Chance Parker/Journal-World photoKansas fans watch Kansas take on Washington during the Fab 4 round of the WNIT on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Kansas advances with a 61-36 win over Washington.
There were at least a dozen reasons for the Kansas women’s basketball team to absolutely love the rocking home environment they played in front of during Wednesday’s 61-36 win over Washington in the WNIT semifinals at Allen Fieldhouse.
But the one KU coach Brandon Schneider liked the most came when the crowd booed what it thought was a bad call with the Jayhawks rolling and up by 25 points late in the second half.
“That, to me, is a Kansas basketball fan,” Schneider said after the win. “They know the game, they love basketball and I think coach (Bill) Self has created an environment here where our fans appreciate defense, so, especially in that regard, hopefully they (were) happy with what they saw.”
There was no question about that. From well before the opening tip all the way to the final horn, when the Rock Chalk Chant drowned out the sound of the buzzer, the 7,229 fans who filled Allen Fieldhouse for this latest KU women’s win made their presence known.
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They held up signs, handed out standing ovations and roared after every good KU play. And there were a lot of them. All of it brought joy to the hearts of the KU players, some of whom spent big chunks of their careers playing in front of nearly empty stands.
“That was pretty cool,” senior guard Holly Kersgieter said with a convincing smile. “We’ve never had that before and it was pretty evident that we’ve never had that before. We can’t show enough appreciation. It really means a lot.”
Although she never wanted her time at KU to be about longing for that type of setting, Kersgieter it was hard not to wonder what it would be like after years of watching the men’s team draw sellout crowds night after night.
“We try for that not to be our reason why, but it definitely helps,” she said of the support. “When you just look around, you’re like, ‘Wow. This is Allen Fieldhouse. This is being at KU. This is what it’s like.’ It’s definitely a little emotional.”
Wednesday’s win moved the Jayhawks to 18-3 at home this season, and five of those wins have come in the WNIT.
Kansas will get one more chance at a victory on its home floor when it plays host to Columbia at 4:30 p.m. Saturday for the WNIT title, and Schneider said he and his players were thrilled to play for a championship at the Fieldhouse.
“We’re extremely grateful for the commitment that (KU Athletic Director) Travis (Goff) and (Senior Women’s Administrator) Nicole (Corcoran) and the rest of the administration has made,” Schneider said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t get to experience the environment that we had tonight. It was terrific and I hope everybody that came enjoyed themselves.”
The block party continues
Kansas center Taiyanna Jackson added to her own school record for blocks in a single season by recording three more in Wednesday’s win over Washington.
She now has 106 blocks (and counting) on the season.
Jackson set the new mark earlier this tournament, surpassing last year’s total of 95 in a win over Nebraska. At the time, she said she planned to add to her record the rest of this season and then would go after the mark again next season.
With one more game to play before calling it a wrap on the 2022-23 campaign, all Jackson can do now is make the challenge she’ll face next season even tougher.
Her two first-half blocks gave her 200 for her Kansas career, making her just the third player in KU women’s basketball history to eclipse 200 blocks for a career.
Lisa Tate holds the all-time record, with 269 from 1991-94, and Chelsea Gardner, who played from 2011-15, ranks second with 202.
More on Columbia
The Columbia Lions, based in New York City, put the finishing touches on their 77-70 semifinal win over Bowling Green just before halftime of KU’s victory over Washington.
The win moved Columbia to 28-5 on the season and 14-2 away from home. It was the Lions’ first road game of the WNIT. Like Kansas, they hosted the first four games to advance to the Fab 4.
Columbia, of the Ivy League, picked up wins over Farleigh Dickinson (69-53), Fordham (78-73), Syracuse (88-82) and Harvard (77-71) before knocking off Bowling Green on Wednesday night.
The Lions won the Ivy League this season with a 12-2 record and were led guard Abbey Hsu’s 17.7 points-per-game scoring average, guard Kaitlyn Davis’ 8.2 boards-per-game rebounding mark and guard Kitty Henderson’s 4.4 assists per game. Davis (13.4) and Henderson (9.3) also were among the Lions’ top five scorers this season.
Hsu led CU with 21 points on 4-of-11 shooting from 3-point range in Wednesday’s semifinal win, while Davis added 19 points and 15 rebounds.
“Columbia’s really good,” Schneider said after Wednesday’s win. “I don’t think there’s many teams that are still playing that aren’t pretty good. We have an assistant coach who’s already well into that scout and when I walk out of here I’m going to know a lot more about them.”
This and that…
KU now leads the all-time series with Washington, 3-1, including a 2-0 mark in games played at Allen Fieldhouse… Four of the Jayhawks’ five wins in the WNIT have come against teams from Power 5 conferences — Missouri and Arkansas from the SEC, Nebraska from the Big Ten and Washington from the Pac-12… KU’s 24 victories this season are the most by the team since the 1996-97 season. In addition, the 18 home wins are the most ever in a single season.
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