Kansas Continues Big 12 Tilt at No. 9 Baylor

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas travels to Waco, Texas to challenge No. 9 Baylor on Sunday, Jan. 5, at 3 p.m. in the Ferrell Center. It marks the first road test for the Jayhawks in 2014 and in Big 12 play. The Lady Bears are the third ranked team that KU has faced this season. The game will be televised on the Fox Sports Network, while Nate Bukaty will call the plays on the Jayhawk Radio Network.
 
KANSAS FAST BREAKS

• The Jayhawks have won three of their last five games heading into their first Big 12 road contest. KU is 1-3 away from Allen Fieldhouse in 2013-14 and hasn’t played on the road since Nov. 30 against then-No. 2 Duke in the Virgin Islands. Kansas has an all-time road record of 368-386. Under head coach Bonnie Henrickson, Kansas is 45-89 on the road.
•  Kansas’ all-time Big 12 record is 108-169, while KU is 51-98 in conference play under Henrickson.
• KU has lost seven-straight games to Baylor and 17 of the last 18 meetings. The Jayhawks are 2-9 when playing in the Ferrell Center.
• Defensively, the Jayhawks have held three of their last four opponents to under 37 percent shooting from the field. KU has held seven opponents in 2013-14 to under 40 percent shooting.
• The Jayhawks are 0-2 against teams ranked in the Top-25 polls in 2013-14 after previously playing then-No. 2 Duke and then-No. 18 Purdue. Baylor is the second opponent that Kansas faces this season ranked in the Top-10.
• KU owns a 6-2 record when outrebounding opponents. The Jayhawks have outrebounded 9-of-13 opponents this season with the largest margin being 16 over Oral Roberts to open 2013-14.
• Juniors Chelsea Gardner and Asia Boyd continue to lead the Kansas offense by averaging double figures with 17.1 and 13.7 points per game, respectively. Gardner and Boyd both closed out the non-conference schedule by recording double-doubles against Yale. Gardner had 26 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double on the year, while Boyd had 17 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
• Gardner recorded a season-high four blocks in the Jayhawks’ Big 12 opener against West Virginia on Jan. 2. She has swatted away a team-high 21 blocks in 2013-14 and she has 86 blocks in her career. She is four blocks away from becoming the 11th Jayhawk in program history to record 90 or more career blocks. 
• Gardner enters the game with a six-game double-digit scoring streak, while Boyd is riding a five-game double-digit scoring streak. Gardner has scored in double figures in 12-of-13 games and Boyd has reached the double digit mark in 9-of-13 games in 2013-14.

 
ABOUT THE JAYHAWKS
Junior Chelsea Gardner heads to Waco with a six-game double-digit scoring streak and junior Asia Boyd is right behind Gardner on a five-game double-figure scoring streak. Gardner leads the team with 17.1 points per game. Boyd is the only other Jayhawk averaging double digits with 13.7 points per game. Junior guard Natalie Knight scored a season-high 15 points in the Jayhawks’ Big 12 opener against West Virginia on Jan. 2. She is averaging 13.3 points per game in the last three games behind 53.3 shooting percentage from the field. Knight has scored in double figures in the last three games.
 
Freshman guard Keyla Morgan tied her career-best mark of 11 points against Yale. She has started four games and appeared in eight this season. She is averaging 7.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Senior guard CeCe Harper recorded her first career double-double against Tulsa after scoring 15 points and dishing out a career-best 13 assists. She is averaging 5.1 assists per game and has a total of 66 on the year. Freshman forward Caelynn Manning-Allen collected her first career start in the final game of 2013 against Yale. She is averaging 1.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
 
Freshman guard Dakota Gonzalez continues to be one of the first Jayhawks head coach Bonnie Henrickson calls upon from the bench. She is averaging 4.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. She has appeared in 11-of-13 KU contests in 2013-14 and is playing 13.7 minutes per game. Senior Markisha Hawkins has played in 12 games this season and is averaging 14.4 minutes per game. Hawkins is scoring 4.3 points per game. Junior forward Bunny Williams has also appeared in every game and started eight this season. She is averaging 2.2 boards in 14.0 minutes per game.
 
Freshman forward Jada Brown has appeared in 12 games averaging 9.8 minutes and 1.4 rebounds per game. She scored a career-high four points in the Big 12 opener against West Virginia on Jan. 2. Sophomore guard Lamaria Cole is averaging 14 minutes per game in 11 appearances. She has 18 assists and 12 steals on the year and is averaging 3.9 points per game. Freshman guard Dylan Gonzalez is averaging 1.5 points and 3.3 minutes per game in four appearances.
 
