Kansas University’s women’s basketball team improved to 4-0 with a 72-50 victory over Birmingham Southern Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU senior guard Erica Hallman led all scorers with 19 points and set a career-high with six three-point field goals. She was six-of-eight from behind the arc and moved into a tie for third place all-time in three-pointers made in school history.
“There are certainly some things we have to work on and be better in a hurry for tomorrow’s game against UNO,” said KU coach Bonnie Henrickson, whose squad plays University of New Orleans in a 1 p.m. tip-off at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
“We need to get back to playing every possession no matter what the score is and play for 40 minutes.”
Jayhawk freshman guard Ivana Catic dished out 10 assists to break a school record for assists by a freshman. Senior forward Crystal Kemp chipped in 12 points and senior guard Kaylee Brown rounded out the Jayhawks’ high scorers, with 10 more points. Kemp also recorded her 600th career rebound during the game becoming the ninth player in KU history to record 1,000 career points and 600 rebounds.
“We have to focus on the things we didn’t do tonight,” Catic said. “We need to focus at the free-throw line which would have been an additional ten points tonight. Tonight we had 20 turnovers, and we need to get that back to 12 or 13 which is our goal.”
In the first half, KU sophomore forward Taylor McIntosh scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds to spur the Jayhawks to a 37-25 halftime lead. Hallman scored 13 of her 19 points in the first 20 minutes.
The second half saw Jayhawk junior guard Sharita Smith score all seven of her career-high point total. Freshman forward Marija Zinic also set a career-high with six points. The Jayhawks shot a season-best 50 percent from the field on 28-for-56 shooting and also drained nine three-pointers, a season high as well.
Meanwhile the Panthers shot just 32-percent from the field, prompting B. Southern coach Brad Hodge to say he feel relieved his squad doesn’t play in the Big 12.
“I thought that they really got after it defensively. They (Kansas) made some comments about their defensive level is not where they want it to be, but it was there tonight,” Hodge said. “They really took us out of what we are good at.
“They are much improved from last year. Bonnie (Henrickson) has this team going in the right direction.”
