Kansas Jayhawks Use Big 2nd Half Run to Outlast West Virginia Mountaineers 74-63
The Kansas Jayhawks were able to survive the loss of Holly Kersgieter and a late run by the West Virginia Mountaineers to finish off a dominant 74-63 victory in Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
Holly Kersgieter only played 9 minutes in this one (more on that below), but Zakiyah Franklin and Aniya Thomas led a balanced scoring attack to jump out to a 7 point halftime lead and never look back.
After a huge run for Kansas to start the 2nd half, the game was never as close as the final margin seemed to indicate. The largest lead for the Jayhawks came with 3:45 remaining in the 3rd on a Katrine Jessen jumper. An Aniya Thomas 3-pointer to open the 4th quarter stretched the lead back to a 20-point margin. A West Virginia scoring flurry shrunk the lead to 12, but West Virginia was never able to get it into the single digits.
Top Performers:
Zakiyah Franklin: Her 25 points led all scorers, and was only one point below her career high.
Aniya Thomas: She stepped up big with Kersgieter out, scoring 12 points and getting two big steals.
Taiyanna Jackson: She only scored 7 points, but her 9 rebounds and 5 blocks set the tone down low all night.
Key Plays:
Holly Kersgieter's second foul came less than 2 minutes into the game on a Ja'Naiya Quinerly layup to take a 4-2 lead. She did not return until there were 3 minutes left in the 1st half.
A quick 7-0 spurt with just under 4 minutes in the half gave Kansas their first comfortable cushion, thanks to baskets made by Nadira Eltayeb, Aniya Thomas and Taiyanna Jackson.
The Jayhawks came out hot in the 2nd half, with Kersgieter scoring all 8 of her points in the first 2:40 of the half.
Up Next:
The Jayhawks go back on the road to take on the Texas Tech Lady Raiders in Lubbock, TX. They are looking to either keep pace with or make up some ground on the leaders in the conference, who all play tonight. The game tips at 2pm on Feb 19th and will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Other Notes:
Holly Kersgieter was limited in the first half due to foul trouble, but in the 3rd quarter, as Zakiyah Franklin was shooting free throws, Kersgieter fell to the ground.
As of the time of publication, we have not seen an update on her condition or availability.
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