Hannon, KU’s rail-thin, 6-foot-2 reserve guard-forward, had two fouls, two turnovers, a badly missed field-goal attempt and zero points in three minutes of the Jayhawks’ 78-67 victory over Kansas State on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Hannon’s greatest contribution came before tipoff, when she shrugged off her reserved nature and questioned her teammates’ intensity heading into the Sunflower State Showdown.

“She got loud,” said Kansas’ Brooke Reves, who had 21 points against the slumping Wildcats. “Normally, she’s kind of a shy girl. But she stood up and said it loud and clear. She looked each one of us in the eye and was strong about what she said. It got our attention.”

And how.

The Jayhawks (7-7 overall, 1-2 Big 12) broke open a close game with a 16-1 first-half surge, led by as many as 27 in the second half, hounded K-State (10-5, 0-4) into 29 turnovers and handily sent the Wildcats to their fourth straight loss.

“We were missing something, and we found it today,” said Kansas senior guard Jennifer Jackson, who collected a career-high 23 points to go with five assists.

Jackson found her shooting touch. Jackson, who came in having hit just eight of her last 34 shots and averaging 7.2 points per game, hit nine of 17 field-goal tries against KSU.

“I don’t know what it was,” Jackson said. “I’d never lost four in a row before in my life. I was down about it. I talked to my family, and they said I had 21/2 months left to play basketball, go out and have fun. Everybody worked together and I was getting open shots. As bad as I was shooting, I wouldn’t have guarded me either.”

Jackson wasn’t the only Jayhawk who showed off a new-found vigor. Kansas’ pressuring, gambling defense feeding off a season-high crowd of 6,150 fans limited the Wildcats to just 34 field-goal attempts, and Kansas turned the 29 turnovers into 30 points.

K-State only stayed in it by hitting 61.8 percent of its shots, including 73.3 percent after halftime, and by outrebounding Kansas, 24-18.

“We’re not happy they hit 61 percent,” Jackson said, “but we took a lot of risks today. Sometimes when you do that, you’re going to get beat. But 29 turnovers that tells the story.”

It certainly was the story of the Jayhawks’ game-turning run. Leading 25-20 with 7:40 left in the first half, Kansas forced five turnovers in seven possessions over the next four-plus minutes and streaked to a 41-21 lead.

K-State, trying to stop the roll, used all but one of its five time outs before halftime.

“We played about 95 percent of the game as well as we’d hoped,” KU coach Marian Washington said. “We were much more aggressive defensively. Defense has been a concern because of our lost athleticism, but tonight we did a good job of keeping pressure on them.”

Kristin Rethman led the ‘Cats with 22 points and had a perfect line: 5-for-5 field-goal shooting, 4-for-4 three-point shooting and 8-for-8 free-throw shooting. Center Nicole Ohlde, KSU’s leading scorer on the year, chipped in 17 points.

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Jaclyn Johnson, Kansas’ leading scorer this season, had nine points, 8.5 points below her season average.

“I like the fact we didn’t let Jaclyn Johnson have a big game,” K-State coach Deb Patterson said, “but I don’t know she needed to. Jennifer Jackson stepped up, and I continue to be so impressed with Brooke Reves. She did an excellent job tonight on both ends of the floor.”

Kansas, which has won three in a row over its in-state rivals, will travel to Oklahoma State on Wednesday.