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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball team gave Kansas (No. 25 in the Coaches Poll) a scare, but the Jayhawks (2-0) pulled out a 68-58 win at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
Allyson Bradshaw's scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half to help the Redhawks (1-2) overcome an 11-point second-half deficit to tie the 25th-ranked Jayhawks in the second half before Kansas eventually pulled ahead for good.
“After a tough game against UMKC on Monday, we knew it was going to be a big test tonight,” Southeast head coach
Ty Margenthaler said. “I was proud of everyone's effort. Our team is learning how to win and I thought we gave Kansas everything we had. We can take a lot of positives from this game when we approach conference play. I really believe for the first time since I've been here that this team believes they are a good team. We had a chance to win tonight and hopefully this will take us a long way.”
KU tallied nine-consecutive points with Angel Goodrich scoring five points and Carolyn Davis scoring four. Two
Brittany Harriel free throws got Southeast on the board at the 16:17 mark. Harriel then cut the gap to five points with a long two-point jumper, but a Natalie Knight three-pointer made it an eight-point Jayhawk lead.
With Kansas leading 14-6, Southeast got consecutive points on a
Kara Wright jumper and a
Dru Haertling three-pointer to claw to within three points at 14-11 with 12:27 left in the opening stanza.
Five-straight KU points extended its lead over Southeast to 19-11. The Redhawks were unfazed as they outscored the Jayhawks 11-5 over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 24-22 with 6:20 to play in the first.
Patricia Mack drove to the basket at the end of the shot clock for a layup that cut the KU lead to 27-24 with four minutes left, but the Jayhawks countered with seven consecutive points to grab a 34-24 advantage with 43 seconds left in the frame. Undeterred, Southeast got a free throw from
Courtney Shiffer to make it a nine-point deficit. After Shiffer missed her second free throw,
Olivia Hackmann hustled to the loose ball and made a layup for her first career points. Her hustle basket cut Southeast's deficit to 34-27 heading into the break.
The Jayhawks scored the first four points in the second half to open up an 11-point lead (38-27).
Jordan Hunter then kicked off a 10-2 Redhawk run by driving for a basket and finding Shiffer under the hoop for a layup off an inbound pass. Shiffer kicked the ball to Bradshaw in the corner and the sophomore responded with a three-pointer. Following a Davis basket, Bradshaw connected from the opposite corner to cut the deficit to three points at 40-37.
A Davis basket made it 42-37, but Wright countered with a clutch four-point play. After making a three-pointer while being fouled, Wright drained the free throw to make it a one-point game. Davis followed with another basket to make it 44-41, but Bradshaw's third three-ball of the half tied it at 44-44 with 14:25 left on the clock, the first tie since the opening tip.
Tania Jackson hit a long jumpshot and connected on a three-pointer after a KU stop to put Kansas back on top 49-44. Knight followed with two free throws and a basket to extend the Jayhawk run to 9-0. KU eventually extended the run to 12-0 over an 8:21 span and grabbed a 56-44 lead with 7:30 remaining.
Southeast would not go quietly, Harriel made two free throws, Hunter made a steal and a layup and Bradshaw followed with a layup of her own to make it 56-50 with under four minutes remaining. After Davis made a basket, Harriel followed with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 58-53 with 2:49 left. That was the closest the Redhawks got the rest of the way as Davis scored KU's next seven points to up the lead to 65-57 with under a minute left, effectively putting the game away.
The Jayhawks hit an even 40 percent from the field, while the Redhawks made 37.5 percent of their shots. Southeast connected on 8-of-15 three-pointers (53.3 percent) while KU shot 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from long range. Kansas shot 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) at the free throw line against Southeast's 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) clip at the charity stripe.
The Jayhawks held a 44-36 rebounding edge, though the Redhawks actually won the battle of the boards 20-17 in the first half. Southeast committed 17 turnovers while KU had 11 of its own, leading to a 17-4 Kansas advantage in points off turnovers. The Jayhawks outscored the Redhawks 38-18 in the paint, though Southeast's bench outscored Kansas' 24-12.
Bradshaw tallied 17 points, giving her double-digit points in three-straight games to start the season. She shot 6-of-10 from the field and a made all five of her three-point attempts, tying a career high. Harriel also scored in double figures for the third-consecutive game with 11 points and nine rebounds. Four Jayhawks scored in double digits, led by Davis' game-high 27. Angel Goodrich scored 17 points, Tania Jackson tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds off the bench and Natalie Knight scored 10 points.
The Redhawks are off until Nov. 19 when they travel to Arkansas State.
