🏀 WNIT Champs Host 2022-23 Season Celebration
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Head Coach Brandon Schneider and the 2023 WNIT Champion Kansas Jayhawks hosted a season celebration on Wednesday evening in the Burge Union on KU’s campus.
Players, coaches, staff, families and supporters filled the room to honor the 2022-23 Jayhawk team, which accomplished several milestones on its way to the WNIT Championship. Kansas finished 25-11, marking the sixth time in school history and first time since 1996-97 that a KU team had 25 or more wins in a season. KU also set a new single-season school record with 19 wins at Allen Fieldhouse, and experienced a 122 percent increase in average attendance, which included a crowd of 11,701 for the WNIT Championship game against Columbia.
The emcee for the evening was Brenda VanLengen, who regularly calls the Jayhawks on television for Big 12 NOW. Following a welcome from Chancellor Douglas A. Girod and invocation by Jayhawk women’s basketball alum Niccolly Wuellner, the participants ate dinner while watching highlight videos from the season. After dinner, VanLengen introduced the members of the team and Director of Athletics Travis Goff addressed the crowd before turning over the mic to KU’s head coach. Schneider then took the stage for remarks about the season followed by handing out the team’s individual awards.
"We are fortunate that we are a university that wants to have a good women’s basketball program. I think it’s really important to our administration and that was demonstrated through their actions and investment, most recently ensuring that we hosted every game during the WNIT. For that, we are extremely grateful, because the memory of nearly 12,000 fans in Allen Fieldhouse is something that I know our young women are never going to forget."
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
Schneider and the Kansas coaching staff announced four team awards. Claiming the Hard Hat Award for deflections and rebounds was All-America center Taiyanna Jackson, while Chandler Prater claimed the award for charges taken. Katrine Jessen took home the Juice Box award, presented to the player who showed the most energy and excitement in support of their teammates.
Following a highlight film documenting the Jayhawks’ season, VanLengen provided final remarks for the crowd and the team took to the stage for a group photo.
