Atticai Margave | cai.margave@ku.edu
Led by S’Mya Nichols’ 20 points, Kansas started off their season with a home win over
Lindenwood on Wednesday with a final score of 56-43.
Looking to build on her All-Big 12 First Team season last year, Nichols led the team in both
points and assists putting up 20 and five on the night.
Although the Jayhawks did come out with a win, both Nichols and Coach Schneider saw
room to improve after the team’s performance. They both agreed that toughness was the key
area where the team needed to step up.
“Our defense was good,” Nichols said, “but we just need to work on some toughness
aspects.” Coach Schneider saw much of the same, “We didn’t out-tough them,” he said, “they
out-toughed us.”
Although the team did not seem pleased with their performance, they were still able to hold
Lindenwood was under 30% shooting from the field and forced 14 turnovers. They did this even without senior guard Wyvette Mayberry, who Nichols described as a defensive dog.
The first-half defense was especially stifling, holding the Lions to just 11 points. This allowed the Jayhawks to go on a 15-0 scoring run in the second quarter fueled by a pair of threes
made by Creighton transfer Brittany Harshaw.
Alongside the 20 points from Nichols, freshman forward Regan Williams tallied 11 points
and Harshaw added nine points, hitting three of her first five three-point attempts, to go with
nine rebounds.
Kansas’ next game will be Monday, November 11 when Sam Houston State comes to Allen
Fieldhouse for a 6:30 p.m. game. At KJHK, our next sports broadcast will be on Tuesday
when Kansas takes on Michigan State in the Champion’s Classic hosted in Atlanta, Georgia.
Photo credits: Allie Brakel, KJHK Sports