes in her last four games.