The Kansas women’s basketball team likely secured its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in nine years when it won 73-67 at No. 19 Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
Taiyanna Jackson had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks, and Aniya Thomas had 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting off the bench for the Jayhawks (20-8, 11-7 Big 12), who last won 20 games in 2012-13.
Skylar Vann scored 17 points and Taylor Robertson had 14 for the Sooners (23-7, 13-5 Big 12), who managed to erase a 13-point second-half deficit and take a 64-62 lead with 2:37 remaining but held it for only 24 seconds.
Kansas had already wrapped up the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament, which will begin Thursday, and appeared to be in position to be selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament. But the win against the Sooners (23-7, 13-5 Big 12) was the Jayhawks’ second on the road against a ranked team this season — they also beat then-No. 13 Texas on Jan. 12 — and will be enough for them to hear their names called when the 68-team field is announced on March 13.
Coincidentally, it will be Oklahoma whom Kansas sees again in the Big 12 tournament. It has a first-round bye and will face the Sooners at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, with the winner to face top seed Baylor a day later.
Kansas won seven consecutive Big 12 games for the first time in 25 earlier this season, but it closed with a four-game run against ranked opponents, including the first three against teams ranked in the top 25.
It lost them all, but matched up better Saturday against Oklahoma, which won 82-68 at home in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 8.
Although Kansas trailed 23-18 at the end of the first quarter Saturday, it finished the second quarter on a 15-3 run that gave it a 44-35 lead at halftime. That run was due in large part to Thomas and Zakiyah Franklin, who combined for 11 of those 15 points.
The Jayhawks pushed their lead to as many as 13 points with 3:29 remaining when Jackson made a pair of free throws to make it 54-41. They made seven of 10 free throw attempts in the quarter, offsetting their 2-for-12 performance from the floor, but the Sooners closed the quarter on a 6-0 run and trailed 55-50 heading into the fourth.
Oklahoma reclaimed the lead at 64-62 on Madi Williams’ layup, but Jackson put back a miss by Ioanna Chatzileonti with 2:13 left to tie the score. Holly Kersgieter then made a layup in transition off of a rebound by Franklin with 1:56 to play and the Sooners never pulled any closer.
Franklin finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Chatzileonti had five points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Kansas outscored Oklahoma 46-26 in the paint and had the 14-5 edge in second-chance points despite being outrebounded 47-46. It shot 28-for-70 (40 percent) on the afternoon, including 3-for-19 (15.8 percent) from 3-point range.
Oklahoma, which entered Saturday third in the nation with 84.2 points per game, shot 25-for-79 (31.6 percent) and 11-for-40 (27.5 percent) from 3-point range.
