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

Kansas guard Elle Evans dribbles ahead during the game against North Alabama on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Lawrence.

Kansas’ senior guard Wyvette Mayberry made her season debut for the Jayhawks on Sunday afternoon but did so off the bench, while sophomore transfer Brittany Harshaw, who had started KU’s first two games but missed Thursday’s game against Omaha, had to support her team from the bench while walking with crutches.

The result was that head coach Brandon Schneider opted for the same starting lineup as on Thursday, with Laia Conesa and Sania Copeland filling in for Mayberry and Harshaw. But it was one of the consistent starters throughout, Elle Evans, who stepped up for hands down her best game in her short time as a Jayhawk.

Evans led the team with 21 points and seven rebounds on 41% shooting to secure the 81-64 victory over the North Alabama Lions at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Sometimes we have to give transfers a little bit of grace,” Schneider said. “We always do for freshmen as they transition into a new program and a new role, and I think Elle’s just gotten more and more comfortable and was the most aggressive we’ve seen her, at least in games, up to this point in the season. And it really paid dividends for her and our team.”

In probably its best quarter of the season, all of Kansas’ starters scored at least one field goal. Conesa started the scoring with a 3 before Evans battled from the block for an impressive fadeaway jumper to get the Jayhawks a 5-2 lead.

“Whenever you see the first one go in, you just want to keep going,” Evans said. “So luckily I found a good rhythm tonight and hopefully I can keep that going for the next couple of games.”

S’Mya Nichols started a seven-point run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Mayberry in her first offensive possession of the year.

“I saw them sag off and I saw the perfect opportunity and took advantage of it,” Mayberry said. “It felt really great and definitely helped me with the momentum going through (the rest of) the game.”

Seven of North Alabama’s 14 points in the quarter were scored by Veronaye Charlton, but the Kansas defense held strong otherwise to take a 24-14 lead into the second.

After holding up well on defense and setting up plenty of good looks in the first 10 minutes, the Jayhawks lost both of these talents early in the second. They gave up back-to-back 3-pointers in the corner after leaving a shooter alone on a defensive shift and followed this up with an offensive foul to give the ball back to North Alabama, who made it a 24-22 game.

“I think defensively we struggled a lot,” Evans said. “Overall in our prep we did a good job — we focused a lot on 1 and 10 (Emma Kate Tittle and Charity Gallegos), and they only had one point between the both of them. But team-wise, I think we could be a lot better helping each other on rotations, not getting beat off the dribble, and defensive transition was probably our poorest aspect.”

Conesa stopped the bleeding with her second 3 of the game, but the Jayhawks traded off buckets with the Lions as the defense completely collapsed against any sort of dribble penetration. Evans and Mayberry kept the Jayhawks afloat with a combined nine points in the final two minutes of the half to take a 42-35 lead into halftime.

Evans led Kansas with 11 points at the break, her most in a game this season, while Mayberry and Nichols added nine and eight, respectively.

Kansas extended its lead with back-to-back 3-pointers from Evans and Nichols to force a timeout halfway through the third. The Jayhawks found their biggest lead at 58-42 on Sania Copeland’s second bucket of the game before allowing a nine-point run to see the lead shrink back down to seven.

A layup by Nichols with 28 seconds left in the quarter stopped the run, but Kansas allowed a three-point play on North Alabama’s next possession to make it a six-point game. Nichols was able to get down the floor with only four seconds remaining in the quarter and drew a foul underneath the basket right before the buzzer sounded to secure a 62-54 lead.

After mounting big leads throughout the game and continually allowing the Lions to get back into the game, the Kansas defense finally shut things down, holding North Alabama to 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Nichols started things out with a five-point run of her own before Evans added on with a move from the corner and down the baseline for a reverse layup to give Kansas a 69-56 lead. Nadira Eltayeb laid in a bucket off an offensive rebound to cap the nine-point run and force another timeout by North Alabama. From there, the Jayhawks traded off buckets before two 3s by Carla Osma sealed the deal in their 81-64 victory.

Eight of Evans’ 11 buckets were 2-point field goals as the 6-foot-3 guard looked the most comfortable that she has all season, taking shots and battling one-on-one.

“I think the biggest thing is just my mindset. We talked about after the first couple of games just having a more aggressive mindset,” Evans said. “So I really think that’s probably the biggest difference, just what my coaches want for me, what my team needs from me, and that’s just to be more aggressive overall.”

“She understands she’s a complete player, she’s not just a three-point shooter,” Schneider added. “She needs to use the 3 to set up the rest of her game, whether that be the ability to drive it, or with her size and skill set we’re obviously comfortable with her in the post as well.”

Kansas was happy to have Mayberry back to calm its presence on the floor, as the win brought the Jayhawks to a four-game winning streak to end their season-opening home stand.

They’ll look to continue this streak in a much tougher matchup against the 4-0 Iowa Hawkeyes on a neutral court in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Wednesday.

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