KU Athletic Communications
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas freshman Jaliya Davis scored 12 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter as Kansas defeated San Diego State, 85-78, in the quarterfinals of the WBIT at Allen Fieldhouse Thursday evening.
Kansas junior S'Mya Nichols poured in 18 points with a team-high five assists and six rebounds, while sophomore Regan Williams scored 15 points with five rebounds, and senior Lilly Meister added 14 points, including a career-high 4-for-4 effort from three-point range. Meister also pulled down five rebounds. Davis and Williams were the anchor down low as KU outscored SDSU 40-28 in points in the paint.
"I thought we really guarded in the fourth quarter and held them to 33 percent shooting in the fourth quarter," Kansas coach Brandon Schneider said. "Obviously, they are a really good team with some talented perimeter players and some forwards that can pick and pop and that gave us issues early. We had to make multiple adjustments. But, it took us a while to learn our right from our left, but we finally did a better job of taking away the right hand in the fourth quarter."
With the win, Kansas (22-13) advances to the WBIT semifinals to be played March 30 at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. San Diego State's season ends with a 27-6 record.
"Is there anything else that a coach can ask for, then just continuing to get better," Schneider added. "I think a lot of teams, especially when they get into this tournament, they're so disappointed and they kind of check out. I'm very fortunate to have the group of young women that we have. They've just really taken advantage of this opportunity, not only to play games and win games, but we're still getting better in practice."
Meister scored 11 of the team's first 15 points, which included her first three three-point field goal attempts as Kansas built a 15-8 lead with 5:13 remaining in the period. KU increased its lead to 21-10 on a pair of Williams free throws and eventually led 25-15 after the opening quarter.
San Diego State scored the first six points of the second quarter and outscored the Jayhawks 14-4 in the first four minutes to tie the game at 29-29. The Jayhawks built a 43-38 on a Nichols three-pointer with 1:27 before half and took a 45-42 lead into halftime. Nichols and Meister paced KU with 11 points each in the opening half.
In the third quarter, Kansas increased its lead to 51-45 on a Davis jumper. San Diego State battled back to cut the lead to one at 51-50 before Meister made her fourth three of the game to give KU a 54-50 lead. San Diego State then used an 8-3 run to take a 58-57 lead with 2:45 left in the quarter. Davis would make a layup with 10 seconds remaining in the period as the Aztecs led 65-63 heading into the fourth quarter.