photo by: Kansas Athletics / Chad Cushing

Kansas center Taiyanna Jackson looks to get to the basket against Texas Rio Grande Valley, on Dec. 1, 2021, inside Allen Fieldhouse.

After a slow first quarter Wednesday night versus Texas Rio Grande Valley, the lead for the Kansas women’s basketball team just kept growing in what turned into a 75-44 blowout at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks (6-1) only led 14-13 after the first quarter, when they shot 4-for-16 from the floor and 0-for-4 from 3-point range in their first home game in 10 days.

Said head coach Brandon Schneider afterward: “I thought in the first quarter that our players didn’t have the grasp that this is an opportunity of a lifetime for those kids at Rio Grande Valley, to come in here and get to play at Allen Fieldhouse. And they played with a lot more juice than we did. And we need to understand that, that it’s a really big deal to get to play in here, whether it’s one time or whether it’s every game of your college career. And that brings a little something extra, you know, especially in the nonconference.”

Though KU wouldn’t get its first 3-pointer to drop until the final minute of the third quarter, when Julie Brosseau connected to end the team’s 0-for-9 start from beyond the arc, the Jayhawks’ takeover began in the second quarter.

KU dominated throughout the 10 minutes leading up to halftime, as UTRGV (1-5) turned the ball over 10 times and shot 2-for-10 from the floor.

The second quarter opened with a layup-heavy, 14-0 outburst by the Jayhawks, who ended up winning the period, 19-5, setting up a 33-18 halftime advantage.

KU took a 62-35 lead into the fourth quarter, with the final three points in that margin coming via Mia Vuksic’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Vuksic’s last-second bomb gave KU 29 points in the quarter, and the home team shot 9-for-14 from the floor in that span. Junior center Taiyanna Jackson scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the third.

Junior guard Holly Kersgieter and Brosseau each added 10 points for KU.

“The second quarter through the fourth quarter, I thought we hunkered down and defended pretty well,” Schneider said.

Though the Jayhawks entered the game shooting 40.9% from 3-point range for the season, they went 3-for-15 in the nonconference home win.

The KU bench outscored UTRGV, 35-14, led by Brosseau and Vuksic (nine points).

KU is back at the fieldhouse on Sunday for its second date in a three-game home stand, a matchup with Vanderbilt (2 p.m., ESPN+).