Four Jayhawks net double figures in 75-44 rout of Iona

LAWRENCE, Kan. – A balanced offense with four double-digit scorers helped Kansas women’s basketball improve to 5-0 with a 75-44 victory over Iona on Sunday afternoon inside Allen Fieldhouse.
 
Sixth-year guard Jessica Washington led KU with 17 points, becoming the second Jayhawk in the past two games to reach the 1,000 point plateau. Senio Kylee Kopatich recorded her second-straight double-figure scoring performance with 15 points, while junior forward Mariane De Carvalho and senior Austin Richardson contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
After a pair of good free throws on Iona’s side put the Gaels up 2-0 to start the game, but Kansas answered with a pair of free throws of its own. After scoring from behind the 3-point line, KU never relinquished its lead. The Jayhawks led by 15 going into the locker room at halftime and ran into the third quarter on a 10-2 run to increase their lead and end any hope of a comeback by the Gaels.
 
KU’s defense was a shined during the contest, forcing 26 turnovers which Kansas converted in 27 points off of those turnovers, while also snagging 16 steals. This marks the second-straight game of the season in which the Jayhawks have grabbed 15 or more steals in a game.
 
Coming off a 30-point performance in her last outing, Washington only needed 12 more points to join Kopatich in the records as one of 30 Jayhawks to reach the 1,000-point mark. The senior out of Tulsa scored 17 points, her third time in a row scoring in double figures. She also contributed a season-high performance in assists and steals on the day with five and two, respectively.
 
Redshirt-freshman Brittany Franklin and De Carvalho had big outings for the Jayhawks. Franklin had her most impressive outing in a Kansas uniform thus far with nine points, her first points as a Jayhawk, and seven rebounds in only 14 minutes of playing time. De Carvalho recorded her first points in a Kansas uniform with 12, which is also her first time scoring in double-figures, and added four rebounds in her 15 minutes of playing time.
 
With the balanced offense attack and stifling defense, Kansas ran away with the 75-44 victory over Iona.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Brandon Schneider
 
Opening Statement:
“First, I would like to thank radio, TV, media, support staff, security, band, fans, anybody that went out and braved the weather today and be here to support us. It means a lot to us, I heard they already cancelled school tomorrow, so I just really appreciate everybody’s support.”
 
On Brittany Franklin’s performance:
“I thought she played hard and played with a lot of energy. It’s amazing when you just go out there and play like your hairs on fire, sometimes some good things can happen for you. I thought she thought a lot less and just tried to go get every rebound. She was active on the defensive end and some good things happened for her.”
 
On Brittany Franklin and Mariane De Carvalho:
“Brittany’s got a bright future, but she’s still a freshman, there’s still a lot for her to learn. The game’s a little fast for her still and I think as she becomes more comfortable with what we’re doing, becomes more confident, the game will slow down for her. Mariane [De Carvalho] hasn’t been available before today, so I didn’t feel like we should just play her 25-30 minutes right out of the box. I thought she played sped-up early, she’s excited, but in the second half, she got settled in and it was nice to see her make some plays.”
 
On Jessica Washington and Kylee Kopatich both reaching the 1,000-point mark:
“It’s a heck of an accomplishment for any collegiate basketball player to do that and those are two players that spend a lot of time, have throughout their life, in the gym working on their game and particularly just taking thousands and thousands of shots and, obviously, we’re all very excited and proud for them.”
 
On the full court defensive pressure:
“Iona is a team that doesn’t have a lot of depth and we felt like today was a game where we wanted to play as many guys as we could. It’s something that we’ve worked on in practice, but haven’t done much in games and felt like it would be an opportunity to get some film of it moving forward.”
 
On small victories:
“We have certain game goals that we go into each game trying to meet and we had a defensive goal of holding them under 45, so I thought our players who were on the court were really invested in trying to get stops, even though it was a big lead. I like the fact that our bench was very, very engaged and enthusiastic about just trying to reach a team goal.”
 
Redshirt Freshman Brittany Franklin
 
On overcoming her injury from last season:
“Going through an injury, I wouldn’t say it was bad because it helped me learn the game, college basketball, so it really helped me a lot.”
 
On her performance today:
“I was just trying to really be aggressive on the boards, getting rebounds and just putting it back up.”
 
On the feeling when her first career bucket went in:
“It was a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I was like ‘okay, you got this now, let’s go get it. I’ve got to keep going, keep working.”
 
Redshirt Senior Jessica Washington
 
On Franklin’s defense:
“We went through it together last year, we sat out and watched everybody. I watched her grind and get back into it. For her to go out there and have a game like this tonight, I’m super proud of her. I think she knows that everyone on the team is really proud of her tonight.”
 
On reaching that 1,000 point mark:
“I’ve had a little bit of an extended career, but this is still my fourth year playing so I think coming here to KU hasn’t done anything but bring positivity to my game and to my career. The majority of my points are here at KU and we still have a whole season coming and it’s not even just about scoring. It’s about my teammates getting me those shots. This team this year, we have a really good shot this year and it really spreads the floor out and helps me get to that 1,000 points.”
 
On the backcourt and how much further they can go:
“We’re just getting started. We really are just getting started. She (Christalah Lyons) wasn’t lying when she said that (the backcourt was going to be a scary sight), but we have to back that up every single day in practice. It’s the little victories, but it’s also the little details. We don’t come into the games just setting these goals randomly. We have these game plans because every single day in practice we’re working on defense, we’re working on every little thing that matters. We have high standards and high goals this season, but we’re going to reach them.”

NOTABLES:

  • With their 75-44 win today, the Jayhawks improve to 5-0 on the season and 14-3 in nonconference play over the last two years.
  • The Jayhawks held the Gaels to shooting 14.3 percent from the field in the first quarter, which is the lowest field goal percentage that Kansas has held its opponent to in the opening 10 minutes this season.
  • Kansas has connected on 40 percent or better of its attempts from the field for the fifth-straight contest, shooting a season-high 46.6 percent.
  • KU held Iona to just 20 points in the first half, which is the lowest the Jayhawks have held an opponent to in a half since they held UMKC to 16 (11/7/18).
  • Iona’s 44 points are also the fewest points the Jayhawks have allowed in a game since KU held Texas Tech to 47 points (1/3/18).
  • Kansas’ 16 steals mark the second-straight game the Jayhawks have snagged 15 or more steals in a game.
  • The Jayhawks’ six blocks against the Gaels are the fourth time this season that Kansas has recorded five or more blocks.
  •  Redshirt senior Jessica Washington‘s 17 points make her the second Jayhawk this season to reach 1,000 career points, bringing her total to 1,005 between her time at Kansas and North Carolina.
  • Redshirt freshman Brittany Franklin scored her first points in a Kansas uniform with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. The 6-5 center also added seven rebounds, tying her career high in 14 minutes of play. Franklin also tied her career-high of two blocks for the third time this season.
  • For the second time this season, four Jayhawks have notched double figures in scoring. Washington led Kansas with 17 points marking her third-straight double-digit scoring effort and 41st of her career. Seniors Kylee Kopatich and Austin Richardson added 15 and 10 points, while junior transfer Mariane De Carvalho put up 12 points in her first outing in a Kansas uniform.

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks travel to LSU for the first game of two-game road tilt on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Fans can listen to all of the action on the Jayhawk Radio Network.

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