photo by: AP Photo/Nell Redmond

Southern University guard Mykayla Cunningham passes away from Samford guard Sierra Godbolt (22) during the second half of a First Four college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.

The Kansas women’s basketball team continues to fill out its roster, and on Wednesday afternoon it earned the commitment of Mykayla “Kayos” Cunningham, a 5-foot-10 guard who most recently played at Southern.

For the Jaguars, who reached the NCAA Tournament and won a First Four game before losing to No. 1 seed South Carolina, Cunningham started 29 of the 30 games she played and averaged 5.4 points, 3.8 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals.

She will be a senior for the Jayhawks, as she played her first two years at Lindenwood during the Lions’ second and third seasons at the Division I level. She was an immediate contributor and occasional starter each of those seasons, averaging 7.6 points per game each year.

Cunningham is originally from Salina, where she starred at Salina Central High School before transferring to spend her senior year at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, as the school’s first two-sport athlete. She will therefore become the fifth native Kansan on the Jayhawks’ 2026-27 roster, along with Jaliya Davis (Overland Park), Brittany Harshaw (Andover), S’Mya Nichols (Overland Park) and Mariyah Noel, a recently signed Xavier transfer who is originally from Kansas City.

Cunningham will provide additional depth in the backcourt for the Jayhawks, who have already added Noel as well as Erianna Gooden from Colorado in the portal. They lost Laia Conesa, who transferred to Utah, and Keeley Parks, who transferred to Oklahoma.

With Cunningham, Gooden and Noel arriving in Lawrence along with freshmen Cydnee Bryant, Mollie Ernstes and Brooklynn Renn, KU is now up to the size of its 2025-26 roster, as it already brings back returners Davis, Harshaw, Nichols, Tatyonna Brown, Libby Fandel and Regan Williams. With a dozen players in the fold, however, it can still add up to three more if it so chooses.