Kansas women\u2019s basketball grabbed a big, 68-59 win over Texas Tech in a tight-knit battle with big March Madness implications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The key to the end game success for the Jayhawks? Free throws.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cApply pressure in the paint,\u201d said S\u2019Mya Nichols, who made 15 free throws out of the 17 she attempted, nailing all eight she took in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Kansas shot a combined 24 for 27 from the charity stripe, while only allowing Texas Tech to take nine trips to the line.<\/p>\n
The game wasn\u2019t always in favor of the Jayhawks, as they made only one of their first five shots of the night from the field. This uneven start was not for long though. Kansas would begin to play more aggressive and force a multitude of turnovers to grab the lead 12-11.<\/p>\n
Head coach Brandon Schneider made sure composure was an emphasis going into this game after losing to the Lady Raiders earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoise and composure was something we talked about,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI thought it was really important to us to be able to move on to the next play when maybe things didn\u2019t go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schneider\u2019s team struggled to outrebound the Lady Raiders into the second quarter. In the first quarter, Texas Tech grabbed six offensive rebounds, the key to its ability to start to pull away from Kansas.<\/p>\n
Kansas defense began to sputter after the media break with just under five minutes to go in the half. After going down 30-23, Elle Evans did what she has done all year when she flushed a 3-pointer to kill the Texas Tech momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Evans is one of Kansas\u2019 four seniors who were recognized before the game for Senior Night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my decision to come to KU out of the portal is definitely one of the best decisions I could have ever made,\u201d said Evans, holding back tears.<\/p>\n
Nichols, who went down with an injury right out of halftime that required her to be helped off the court by trainers, credited Evans for her impact on the culture at Kansas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElle is very important to this team,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel lIke she is one of the reasons for where our culture is today\u2026[being] such a loving, supporting team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Multiple offensive fouls plagued Kansas for the first few possessions of the half. Schneider paced the sidelines with his arms crossed and a blank expression on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jaliya Davis gave the Jayhawks the lead when she drew a foul and made both free throws midway through the third quarter. This lead was short-lived, however, as Davis was called for a foul of her own. Snudda Collins made both free throws to give Texas Tech the lead back.<\/p>\n
Later in the quarter, the Lady Raiders were charged with a flagrant foul, giving the Jayhawks two free throws and the ball. Nichols was given the nod to shoot the free throws, and she made one. On the ensuing possession, Kansas turned the ball over, putting the ball inbounds.<\/p>\n
Now in the double bonus, Kansas was able to draw fouls on three straight possessions. Nichols drew two of them, and she successfully made all four free throws. Regan Williams was fouled on the third, and she made both of hers to stay within the reach of Texas Tech, trailing 48-46.<\/p>\n
With four players one foul away from disqualification, head coach Krista Gerlich called a timeout to ease the momentum the Jayhawks were beginning to gain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That timeout seemed to fizzle out any momentum for either team, as the next basket wouldn\u2019t be scored by either team for another two minutes.<\/p>\n
The Jayhawk defense continued to be a menace for Texas Tech, holding them to only five points in the last eight minutes of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kansas will play its last regular season game at Oklahoma State at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. The game can be seen on FS1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas women\u2019s basketball grabbed a big, 68-59 win over Texas Tech in a tight-knit battle with big March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[73433,66179,66178,305,45524,168,170,169,66173,66171],"class_list":{"0":"post-183391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-brandon-schneider","9":"tag-elle-evans","10":"tag-jaliya-davis","11":"tag-kansas","12":"tag-krista-gerlich","13":"tag-lubbock","14":"tag-lubbock-headlines","15":"tag-lubbock-news","16":"tag-nichols","17":"tag-regan-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}