The Kansas women’s basketball team took down the Northwestern State Demons 75-60 in a rocky Sunday matinee. The Jayhawks dominated in the first half but tapered off and struggled with turnovers in the second, allowing the Demons to stay within striking distance.
“I thought we got off to a much better start,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said after the game. “Dissapointed in the second half, particularly in the third quarter, we didn’t play with the necessary juice and competitive spirit that we need to but I think we self-corrected a little bit and had some better possessions as the second half went along.”
The Jayhawks were led in scoring by freshman forward Jaliya Davis who had 28 points, and junior guard S’Mya Nichols added 22 of her own. The dynamic duo combined for two-thirds of the Jayhawks’ points on the afternoon.
“I think the first-game jitters kind of got to me last game,” Davis said. “I didn’t come out how I wanted to but just coming in, just leaving that in the past and just coming in and doing better this game was something that was super important to me.”
Kansas started off the game hot, shooting the ball well and locking down the Demons on the defensive side of the ball. The first quarter of action was capped off by a long 3-point basket at the buzzer for senior forward Lilly Meister, and Kansas was able to keep the momentum flowing into the second.
The Jayhawk defense was able to keep Northwestern State on its toes in the first half, with the Demons shooting just 32.1% from the field in the half and Kansas entering halftime with a 39-23 lead. The Demons turned the ball over 13 times in the half alone.
Out of halftime, Northwestern State made key adjustments to draw the game closer. The Demons turned the ball over just five times in the second half, and it was Kansas that struggled with the turnovers instead.
“It really starts with defending with more discipline,” Schneider said when asked about the third quarter. “We really did not close out very well. We were really lungy and got out of our stance and they got the ball in the paint and forced too many rotations and then when you do that you don’t rebound well, so it was more about being more fundamentally sound.”
Schneider was animated on the bench in the second half, as he was trying to find a way to spark the Jayhawks. Meister said that one of Schneider’s points to the team was how the way they carried themselves affected their play.
“I think a lot of it had to do with our body language,” Meister said. “Calls aren’t always going to go your way obviously and I think we had a lot of calls that, right or wrong, they didn’t go our way. And I think our body language kind of reflected our energy and we kind of went down and he (Schneider) described it as ‘mopey.’ We were kind of down on ourselves and then our energy followed that.”
Kansas ultimately was able to hold off Northwestern State in the fourth quarter after limiting turnovers and forcing two of the Demons’ forwards to foul out of the contest.
Kansas now looks ahead to a midweek matchup with the Lamar Cardinals on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Central time.
Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World
