{"id":84092,"date":"2026-02-05T13:14:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=84092"},"modified":"2026-03-25T21:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:56:14","slug":"kansas-womens-basketball-big-second-half-propels-them-to-win-over-byu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2026\/02\/05\/kansas-womens-basketball-big-second-half-propels-them-to-win-over-byu\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas Women’s Basketball big second half propels them to win over BYU"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Xander Loosvelt<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Kansas Jayhawks scored 49 points in the second half to propel them to an 81-60 victory over the BYU Cougars on Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forward Jaliya Davis led the way with 28 points, 23 of which came in the second half, and 12 rebounds to record her first double-double, while guard S\u2019mya Nichols finished with 17 points despite exiting the game twice with injury.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling good,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI mean, just going out there, executing all the things I\u2019ve been working on with all the energy, that\u2019s something that was really important for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Guard Brinley Cannon led the Cougars with 13 points and three made three pointers, but team leading scorer guard Delaney Gibb was held to just 10 points while shooting 1-13 from the field. This was in large part thanks to the defense of guard Sania Copeland who was the primary defender on Gibb for the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davis said, \u201c[Sania Copeland] is a really big presence for us. She\u2019s always there to guard the best player on the other team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kansas was also able to dominate the glass, outrebounding BYU by a mark of 49-31, as well as scoring 42 points in the paint to the Cougars\u2019 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

The teams went back and forth early with BYU guard Marya Hudgens and Gibb, each scoring four points for BYU, while forward Regan Williams scored a pair of tough baskets for the Jayhawks before the first media timeout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kansas managed to gain an early 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to its balanced team effort with seven Jayhawks scoring in the first quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the first break, guard Sydney Benally knocked down two straight threes for the Cougars, but Nichols finally found her rhythm with a three pointer and mid range jumper to match each basket. Benally found forward Bolanle Yussuff for the layup on the preceding possession, but Nichols would again match that with an assist of her own to Davis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both groups continued trading baskets with Nichols, Copeland, and Davis all adding layups before the media timeout with the game tied at 28.<\/span><\/p>\n

When play resumed, Nichols went down to the floor with an apparent ankle injury while attacking the basket. She went to the locker room after trainers helped her off the court, but she was able to return to the court to start the second half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guard Laia Conesa added a layup and forward Lilly Meister added a pair of free throws before halftime to match layups from Cannon and Yussuf to keep the score tied at 32 going into the break.<\/span><\/p>\n

After finishing with just five points at halftime, Davis went on an emphatic 9-0 run by herself that consisted of three gritty layups and three free throws to start the second half, giving the Jayhawks their largest lead of the night up to that point.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think I just wasn\u2019t really playing with the amount of energy I needed to in the first half,\u201d said Davis. \u201cSo obviously after halftime, I kind of just put that on my back and kept going.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cannon hit a free throw to end Davis\u2019 solo run, but Williams answered back with a mid range jumper before Davis once again went to work at the basket, this time managing an and-one to extend the run to 13-1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hudgins finally put an end to the run with a three point basket, but guard Elle Evans would match that with a three of her own a few possessions later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the period, guard Kambree Barber knocked down a long two for BYU that Meister matched with an and-one basket on a fastbreak. Benally followed that up with her third made three pointer of the game, but Meister once again countered the basket by grabbing an offensive board and scoring a layup as the buzzer sounded to put Kansas up 57-45 heading into the fourth quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jayhawks kept their foot on the gas despite the double digit lead and opened the quarter on a 9-3 run, seven points coming courtesy of Davis layups, that boosted them into a commanding 18 point lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing a large deficit and little time remaining, the Cougars were able to mount a 10-3 run with four points from Yussuf and one three piece from guard Olivia Hamlin and Cannon to cut the lead back down to 11.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of this run, Nichols once again went down with injury and had to be helped off the court, but thankfully was able to return the court minutes later and score five more points on a three point basket and a pair of free throws to finish her night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Davis also added five more points before subbing out for the final time, and after a few free throws the Jayhawks finished the game with a 21 point victory to move 14-10 on the year and 4-8 in Big 12 conference games.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know our backs are against the wall,\u201d Kansas head coach Barandon Schneider said, \u201cbut there\u2019s nothing you can do about something that\u2019s two weeks from now. We have an off day tomorrow. We need to take care of our bodies, rest and recover, and then we need to have a great practice on Friday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jayhawks will be back in Allen Fieldhouse to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats this Saturday, Feb. 7 at 4:30 p.m. CT. The game will stream on ESPN+.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article was edited by sports writing editor Eric Lucio. Contact him at ericlucio12@ku.edu for feedback or errors.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Xander Loosvelt The Kansas Jayhawks scored 49 points in the second half to propel them to an 81-60 victory over the BYU Cougars on Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.\u00a0 Forward Jaliya Davis led the way with 28 points, 23 of which came in the second half, and 12 rebounds to record her first double-double, while guard S\u2019mya Nichols finished with 17 points despite exiting the game twice with injury.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m feeling good,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI mean, just going out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8721,3262,610],"tags":[127,5519,256,62],"class_list":["post-84092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-more-from-kjhk-sports","category-sports","category-sports-articles","tag-basketball","tag-byu","tag-sports-2","tag-womens-basketball"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84093,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84092\/revisions\/84093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}