photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Elle Evans shoots a free throw late in the game against Texas Tech in Allen Fieldhouse, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

Junior guard Elle Evans’ season-high 30 points were not enough for Kansas women’s basketball to overcome a feisty Cincinnati squad as the Jayhawks fell 78-74 in overtime on the road Saturday afternoon.

Kansas struggled with foul trouble throughout the game, as Regan Williams fouled out in the fourth quarter and each of S’Mya Nichols and Nadira Eltayeb picked up their fifth foul during overtime.

But even getting to overtime was unlikely for the Jayhawks, who had trailed by 11 points with four minutes and 34 seconds to play in the fourth. They scored 11 straight to tie the game at 67 with under a minute to play, forcing a Cincinnati timeout before the game headed to overtime tied at 69.

The Jayhawks had possessed the ball last in regulation and had a chance at a game-winning shot, but Sania Copeland was forced to drive off the inbound after UC cut off the passing lanes to Nichols and Evans, sending the game to overtime. Kansas struggled early in the extra period as a 5-0 stretch by the Bearcats over the first three minutes of overtime buried the Jayhawks too far to come back.

“I thought Elle was really good today, and I think the most impressive thing is that she had no turnovers,” head coach Brandon Schneider said in a press release. “Overall, we just had too many mistakes, especially in overtime. You can’t foul 26 times against a team like Cincinnati, knowing that free throws are such a big part of how they score.”

After a six-point quarter against West Virginia earlier in the week in which Kansas didn’t score for the first nine minutes and surrendered 13 turnovers, Saturday’s game started much smoother for the Jayhawks. The two teams traded shots early, as Evans’ first points of the night on a putback lay-in made it 8-6. From there Kansas embarked on a six-point run, forcing Cincinnati to call its first timeout of the day, but the quarter ended with Kansas down 16-14.

After she only scored two points in the opening period, the second quarter completely belonged to Evans. She opened the scoring for Kansas with her first 3-pointer on a second-chance shot before Cincinnati’s star player Jillian Hayes scored five straight to put the Bearcats up six.

Just when Kansas was looking like it’d have to go into halftime trailing, Evans took matters into her own hands. She finished off the quarter with an 11-point run all her own, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc and sinking two free throws to give KU a 35-29 lead at the half.

After Evans’ takeover to end the second quarter, it was Cincinnati’s Tineya Hylton’s turn to put her team on her back. Hilton came out to score nine of the Bearcats’ first 11 points during a consecutive run after going scoreless in the first half. It was Evans, of course, who finally broke the run, putting Kansas back into a one-possession game. From there, Evans scored seven of Kansas’ nine points in the rest of the quarter, while a balanced Bearcats offense put them up by three heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Cincinnati started the fourth out strong with a pair of multi-possession runs, taking a 58-50 lead within the first 3:30 of play. Nichols did her best to keep Kansas in the game, scoring four straight, but Hylton and Reagan Jackson kept the offensive pace on their end as back-to-back three-point plays by Hylton put the Jayhawks in an 11-point deficit with 4:34 left to play.

While things looked bleak for KU, Evans and Williams teamed up once again to keep the Jayhawks alive, as Evans scored four straight and Williams matched it right after to make it a 67-65 game. Nichols came back into the picture with a drive to tie the game.

The Bearcats hit one of two free throws on the other end to go up one, before a set play off the inbound got Nichols another quick lay-in to put the Jayhawks up 69-68 and force a Cincinnati timeout. After UC went 1-for-2 from the line, Kansas had eight seconds and the last possession to try for a game-winner, but Copeland’s attempt at a drive came up empty.

After a great fight to end regulation, Kansas lost a lot of its steam in overtime, opening with two turnovers followed by two missed shots to go down 74-69. Laia Conesa started the scoring for the Jayhawks with only her second bucket of the game, as Nichols and Eltayeb both fouled out, leaving Kansas down two starters for the last 1:30 of overtime. From there the Jayhawks knocked down three free throws as Cincinnati grabbed another bucket and two free throws to take a 78-74 win.

The heartbreaking end to an impressive comeback culminated in Kansas’ third straight loss, as the Jayhawks fell to 14-10 on the season, including 4-9 in conference play. This drops KU to 11th in the conference with few chances to improve before the end of the season, as the Jayhawks will have to face Iowa State and Kansas State again before ending the year against current No. 25 Oklahoma State. Kansas will start this final five-game stretch with a matchup against the Cyclones at home next Saturday at 4 p.m.