Although the Jayhawks opened their Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse going toe to toe defensively with Oklahoma State, the Kansas women’s basketball team couldn’t maintain that down the stretch.
OSU torched KU in the third quarter, turning a two-point game at intermission into a 75-51 rout.
How did a game that looked like a defensive battle after 20 minutes change so drastically so quickly?
KU head coach Brandon Schneider saw the game shift on fast breaks.
“We continued to struggle offensively and Oklahoma State took advantage and got out in transition more off of defensive rebounding,” Schneider said, referencing OSU scoring 15 of its 32 fast break points in the third.
With so many easy looks coming for the visitors in transition, OSU shot 10-for-20 in the third, when KU (6-7 overall, 2-5 Big 12) was outscored 28-11.
The Jayhawks, who shot 27% from the floor on the night and 5-for-21 from 3-point range, went 4-for-17 overall in the third, missing all five of their 3-pointers.
KU missed at least five shot attempts in a row four different times in the home loss. The Jayhawks opened the third quarter misfiring on their first seven attempts of the second half, contributing to a 29-20 lead for OSU (12-5, 8-3).
Although KU only trailed by two at the break, OSU’s margin ballooned to 19 entering the fourth.
Schneider said OSU senior Natasha Mack (21 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks) proved to be a “premier paint presence,” contributing to KU’s offensive woes.
“And they settled into the matchup zone,” Schneider said, “and it was tough for us to get good looks around the rim.”
KU missed its first 14 3-point attempts before Mia Vuksic finally knocked one down for them in the fourth, after the game was out of hand.
“We just didn’t make the open 3’s that we got, and I think when you’re missing shots at the rate that we were it wore on us mentally,” Schneider said, “and we didn’t continue to play with the same type of effort on the defensive end.”
After a slow offensive start for Oklahoma State on the road, a couple of 3-pointers late in the second quarter provided the road team with a surge. OSU’s players combined to miss their first seven 3-point tries before Ja’Mee Asberry got a pair to fall in the final 4:36 before halftime.
After KU gave up just five OSU field goals in the opening 15 minutes, OSU went 4-for-7 in a stretch leading up to halftime, as the visitors overtook Kansas to take a 22-20 lead into the break.
KU shot 7-for-30 (23%) in the first half, while OSU went 9-for-38 (24%). The Jayhawks missed all eight of their 3-pointers during the first 20 minutes, and OSU shot 2-for-9 from long range.
The Jayhawks’ defense carried them through much of the first half. At one point a few minutes into the second quarter, OSU was just 5-for-30 (16.7%), when the visitors missed seven shot attempts in a row.
But KU only led 16-11 at that juncture, as the Jayhawks had their own scoring issues, shooting 5-for-23 through a quarter and a half.
KU limited OSU to 4-for-16 shooting in the first quarter, when the visitors missed all six of their 3-point tries and also gave the ball away six times — Holly Kersgieter (two steals), Tina Stephens and Brooklyn Mitchell combined for four steals in the period.
But the Jayhawks only led 12-9 at the end of the first, as OSU’s Lauren Fields turned her missed 3-pointer in the final seconds into a layup, with the help of a Micah Dennis offensive rebound.
Kersgieter (3-for-13 shooting, 0-for-3 on 3-pointers) led KU with 12 points in defeat.
The Jayhawks will turn around and face OSU again on Tuesday, as the teams play a makeup game in Stillwater, Okla.
