photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas freshman guard Libby Fandel points to her teammates in celebration of scoring against Denver on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Lawrence.

After 20 days away from Allen Fieldhouse, the Kansas women’s basketball team picked up right where it left off: with a win.

The Jayhawks took down the Denver Pioneers by a score of 77-38 on Sunday afternoon, largely on the back of freshman guard Libby Fandel, who finished the day with 17 points. Junior guard S’Mya Nichols led all scorers with 21 points.

“I’m just thankful that I have a wonderful coach that will let me keep shooting, that will let me keep practicing and working on my 3,” Fandel said. “Sometimes your shots aren’t gonna fall and it sucks, it’s just a letdown, but I think getting your confidence back, it helps.”

Fandel was just 1-for-17 from beyond the arc on the season going into Sunday’s matchup, but she finished the afternoon 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

“We knew it was coming,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said. “She’s worked so hard and it (was) just a matter of the lid coming off the basket for her.”

Fandel wasn’t the only freshman who stepped up for Kansas. Forward Tatyonna Brown was tasked with taking a larger role due to injuries to freshman forward Jaliya Davis and sophomore forward Regan Williams. Across 20 minutes on Sunday, Brown tallied eight points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks.

“She’s an important part of our team and now here the last few days, (Tatyonna) and other players were asking to kind of crash-course learn different positions because of our injury situation,” Schneider said. “It’s great to see her come in and play some really good minutes for us today.”

“She’s had a lot thrown at her, especially this past week,” Nichols said of Brown. “Just changing a couple things and I think she adapted pretty well, she was a little confused for a little bit but as a team, we held her down, and we just keep talking her through things to do. She did great today.”

Kansas started the game sloppily. After winning the tip, the Jayhawks had two passes intercepted and knocked out of bounds by Denver. The Kansas defense was able to hold steady, keeping the Pioneers off the scoreboard for the first 4:15, but the Jayhawks were not able to take advantage and only led 6-3 at the under-five media timeout.

Senior forward Lilly Meister made a jumper with 7:44 left in the quarter, but the Jayhawks didn’t score again until there were just 50 seconds left in the frame. During that span, Denver embarked on an 8-0 run and took the lead, but a 3-pointer by Nichols ended the drought and gave Kansas the lead back in the final minute. At the end of one quarter, the Jayhawks held a narrow 11-8 advantage.

The second quarter started to look like it would resemble the first, but senior guard Elle Evans found the net for her first 3 of the afternoon, and that jumpstarted the Jayhawks. On the next possession, Nichols got an and-1 to fall and suffocating defense held the Pioneers without points for almost three minutes heading into the midway timeout with Kansas holding a 22-11 advantage.

Another scoring drought brought the Jayhawks’ momentum to a halt, but Kansas was able to hold Denver to just three points during its two-plus-minute slide. Meister finally broke the seal with 2:20 left before Nichols drove to the bucket and was fouled for her second three-point play in the paint that afternoon. Fandel capped off the half with her second 3-point make from beyond the arc as a Jayhawk and sent Kansas into halftime with a 30-16 advantage.

Out of halftime, the Jayhawks offense exploded. Fandel started the third the same way she ended the second with another 3-pointer and over the first two and a half minutes of the third, Kansas outscored the Pioneers 9-0. Nichols had the other six points during that Jayhawk scoring run.

Even after Denver ended the run, Kansas still piled on the points. The Jayhawks were able to keep the pressure up for the remainder of the quarter, and heading into the final quarter of action, Kansas held a commanding 55-23 lead.

A flurry of fouls midway through the fourth brought the game to a halt, but at the under-five media timeout, the Jayhawks still led by 35.

Fandel added to her career day with another 3-pointer and Brown took control of the paint with four points of her own to close out the 77-38 victory for the Jayhawks.

Kansas has just one nonconference game left before it moves on to Big 12 play. The team rounding out the Jayhawks’ nonconference slate won’t have to travel far, as it is the Haskell Indians. The game is set for Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. and will be the first played between the two programs since 1974.

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