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

Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider laughs off a foul called on one of his players versus TCU Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Lawrence.

The Kansas women’s basketball team’ss rebounding troubles came to a complete halt in a 57-43 road win against Houston on Saturday, as the Jayhawks outrebounded the Cougars 25 to 13 in the first half and ended winning the battle on the glass by 14.

In a low-scoring game, both Kansas and Houston had sloppy stretches that showed just why both teams have had trouble staying consistent during conference play. KU guard S’Mya Nichols’ unselfishness allowed for plenty of ball movement as she let her teammates shine and still ended up with a team-leading 16 points.

Freshman Regan Williams also stepped up in a big way, finishing with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Laia Conesa, who has stepped into a full-time starting role this season, joined her in the final minutes of the game with an identical 11-point, 10-rebound double-double of her own. This marked the first time Conesa hit that milestone in her career, and was the first time two Jayhawks hit the double-double mark in the same game in nearly two years (with the most recent coming in Kansas’ WNIT run in March 2023).

“Having two players get double-doubles is something that we’ve got to aspire to,” head coach Brandon Schneider said in a press release, as two of his new starters this season stepped up in a crucial way.

Both teams’ struggles this year have been highlighted by injury trouble and depth problems, as the Cougars have just eight eligible players at present, one being a walk-on, and the Jayhawks have had four players unavailable for much of the year. But even with only two points coming from Kansas’ bench, the Jayhawks held onto a decisive lead for much of the entire 40 minutes.

“I thought our preparations really helped us for today. There were some corrections that we talked about prior to the game that we tried to make on this road trip through practice reps,” Schneider said. “We defended and rebounded and that was the difference for us. Offensively, we weren’t great, but on the road you need to rebound to give yourself a chance.”

Elle Evans got the Jayhawks off to a hot start, hitting her first 3-pointer as Nichols added on a triple of her own to get Kansas out to a four-point lead. The Cougars also drained their first 3 of the night to cut the lead to one, but Kansas responded with a nine-point run. Houston grabbed a couple of buckets at the end of the first to give the Jayhawks a 17-12 lead heading into the second.

The Cougars kept their momentum going in the next period, cutting it to a four-point game before a 12-point, nearly four-minute run by the Jayhawks forced a timeout by Houston with KU holding a 30-14 lead with just under 2:30 left in the half. Ultimately, Kansas took a 13-point advantage into halftime after holding the Cougars to only five points in the second period.

Once again, the Jayhawks relied on Evans to jump-start their game, as she scored Kansas’ first eight points on her own to grab the largest lead of the game at 38-20. A short-range jumper from Nadira Eltayeb, Kansas’ only bench points of the game, and a layup by Conesa established a 19-point lead, but the Jayhawks went scoreless for the remaining four minutes and 39 seconds of the quarter, heading into the fourth up 42-28.

Nichols and Williams stepped up to get Kansas back on track, scoring the Jayhawks’ first eight points of the final quarter, but Houston came out on a successful run as well, making it 50-34. Williams grabbed her double-double during this stretch, before a slow final stretch saw Conesa secure her own double-double with 40 seconds left as she drove to the hoop for a 55-38 lead. Nichols finished up the win by hitting a pair of free throws to secure a victory over the struggling Cougars.

While the game was certainly messy, with Kansas accumulating multiple multi-minute scoring droughts across both halves, the Jayhawks were able to beat up on a depleted Houston roster and not suffer the consequences of sloppy play as they so often had since starting their conference matchups.

After snapping an ugly two-game losing streak, Kansas will look to keep its success on track as it takes on a fairly evenly matched Texas Tech (14-8, 3-6 big 12) back in Allen Fieldhouse at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday to finish out the January slate.