Via Kansas Athletics
STILLWATER, Okla. – Kansas freshman forward Jaliya Davis closed out the regular season with a game-high 24 points and four rebounds as the Jayhawks fell to Oklahoma State, 70-56, Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Davis scored 20+ points for the 13th time this season, hitting 10-14 field goal attempts and 4-4 free throws. She was joined in double figures by junior guard S’Mya Nichols, who totaled 12 points on 5-7 shooting.
Kansas concludes the regular season with a record of 18-12, while finishing 8-10 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks now head to the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament, which begins Wednesday, March 4, at the T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The full bracket and schedule for the event will be released Sunday following the conclusion of all regular season games.
“I felt like when we made a couple of runs, we got really good shots and didn’t make them,” head coach Brandon Schneider said. “The margin for error is such for us this year, especially against a really good opponent like this that if you get a couple of stops you can’t come down here and have empty possessions.”
The teams exchanged baskets over the game’s opening three minutes, with Kansas leading 8-6 after Jaliya Davis scored her second bucket of the game. OSU answered with an 8-0 run that featured a pair of three-pointers and led 14-8 until Regan Williams snapped the streak with a layup that made it 14-10 at the 2:49 mark. S’Mya Nichols knocked down a three-pointer on KU’s final possession of the quarter, but the Jayhawks trailed 20-13 at the end of one.
Lilly Meister scored the opening points of the second quarter with a layup, but OSU went on a 5-0 run to take their first double digit lead of the day at 25-15. The lead stayed 10 at 29-19, when Kansas got baskets from Davis and Williams to get back within six at the 3:59 mark. Oklahoma State closed the half on an 11-5 run, building a lead as big as 14 before holding a 40-28 advantage at the break.
Kansas cut its deficit back to nine on four occasions in the third quarter, the last at 48-39 after Williams scored a layup at the 5:59 mark. OSU scored the next five points and used a 14-3 run to open up its lead up to 62-42. Davis scored the final four points of the quarter, eclipsing the 20-point plateau for the day, and Kansas trailed 62-46 with 10 minutes to play.
NOTES
- Freshman Jaliya Davis finished with 24 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. Davis has scored in double figures in all 20 games she’s played this season. Today’s game marked Davis’ 13th game scoring more than 20 points, which is tied for seventh most in Kansas history for a single season, and tied for fifth in Big 12 history for most 20-point games by a freshman. Davis finishes the regular season with (enters with 395) points, which ranks fourth in school history by a freshman.
- S’Mya Nichols scored double figures for the 27th time this season and 82nd time in her career as she totaled 12 points on 5-7 shooting, which included 2-4 shooting from three-point range.
- Regan Williams scored nine points and added four rebounds, while also matching her career high with 3 assists.
