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

Sophomore Regan Williams points to the sky in celebration after scoring for Kansas against Lamar Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Lawrence.

Kansas women’s basketball claimed its third victory of the season on Wednesday evening, as the Jayhawks took down the Lamar Cardinals 65-54.

KU was led in scoring by junior guard S’Mya Nichols, who finished the game with 15 points and six assists. The Jayhawks were without freshman forward Jaliya Davis, who missed the matchup with what Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider called “lower leg pain.”

“She has some lower leg pain that we needed to get investigated,” Schneider said. “But we’re hopeful that she’ll be available not only for our preparation, but for our game for Missouri.”

Schneider said he learned of Davis’ injury through text on Sunday night or Monday morning.

In the absence of Davis, Kansas looked to one of last year’s starters, sophomore Regan Williams to step up, and she did. Across 31 minutes, Williams scored 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field and tallied 12 rebounds for the Jayhawks.

“It’s pretty seamless for Regan to slot right in there,” Schneider said. “I kind of feel like we have three starters at the four-five position and that’s a rotation we’re going to be really comfortable with, so not a lot of adjustments there, but I did think it opened up more opportunities for Tatyonna Brown and Nadira (Eltayeb).”

Kansas started the game hot, holding a 7-1 lead three minutes into the first quarter, but Lamar bounced back quickly. A 3-point basket by senior guard Elle Evans with just under four minutes to go in the quarter looked like it would spark the Kansas offense, but the Cardinals didn’t let up. Kansas made only one field goal the rest of the quarter and the Jayhawks headed into the second quarter with a narrow 14-11 lead.

The second quarter went similarly to the first, with Lamar tying the game 16-16 two minutes into the quarter. That was the only time in the game that the Cardinals tied or led, as Kansas went on an 11-2 run over the next six minutes. Lamar had a late surge that brought it closer, but Kansas still went into the break with a 27-23 lead.

The third quarter was all Kansas, with the Jayhawks outscoring the Cardinals 23-9 off a balanced scoring attack that saw seven different Kansas players put one through the net.

In the fourth, Kansas played a much more passive approach, with 10 of its 15 points in the quarter coming from the free-throw line. Lamar tried to surge back late, but the third quarter jolt from the Jayhawks was too much.

Kansas now turns its attention to the Border Showdown on Saturday. The Jayhawks last took on Missouri in regular-season play in 2012 before the Tigers left the Big 12 for the SEC. (The teams also faced off in the WNIT in 2023.) Schneider said that the Jayhawks will spend the week learning about the rivalry before the matchup.

“We will be thoroughly educated on the ferociousness of the rivalry,” Schneider said. “What it means to our school, what it means to our city, what it means to our state and what it means to our alumni base.”

Evans said the team hasn’t talked about the game too much yet, but she knows how important it is to KU.

“I think something for me, it’s like do-or-die,” Evans said. “I think we’re definitely going to talk about it tomorrow but this game means so much, not only to us but like I said to Kansas in general, the university in general, we really know how much it means so we’re going to have a chip on our shoulder.”

The game will be played on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

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