Off the back of a strong performance by senior forward Lilly Meister that included a double-double, Kansas women’s basketball was able to knock off the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 63-57, at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
The win helped the Jayhawks remain undefeated and pushed Kansas to 5-0 on the young season.
“It feels great, I cannot complain at all,” said Meister, a Minnesota native and transfer from the Big Ten Conference. “I think I’ve been pretty close (to a double-double) a couple games so it feels good to actually get one.”
Meister’s performance was even more important for Kansas because of the absence of one of the Jayhawks’ leading scorers, freshman Jaliya Davis, who was spotted on the court in a walking boot.
“Lower leg pain that we need to probably have a couple days (to) let it calm down and reevaluate,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said of Davis’ status. “We’ll see how Sunday goes but that’s where we are. It’s unfortunate, but she felt good going into the Missouri game and then struggled the day after and it just didn’t make sense with her feeling the way it did today.”
Schneider added that his level of concern with Davis’ injury is “not high.”
“It’s something that I think, with rest, she’ll be 100%,” Schneider said. “How long that rest is? That’s one of those things we just have to almost go day-to-day or every couple of days.”
Junior guard S’Mya Nichols, meanwhile, led the Jayhawks with 24 points across 29-plus minutes of action, but a freak accident in the first quarter had her status in question. Nichols dove for a ball heading out of bounds in an attempt to keep the Kansas possession alive, but slipped and had to be helped off the court.
“There (were) some water bottles over there that we probably need to not have there,” Schneider said. “She hit one of the water bottles as she went out of bounds and then slipped on the water. Fortunately, I don’t think it’s anything that will hold her out, but for any player, it was a scary situation.”
Nichols was able to return to the game after being tended to on the bench by the Kansas athletic training staff and added 18 more points over the following three quarters, including the crucial game-sealing free throws in the fourth.
The first quarter for Kansas went about as well as it could have. The Jayhawks got off to a blazing start, holding a 9-2 lead three minutes and 30 seconds into the quarter, and Kansas kept up the pressure. After Elle Evans drained a 3-point basket, Minnesota used its first timeout of the game and regrouped with the Jayhawks leading 14-5. Out of the timeout, the Gophers were able to finally lock down Kansas defensively and the Jayhawks ended the first quarter possessing a 18-8 advantage.
In the second, Minnesota found its footing offensively. A 3-pointer by the Gophers’ sophomore guard Tori McKinney started things off for Minnesota and the buckets continued from there.
After KU freshman guard Keeley Parks made the first 3-point basket of her college career, Kansas went cold and Minnesota embarked on a 12-0 run that lasted almost six minutes. The run also included Minnesota’s first and only lead of the night, 25-23. But a well-timed timeout by Kansas allowed the Jayhawks to refocus and they found their rhythm, trading field goals with Minnesota before clamping the Gophers down on defense and holding their 29-27 lead into half.
In the third, it was Nichols who gave the Jayhawks the jolt they needed. Through the first five minutes of the quarter, Nichols had eight of Kansas’ eleven points and finished the third with ten. Evans caught fire and drilled two 3-point buckets to add six points of her own.
With her performance on Wednesday, Evans is now 11-for-17 from deep over KU’s past three games and 15-for-24 on the season.
“I think my teammates are giving me good passes,” Evans said. “The ball’s feeling really good right now and I credit that, obviously to myself but Brandon, he puts me in the right spots at the right time and my team sets pretty good flare screens for me so, credit to them too.”
Heading into the final period of action, Kansas held a 49-43 lead, but Minnesota erased it quickly after scoring six unanswered to start the fourth. The Jayhawks fired back with six straight of their own and the battle was on.
Both teams traded buckets and free throws up until the final whistle, and Nichols iced the game for Kansas with four made free throws to end the contest.
The Jayhawks will stay home for their next matchup on Sunday against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
