Kansas defense locks down hot Columbia offense to win WNIT title 66-59

As the Kansas Jayhawks were celebrating a victory in the title game of the WNIT in Allen Fieldhouse, junior Chandler Prater couldn't help but throw some love to the crowd of 11,701 that watched their 66-59 victory over the Columbia Lions. "You guys made the difference for us in this tournament. We couldn't have done it without our fans."

In a display reminiscent of some of the biggest games in Allen Fieldhouse history, the crowd came alive at multiple pivotal moments to bolster a Kansas defense that put together one of its most impressive performances of the season.

The Jayhawks held the Lions to just 30.9% from the field on just 21-68 shooting. And the 59 points scored by Columbia was the third lowest total of the season for the Lions.

When asked about the defensive performance, senior center Taiyanna Jackson noted how much this team likes to play defense and the pride that they take in it.

But early it looked like this wasn't going to be a defensive game at all. The two teams raced out of the gate with quite a bit of offense, heading into the first media timeout with Kansas holding an 11-10 margin. But the teams combined for only 10 points in the rest of the first quarter, will all of the scoring for the Jayhawks coming from Jackson.

A back and forth second quarter saw dueling buckets from Zakiyah Franklin and Abbey Hsu, as both guards paced their teams scoring throughout most of the quarter. But Prater had two big buckets to end the half, and the defense stepped up to give the Jayhawks a 31-28 halftime lead.

The second half was tense for the Jayhawk faithful, with the Lions jumping out to a lead on an 8-0 run in just 1:08 of game time. After a quick timeout, Jackson and the Kansas defense went to work. Over the next 7 minutes, the Jayhawks forced 10 missed shots and 2 turnovers. Jackson was a huge part of that, with 8 points and 7 rebounds in the period. But even when she went down with an injury scare midway through the quarter, the rest of the team stepped up, keeping the Lions scoreless until a three pointer with just over a minute left in the quarter made it a 10-point margin.

While Columbia never truly went away in this game, they never had a serious threat the rest of the way. While they got the margin down to 6 a few times, the Jayhawks were able to keep them at arm's length the rest of the game, sealing the win by making 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch.

The Jayhawks were led by Zakiyah Franklin's 19 points. But Taiyanna Jackson was just behind, as her 17 points was accompanied by 3 blocks and 21 rebounds, tying her career-high. It was her 22nd double-double of the season, and her 5th in 6 WNIT games.

Wyvette Mayberry was 3-6 from beyond the arc, finishing with 12 points, and Chandler Prater was just one point shy of a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Holly Kersgieter struggled with her shot a bit today, but still managed 7 points to go with her 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Jayhawks end the season with a WNIT championship for the first time in program history. They finished with a final record of 25-12. This year's 25 wins in the most since the 1996-97 season, where Kansas finished with a 25-6 record.

Up next, the Jayhawks will take some much needed time off as they figure out which players are coming back and which ones move on with their career after college.

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