Down to their final game of the 2022-23 season, win or lose, the Kansas women’s basketball team has put everything from the past five months fully in the rearview mirror.
The expectations, the hot start, the national ranking, the nine Big 12 Conference wins and the one loss that likely cost them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. None of that matters any longer.
Not even the fire and frustration that fueled their run to five consecutive WNIT wins on the heels of being left out of the Big Dance.
All of it has been temporarily erased from their memories so that the Jayhawks (24-11) can focus fully on finishing off the season on a high note instead of dwelling on the disappointment that came just three weeks earlier.
“I don’t think we look at it like that anymore,” senior guard Holly Kersgieter said of her team’s approach heading into Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. WNIT championship game against Columbia at Allen Fieldhouse. “We’ve played, what, five games? That (something-to-prove approach) can only be your mindset for so long until it gets boring. So, we’ve got to play for something else.”
That something else is a WNIT title and the chance to be one of the few men’s or women’s teams in the entire country that ends its season on a win.
“We’re not thinking about the (NCAA) Tournament, we’re not in that mindset anymore,” Kersgieter said. “We’re playing for us because we’re playing to win a championship, regardless of what type it is, and we’re having a lot of fun, obviously.”
That “fun” that Kersgieter mentioned has led to five consecutive convincing wins. Four of them came by double digits and the one that didn’t was a nine-point win over Nebraska.
Kersgieter described KU’s season-ending run as the Jayhawks “figuring us out again.” And that discovery has led to the most wins in a single season since the 1996-97 season and the most home wins in program history, with 18 and counting.
While the Jayhawks have been led by a balanced and complementary attack all season long, center Taiyanna Jackson has been the most decorated KU player this season.
Earlier this week, Jackson added to her haul of honors by earning an honorable mention nod on the WBCA’s All-American team.
The KU women’s program has had three players named to the WBCA All-American team, which is made up of the 10 best players in Division I regardless of position and is chosen by Division I head coaches.
Former Jayhawks Tamecka Dixon (1997), Angela Aycock (1995) and Lynette Woodard (four times from 1978-81) were named to the team. The most recent KU player to receive WBCA All-America Honorable Mention was Angel Goodrich in 2014.
Jackson is the first Jayhawk to average a double-double for an entire season since 1982, with current averages of 15.1 points and 12.4 rebounds per game, and she has recorded 22 double-doubles, which is third-most in school history for a single season.
Her 106 blocks are also a school record, besting her mark of 95 rejections from last season.
Standing in the way of making that 19 is a Columbia team that won the Ivy League and enters the title tilt with the Jayhawks at 28-5 overall and 14-2 away from home.
The Lions were led by guard Abbey Hsu’s 17.7 points-per-game scoring average, guard Kaitlyn Davis’ 8.2 boards-per-game rebounding mark and guard Kitty Henderson’s 4.4 assists per game. Davis (13.4) and Henderson (9.3) also were among the Lions’ top five scorers this season.
Hsu led CU with 21 points on 4-of-11 shooting from 3-point range in Wednesday’s semifinal win at Bowling Green, while Davis added 19 points and 15 rebounds.
“Columbia’s really good,” Schneider said after Wednesday’s win. “I don’t think there’s many teams that are still playing that aren’t pretty good.”
Saturday’s game will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
