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

Kansas freshman forward Regan Williams attempts a layup against Kansas State on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Lawrence.

Seeking a pivotal win in its final road trip of the season, the Kansas women’s basketball team went to Provo, Utah, and pulled out an impressive 71-66 victory over BYU on Tuesday night.

The Jayhawks relied heavily on junior guard Elle Evans and freshman forward Regan Williams, who scored 24 and 20 points, respectively. The duo combined for 23 of Kansas’ 37 first-half points, including all 19 scored in the second quarter, and Williams’ 20 points beat her previous career high of 18.

While guard S’Mya Nichols had a lower-scoring night with 14 points, her eight rebounds and seven assists proved crucial to the Jayhawks in a game of tight margins, especially since she recorded an unusual four turnovers. She also drove for a layup that extended KU’s lead to two possessions late and shut the door on BYU’s attempt at a comeback.

Two of BYU’s starters faced early foul trouble, forcing the Cougars’ scoring needs into the hands of freshman Amari Whiting, who scored a career-high 24 points with nine of those coming in a close fourth quarter.

The Jayhawks and Cougars traded off inside shots for the first four and a half minutes of the game, before the first triple of the night by Lauren Davenport gave BYU an 11-10 lead. Nichols failed to complete a three-point play after getting fouled on a drive but still sent Kansas into the first media timeout with a one-point lead.

The Jayhawks entered into a scoring drought of over three minutes, broken only by four made free throws by Evans and Nichols in the last minute of the quarter. With BYU dealing with its own offensive struggles, shooting only 35% in the period, Kansas took an 18-14 lead into the second quarter.

After shooting 1-for-6 from deep in the first ten minutes, BYU’s three-point shooting in the second became the only thing keeping the Cougars in the game as Kansas repeatedly gained seven and six-point leads. Kemery Congdon did her best to match Evans’ three-point shooting, as Evans and Williams combined for all 19 points of the second quarter to give Kansas a 37-31 lead.

An impressive shooting performance by the Jayhawks, who shot 58% from the field, kept them alive heading into halftime despite periodic misreads on defense. Meanwhile, BYU shot 40% in the half but 43% from three-point range, where the Cougars made two more shots than Kansas even attempted as the Jayhawks gave up multiple triples on skip passes and inside-out sets. Evans and Williams combined for 23 first-half points with Evans finding her stroke in the second and Williams going 4-for-7 from the field — which included her first made 3 of her college career.

BYU was relatively limited in the first half as Delaney Gibb and Brinley Cannon picked up two early fouls in the first and spent the majority of the period on the bench.

While Williams cooled down from the field in the third, her three foul shots were crucial for the Jayhawks, as her two at the 6:21 mark gave them their largest lead of the game at 47-35. Evans remained Kansas’ primary answer from long range, accounting for two of its 3s in the third, along with freshman Zoe Canfield, who grabbed a bucket in her three minutes on the floor.

Gibb, BYU’s usual leading scorer, finally got involved in the offensive production in the third, recording five points and two assists after only scoring three points in the first half. Despite her efforts and Whiting’s seven points, the Jayhawks maintained a 57-48 lead heading into the last 10 minutes of play after Williams ended the quarter with an impressive three-point play to match her career-high of 18 points.

Whiting continued to impress in the fourth, dropping nine points in the quarter and singlehandedly keeping the Cougars in the game. But her efforts were no match for Kansas’ balanced scoring in the quarter. Even as the Cougars were able to outscore the Jayhawks by four points in the fourth, their defense could not step up when it mattered, as Kansas consistently answered any small run that BYU put together.

The Jayhawks took a 67-59 lead with just over two minutes to play, but committed a foul and a 10-second violation that led to four straight points by the Cougars to make it a one-possession game with 38 seconds to play.

With head coach Brandon Schneider calling timeout to draw something up for his team’s final possession, the Cougars chose to defend the possession out with the eight-second difference between the shot and game clocks. Nichols shut the door on the comeback with her drive to give Kansas a 69-64 lead before Evans finished the game with a pair of free throws.

Having lost four of their last five, the Jayhawks escaped Provo with a much-needed road win and spoiled BYU’s senior night. Now Kansas, which improved to 16-12 and 6-11 in league play, will look to avoid having its own senior night drowned out as the Jayhawks host Oklahoma State on Sunday for their final game of the regular season.

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