Via Kansas Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –S’Mya Nichols scored in double figures for the 28th time this season, pouring in a game-high 14 points, but sixth-seeded Colorado upended 11th-seeded Kansas, 55-48, in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday night at the T-Mobile Center.
Kansas dropped to 19-13 on the season, while the Buffaloes improved to 21-10 and will play No. 3 Baylor in the quarterfinals Friday night. The Jayhawks will wait the next 10 days to find out their postseason fate.
Nichols, an Overland Park native, was the lone Jayhawk in double figures, while adding four steals, three assists and three rebounds in her backyard. Jaliya Davis and Regan Williams, two more Kansas City area products, both finished with eight points in the loss, with Davis adding six rebounds.
The Jayhawks opened the scoring in Thursday’s affair via a corner three-pointer from Sania Copeland to put Kansas up at the start. Colorado took its first lead of the game Logyn Greer connected on a layup to give the Buffaloes a 6-5 lead. But freshman Libby Fandel answered back on the next possession to put Kansas up one at the first media timeout of the opening quarter.
Fandel scored the first bucket out of the timeout as well on a fast break layup off a pass from Nichols to put the Jayhawks up three. The Buffs scored the next five points to take a 12-9 lead in the final minute of the first quarter. But two late free throws from Davis make it a 12-11 game after one.
Colorado extended its lead to 15-11 before Nichols drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled for a three-point play to make it 15-14. But from there, Colorado went on a 9-0 run over the next three-plus minutes to extend its lead to 10 at 24-14. Nichols hit a jumper with 1:07 left in the half to end the drought and make it an eight-point game. The two teams exchanged two free throws a piece from there to get the game to 26-18 at the break.
Regan Williams scored the first two baskets in the second half to cut the Colorado lead to four at 26-22 just 90 seconds into the third quarter. The Buffs extended the lead back to nine, but KU kept hanging around. Nichols and Elle Evans connected on back-to-back baskets to get it to five at 31-26. But Kansas was never able to get closer from there as Colorado extended its lead to nine by the end of the third at 38-29.
Colorado led by at least seven points throughout the fourth quarter, until Davis scored on a putback with 9.4 seconds left to make it a five-point game.
