LAWRENCE — Kansas women’s basketball earned its first Big 12 Conference win of the season Wednesday with its 87-66 conference victory against No. 7 Baylor.
Although the Jayhawks (8-7, 1-3 in Big 12) trailed at the end of the first quarter, they battled back to tie the score by halftime. After a strong third quarter, they went into the fourth quarter with a commanding 16-point lead.
Baylor (14-1, 3-1 in Big 12) wasn’t able to recover from that deficit.
“We talked about how this presented the opportunity to be a turning point moment for us,” Kansas coach Brandon Schneider said in a KU release. “Not only are they celebrating the win, they are celebrating and having fun. Win or lose, we have got to have more fun, and I thought we had some outstanding individual performances that needed to be celebrated.”
Jayhawks super-senior center Taiyanna Jackson led the way with a 27-point, 19-rebound double-double. That gives her 35 career double-doubles and helped her become the 32nd player in program history to eclipse 1,000-career points. She was joined in double figures scoring by freshman guard S’Mya Nichols (22 points), super-senior guard Holly Kersgieter (19 points) and super-senior guard Zakiyah Franklin (11 points).
Next up for Kansas is a 6:30 p.m. Saturday home contest against Oklahoma State (10-5, 3-1 in Big 12). The game is set to be broadcast on ESPN+.
RELATED: Kansas football star running back Devin Neal announces he’ll return in 2024 with Jayhawks
RELATED: Kansas football class of 2025 commitment tracker: Jayhawks continue to build for future
RELATED: Kansas basketball’s loss at UCF could prove costly in Big 12 Conference championship race
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas women’s basketball upsets No. 7 Baylor for Big 12 victory
