Aishah Sutherland had 22 rebounds and 15 points, and Kansas University’s women’s basketball team handed Oklahoma State its first home loss of the season, a 65-60 decision Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Sutherland’s 22 boards were the most by a KU woman since Tracy Claxton had 28 on Nov. 21, 1981.
Her fifth double-double of the season helped KU (15-2 overall, 4-1 Big 12) claim its third-straight road victory and snapped an eight-game home win streak by OSU (10-4, 2-3).
KU’s Carolyn Davis led all scorers with 18 points and had four rebounds.
Junior Monica Engelman and freshman Natalie Knight rounded out KU’s double-digit scorers with 13 and 10 points.
KU’s reserves played just 12 combined minutes and had zero points and zero rebounds.
Kansas held its largest lead of the second half at the 8:24 mark, 54-43. Oklahoma State outscored the Jayhawks 12-2 over the next five minutes to come within one, 56-55, with 3:38 left to play after a jumper from Lindsey Keller.
Kansas responded with a Sutherland layup on the other end. She was fouled on the play and hit the ensuing free throw to complete the traditional three-point play.
Shortly after, junior Angel Goodrich was sent to the foul line and hit two free throws with 1:07 left to put KU up 61-55.
On OSU’s next offensive possession, Engelman came away with a steal and drove the court for a fast-break layup to cap a 9-0 run by the Jayhawks.
But Oklahoma State was not done. Keller hit two free throws for the Cowgirls, and Tiffany Bias hit a shot from just across half-court to make it a one-possession game, 63-60, with 11 seconds remaining. OSU was forced to foul on the KU in-bounds, and Goodrich sank both free throws to seal the victory. She sank all four attempts from the charity stripe on the night and finished with nine points, four assists and four steals.
The Jayhawks shot 77.8 percent at the foul line in the second half and finished 9-for-12 for the game (75.0 percent) compared to OSU’s 54.5 percent. KU also out-shot OSU 48.1 percent to 40.6 percent from the floor. Despite Sutherland’s performance, Oklahoma State topped KU on the boards pulling down 38 rebounds to Kansas’ 34.
KU will host defending national champion (and 13th-ranked) Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.