The Jayhawks fought back to tie things up with No. 25 Oklahoma State, 36-36, with 10 minutes to play, but as was the case late in the first half, 5-foot-5 lightning rod Andrea Riley was too much for KU’s backcourt – and frontcourt – to handle.

The Big 12’s leading scorer finished with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting as the Cowgirls survived a trip to Allen Fieldhouse, 59-54. The loss drops Kansas to 11-3 overall on the season and gets Bonnie Henrickson’s club off to an 0-1 start in Big 12 play.

KU continually closed the gap late to within a score, but Riley on two straight occasions hit step-back jumpers from long range using a quick crossover move, then with a third mind-boggler dished to Maria Cordero inside for an easy layin. Cordero also hit a pair of free throws late.

Trailing 55-54 following a Sade Morris two with :16.9 to play, Oklahoma State’s Taylor Hardeman was attempting to inbound the ball from underneath her own hoop, but an initial whistle called a five-second violation on the junior guard. But it was overturned, with a timeout having been called from the bench by coach Kurt Budke. Riley took the ball off the inbound pass after the breather, was immediately fouled and hit two free throws to put OSU up by three. A Danielle McCray three-point shot missed, and Danielle Green followed it up by hitting two game-sealing charities.

THe Jayhawks did a better job protecting the ball in the second half, but still struggled to find the bottom of the bucket, shooting just 42 percent from the floor (22-of-53) compared to 44 for OSU (22-of-50).

Sade Morris led KU with 17 points, while senior Taylor McIntosh scored 17. KU’s leading scorer, McCray, finished with just nine points on three-of-eight shooting. She played the entire second half, but was limited to just nine minutes on the floor in the second stanza due to foul trouble.

KU has a chance to get conference win No. 1 Saturday, playing in Lincoln against Nebraska at 11:30 a.m.

For more on this story, read Thursday’s Journal-World and log back onto KUSports.com.

Halftime

The Kansas University women’s basketball team opened up on fire against No. 25 Oklahoma State Wednesday night in its Big 12 opener, leading 11-0 in the opening minutes.

That’d be hard to tell from the halftime stat sheet, though.

The Cowgirls came shooting back and lead 24-23 at the break. OSU, who started 2-of-13 from the floor, finished the half on a 16-3 run, paced by eight late points and three assists from reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Year Andrea Riley.

Sophomore Sade Morris led KU with seven points in the first half, but the Jayhawks were visibly struggling on the offensive end once sophomore Danielle McCray and freshman Krysten Boogaard took seats on the bench, each with two fouls. They played nine and four minutes in the opening stanza, respectively. The Jayhawks were also hurt by 12 first half turnovers.

Check back at KUSports.com later for more once tonight’s game is finished in Allen Fieldhouse.