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

Kansas guard S'Mya Nichols fires a 3-pointer against the Oklahoma State Sunday, March 2, 2025 in Allen Fieldhouse.

In keeping with her ongoing rise to national prominence, Kansas’ standout guard S’Mya Nichols received a highly selective honor from the Big 12 Conference on Tuesday afternoon.

For the second season in a row, Nichols is a first-team all-league selection.

The sophomore from Overland Park, who stepped into a leadership role as KU’s primary scoring option this year after the departures of several longtime program fixtures in the offseason, averaged 18.9 points per game this season to go with 4.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds.

Known for her aggressive drives into the paint and elusive moves around defenders in the post, Nichols ranks among the country’s most prolific foul shooters, currently second nationwide in both free throws attempted and free throws made. She also became the second-fastest Jayhawk to reach 1,000 career points this season, behind only KU legend Lynette Woodard.

Joining Nichols on Tuesday’s list of All-Big 12 honors were junior wing Elle Evans, an all-league honorable mention, and forward Regan Williams, an all-freshman selection.

Evans, a transfer from North Dakota State, provided a key secondary scoring option for the Jayhawks as a prolific outside shooter who has made 69 3-pointers on 42.1% shooting. While she was a fixture on the court for KU all year — her 35.1 minutes per game are second in the league — she came into her own over the course of conference play and even put up 30 points with six 3s in an overtime loss to Cincinnati. A tall wing at 6-foot-3, Evans grabbed 4.1 rebounds per game during the regular season.

Evans suffered a quad injury in practice prior to KU’s senior-day loss to Oklahoma State and missed her first game of the season.

Williams, a 6-foot-3 native of Kansas City, Missouri, slotted into the starting lineup right away as an undersized center. She has recorded three double-doubles on the year; in KU’s road victory over BYU on Feb. 25 she reached the 20-point mark for the first time. On the season she has emerged as the Jayhawks’ third-leading scorer at 8.9 points per game.

KU will face Texas Tech in its first Big 12 tournament game on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center.