KANSAS VS. Baylor: THE SERIES
The Lady Bears lead the overall series against the Jayhawks, 19-7. Baylor has a seven-game win streak heading into Sunday’s game and has won 17 of the last 18 contests between the two programs. Kansas’ last victory over Baylor was on March 4, 2009 when KU defeated the Lady Bears 69-45 in Allen Fieldhouse.
 
The Last Time Out
Kansas last faced Baylor on Feb. 6, 2013 and the Lady Bears handed KU a 86-45 loss at the Ferrell Center. Baylor held the Jayhawks to a season-low point total in the last meeting. CeCe Harper scored a team-high 11 points, while Asia Boyd chipped in 10 points.
 
SCOUTING THE LADY BEARS
Baylor is ranked No. 9 in the country and is 11-1 on the season. Baylor opened its conference slate with a dominating, 92-63, win over Kansas State. Senior Odyssey Sims scored 40 points as the Lady Bears improved to 1-0 in the Big 12. Sims leads the league with 30.9 points per game behind 51 percent shooting from the field. Baylor is averaging 98.6 points per game and has a scoring margin of +34.5. The Lady Bears’ lone loss of the season was in four overtimes to then-No. 5 Kentucky. Sune Agbuke leads the team with 8.7 boards a game, which is second in the conference, and is averaging a team-best 2.3 blocks per game.  
 
WEST VIRGINIA LEFTOVERS

• Junior Natalie Knight knocked in a season-high 15 points to lead Kansas’ offense on the night. Juniors Asia Boyd and Chelsea Gardner also scored double figures with 12 and 10 points against the Mountaineers, respectively.
• Freshman Jada Brown scored a season-best four points to top her previous high of three at Minnesota (11/20/13).
• The Kansas defense held West Virginia to 34.9 percent shooting (22-for-63) for the game. The Jayhawks have held seven of their 13 opponents under 38 percent shooting this season. KU’s defense also held West Virginia to 27 points in the first half. The Mountaineers’ previous low for a half was 28 against Hawaii (11/17/13).

 
THIS DAY IN KANSAS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HISTORY
On Jan. 5, 1999, Kansas extended its winning streak to eight games with an 84-74 win over Baylor. The Jayhawks were led by Lynn Pride who scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Brooke Reves added 18 points and seven rebounds in the victory, while Jennifer Jackson finished with 13 points and six assists.
 
Sharp Shooting Jayhawks
Kansas has shot 50 percent or better in three of its last five games and a total of six times this season. The Jayhawks shot a season-best 61.4 percent (27-44) against Creighton on Nov. 17. It marked the highest field goal percentage since KU’s opening round of the WNIT against Wichita State in 2011. Individually, junior Chelsea Gardner has shot 70 percent or better in six of Kansas’ 13 games and shot a season-high of 85.7 percent (6-7) against Xavier on Nov. 29.
 
CHELSEA LATELY
Junior forward Chelsea Gardner has stepped up to the challenge of filling the scoring void left by graduating three 1,000 point scorers at the conclusion of the 2012-13 season. Gardner has scored in double figures in 12-fo-13 games this season and is averaging 17.1 points per game. In the last six games, Gardner has shot 70.1 (47-67) percent from the field. On the season, she is shooting 62.5 percent from the field, which is the second best field goal percentage in the Big 12. She scored a career-high 30 points against Texas Southern on Dec. 12. Gardner has recorded four double-doubles this year and 10 in her career. She has 654 career points and is on pace to reach 1,000 points by the end of her Jayhawk career.
 
A Knight’s Tale
Junior Natalie Knight made her return to the hardwood on Oct. 30 in an exhibition contest against Pittsburg State after suffering a season-ending knee injury in 2012-13. The Olathe, Kan. native picked up where she left by being the most consistent Jayhawk on the court and among one of the top ball-handlers in the Big 12. Knight has the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference at 2.6. She is averaging a team-best 32.5 minutes per game and has turned the ball over 17 times in 13 appearances. Knight is scoring 8.5 points per game and has reached double digit points in the last three games, including knocking in a season-high 15 points in KU’s Big 12 opener against West Virginia on Jan. 2.
 
Cece and the Assist Factory
In 2013-14, the Jayhawks’ offense runs through senior guard CeCe Harper, who is playing her fourth and final year at Kansas. After 13 games, Harper has surpassed her previous season mark of 62 assists by dishing out 66 so far this year. Prior to 2013-14, she averaged 1.4 assists per game and totaled 115 assists in three years. As a senior, Harper is averaging 5.1 assists per game and dished out a career-high 13 assists against Tulsa on Dec. 22. Harper has recorded two double-digit assists effort this season and ranks sixth among the Big 12 in assists per game (5.1).
 
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