🏀 Prater’s Career Night Propels Jayhawks Past Texas Tech
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Chandler Prater scored a career-high 18 points off the bench and helped guide her Kansas team to a 71-57 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.
The victory snaps a two-game slide for the Jayhawks, who are now 12-4 on the year and 3-3 in Big 12 play. Texas Tech falls to 9-9 on the year, 2-5 in league play.
"This is a really good win for us, I thought we had a lot of people step up and I was proud of how we closed today. Texas Tech is a good team. They lost some games in non-conference when Vivian (Gray) didn’t play, but they have conference wins over K-State and Texas. Any win in this league is a good win and I’m glad we got one tonight."
Head Coach Brandon Schneider
Kansas trailed 6-1 in the opening minutes before defense ignited an 11-1 run that put the Jayhawks up 12-7 at the midway point of the quarter. Texas Tech, however, closed the quarter on an 8-2 run and led KU 19-18 at the end of one.
An 8-0 run by the Jayhawks early in the second quarter had KU up 26-22 as each team took its turn with a scoring run. The score was tied twice in the quarter before Kansas used a pair of free throws from Chandler Prater in the closing seconds to lead 34-33 at the break.
The Jayhawks doubled up Texas Tech in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Raiders 20-10 on the strength of 5-of-12 shooting from the field. The Jayhawks also hit all 10 of its free throw attempts in the third quarter and built a lead of 54-43 with 10 minutes to play.
The fourth quarter opened with a 6-0 run by the Lady Raiders, but Kansas responded by holding Tech without a field goal for nearly six minutes as the Jayhawks put the game away. KU held a double-digit lead for the final 3:34, pushing the advantage as high as 17 in the final minute.
Prater led the way for Kansas with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. She surpassed her previous career-high of 14 points, which she had on three occasions. Prater also finished with three rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
Holly Kersgieter reached double figures for the 11th consecutive game, scoring 17 points to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Ioanna Chatzileonti also reached double figures, scoring 11 points while Taiyanna Jackson led KU with seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Up Next
Kansas plays on the road twice next week, beginning with a trip to Ames, Iowa, on Wednesday, Jan. 26 to face Iowa State at 6:30 p.m.
Notes
- The Jayhawks 14-point victory is the largest for a Kansas team over a conference opponent since February 15, 2020, an 82-67 win against Texas.
- Kansas’ win broke a three-game losing streak against Texas Tech. The last time the Jayhawks defeated the Lady Raiders was January 18, 2020.
- With 18 points in Saturday’s game, Chandler Prater set a new career high. Her previous high was 14 which she has hit three times, most recently against Santa Clara earlier this season.
- Kansas’ bench scored 24 points, twice as many as Texas Tech.
