photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Sania Copeland looks at the basket during a game against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

Last week, Regan Williams recorded the first double-double of her college career en route to being named the Big 12 Conference’s freshman of the week.

She kept things rolling in Kansas women’s basketball’s first game in over a week, collecting a double-double with 19 minutes left to play and finishing with 12 points and 16 rebounds, as part of Kansas’ fifth straight win — a 79-49 romp over Kansas City on Wednesday — to improve to 9-1 on the year.

“She’s really starting to grow, like you can’t tell that she’s a freshman right now, and that’s really something that we love about her,” guard Sania Copeland said. “She’s bought into the work, she knows what she has to do. And every day, she’s going to bring it.”

Williams was aided by 16 points by fellow starter S’Mya Nichols, and Copeland recorded her best game as a Jayhawk, leading all scorers with 17 points on the night.

Brittany Harshaw, who started Kansas’ first two games but has been injured for a month and had not played since then, returned to action, but with Harshaw’s return came Wyvette Mayberry’s absence, as she wasn’t even at Allen Fieldhouse due to “medical reasons” that head coach Brandon Schneider said he hoped to have an update on soon.

The Jayhawks have now bounced back since a neutral-site loss to No. 21 Iowa with back-to-back victories at home coming off a tournament championship at the Virgin Islands Paradise Jam over Thanksgiving weekend.

“From the start of the tournament in the Virgin Islands, you could feel something different with us,” Copeland said.

“We won (the tournament), and we were really excited,” Nichols added. “And just the way that team came back and snapped right back into reality and got right back to work, that was something that is like a championship mindset. And I feel like that’s just been shown recently.”

Williams set Kansas up for success early on Wednesday, as she made two layups to start the scoring for the Jayhawks and commence a 10-point run as they jumped out to an early 10-2 lead. Kansas City broke its three-minute scoring drought with a fast-break layup before sinking a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it a 10-7 game. An 8-2 stretch to close out the first put Kansas up 20-11 as Williams hit a layup off an assist by Nichols to finish the quarter with six points, while Nichols had racked up three assists.

“We were sharing the ball,” Copeland said. “We had, I think 20 assists, and that’s something that we value, just sharing the ball and hitting our shots.”

After not scoring in the first, Copeland was a force to be reckoned with in the second period, as the defense began to collapse on Nichols, who easily found her teammate for a pair of corner 3s to put the Jayhawks up 36-11. This Copeland bucket capped off Kansas’ 18-point run dating back to the first quarter, before the Roos ended their eight-minute scoring drought with a tip-in to get on the board for the second period.

While the Kansas City offense started to find itself, the Jayhawk offense didn’t slow down at all, as even a six-point stretch still had the Roos down 41-21 with three minutes to play in the half. Carla Osma finished things with her first 3-pointer of the night to give Kansas a 47-23 advantage heading into the break

At this point, Williams was just two points away from a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds in the first half. Nichols added on near-double-double numbers herself with 14 points and six assists.

“It’s how we’ve always wanted to play. If you really look at us over the last three years, you know having four in double figures has kind of always been a goal and just the nature of how we want to operate,” Schneider said. “Tonight, especially in transition, when everything was happening a bit more organically, we weren’t calling a lot of actions, I thought the ball moved really well and everybody made some good decisions.”

Just one minute into the second half, Williams secured her second consecutive double-double as she opened the scoring with a layup on another assist from Nichols. Six more points by Kansas City made it a 20-point game again before the Jayhawks and Roos traded off a couple of layups. Another layup by Williams then ignited a 12-2 run to end the half as Kansas took a 65-35 lead into the final period of play.

With a handy lead, freshman Zoe Canfield got her first minutes of the game while Danai Papadapolou switched in at the post for her first time on the floor. A slow start to the quarter was redeemed by a pair of 3s from Elle Evans and Harshaw to make it 71-41 with a little under five minutes to play.

The rest of the fourth mostly consisted of the two teams exchanging layups or short jumpers before Copeland scored Kansas’ final six points in the last three minutes of the game to secure a 79-49 victory for the Jayhawks and finish 6-for-6 from the floor.

“I mean, we’re not even close to being 9-1 without Cope. She’s just been such a value to our team,” Schneider said. “She’s the ultimate teammate and is willing to do whatever to help our team be successful. Obviously, her defense stands out. But it’s nice tonight that she has a night where she made everything she looked at.”

Kansas will ride its most convincing victory through about a third of the season into its grand finale before the start of conference play, as the Jayhawks take on Penn State in Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Nittany Lions beat KU 91-85 at the Bryce Jordan Center last season.

“Sunday’s game is really big,” Schneider said. “You know, we’ve had tremendous crowd support to this point in the season. But I’m going to make kind of a public plea to our students and to our community. I’d love to see 6,000-plus in here Sunday afternoon. So everybody that’s been coming, go bring a couple of friends and let’s make this a really tough environment for our next opponent at two o’clock on Sunday.”

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard S’Mya Nichols brings the ball up the court against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Brittany Harshaw tries to create space on the baseline against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Elle Evans takes on Kansas City’s Zaire Harrell on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Laia Conesa drives to the hoop against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Elle Evans looks to shoot against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard S’Mya Nichols goes through her free-throw routine against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Sania Copeland takes the ball up the court against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas cheerleaders perform at Allen Fieldhouse before the game against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Laia Conesa controls the ball against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas center Nadira Eltayeb shoots free throws against Kansas City on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Lawrence.