photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior S'Mya Nichols shoots a layup against Oral Roberts on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025.

After starting the season undefeated, Kansas women’s basketball finally dropped its first game of the season on Friday evening, 68-62, to the Georgia Lady Bulldogs at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida.

Junior guard S’Mya Nichols led the Jayhawks in scoring and set her new career high with 40 points, including 14-for-20 shooting from the free throw line. The 40 points by Nichols are the most by a Jayhawk since forward Vickie Adkins had 41 against Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1984.

Kansas (6-1) struggled to find any offensive production from the rest of its lineup, with Nichols accounting for all but 22 of the Jayhawks’ points during the matchup with Georgia.

Kansas started the first quarter hot. A 10-0 run began with senior forward Lilly Meister after she drained a 3-pointer from deep. Nichols followed it up with a 3 of her own and the Jayhawks kept up the pressure from there.

A layup by junior guard Laia Conesa was enough for Georgia head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson and she called a timeout. After the Lady Bulldogs’ timeout, the two teams traded buckets and at the end of the quarter, Kansas held a 16-7 advantage. The Jayhawks outrebounded Georgia 12-6 in the first period of action.

Kansas was able to hold the Lady Bulldogs at bay at first in the second quarter, allowing them to only score one point. Out of a timeout, Georgia (8-0) looked to have found its rhythm, but a 3-pointer by freshman guard Keeley Parks halted it for a second. After a foul by senior guard Elle Evans wiped out another 3 by Parks, though, the Lady Bulldogs went on a 8-0 run to draw within four.

An extended timeout for replay review only fueled Georgia as it rallied to tie the game, 28-28. With 43 seconds left in the half, Lady Bulldogs junior guard Rylie Theuerkauf put one through to give Georgia its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. The Lady Bulldogs were able to take their lead into halftime at 32-29.

Georgia carried its momentum into the third and had an answer for every Jayhawk bucket. At the under-five media timeout, Kansas entered its huddle trailing by nine, hoping to find some answer for the Lady Bulldogs’ suffocating offense.

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, they still couldn’t find that solution and trailed 55-43 after three quarters.

A tight whistle helped the Jayhawks at the start of the fourth. Four fouls against the Lady Bulldogs in the first two minutes and 30 seconds of the final period helped Kansas gain some traction. Evans finally struck from deep, draining her first 3-pointer of the game and drawing Kansas within seven. But the Jayhawk offense stalled out and only scored two points over the next 3:30.

Kansas was able to cut it to five in the final two minutes after Nichols found the basket for an athletic bucket and freshman forward Libby Fandel drove to the basket for her first two points of the game. After a foul and two made free throws for Georgia, Schneider used a timeout with 43 seconds left and the Jayhawks trailing by seven.

Even with the late push, the deficit was too much for Kansas to overcome, as time expired and the Jayhawks fell 68-62.

Kansas will play the Dayton Flyers Saturday evening in its final game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central.