Kansas tops Washington State, 71-63

By KJ Turkson

Las Vegas, Nevada --  Both the Washington State Cougars and the Kansas Jayhawks looked to accurately gauge themselves with a challenging non-conference match-up in their opening game in the Duel in the Desert Classic on Wednesday from the Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Electric senior guard Jessica Washington was the pacesetter once again for the Jayhawks, leading the team in scoring with 15 points. Austin Richardson and Kylee Kopatich were top performers in support of Washington, chipping in with 15 points a piece to help lead Kansas to a 71-63 victory over the Cougars.

Mercurial point guard Chanelle Molina led Washington State with 19 points in a losing cause for the Cougars, who fell to 4-6 on the season with the loss. Junior wing Borislava Hristova also notched 18 for Wazzu, marking her 10th straight game in which she reached double figures in scoring.

With the win, Kansas moves on to the championship side of the bracket, where they will face Northwestern on Thursday evening.

The loss drops the Cougars into a 2:30 matchup with Wichita State on Thursday. Northwestern drubbed the Shockers 65-43 in the other game.

In the early going, Shir Levy got loose on a nice backdoor cut, before being fouled. Levy used her unorthodox shooting motion to convert both free throws to open the scoring and give her team an early 2-0 lead. Later it was the Jayhawks leading scorer Jessica Washington who converted on a three-point play to open the scoring for Kansas.

Washington would later find Richardson in transition for a nice layin on the break. Richardson would later convert again, this time on a touch contested layup in the half court, to give the Jayhawks an early five-point lead at 7-2. Maria Kostourkova was able to score on a tough turnaround jump hook in the lane to pull the Cougars two points closer.

Wazzu lead guard Chanelle Molina -- one of three Molina sisters on this Washington State roster -- would trade baskets with Washington on the next few trips down the court before perhaps getting too aggressive and picking up an ill-advised offensive foul after bowling into a defender. Christalah Lyons made a heady play in baiting Chanelle Molina and Kostourkova into an unforced turnover on an aborted dribble hand off, but couldn't get her streaking layup to go, ending the quarter with Kansas ahead by ten, 16-6, after the game's first ten minutes of play.

After play resumed, a couple of sloppy possessions by Kansas resulted in easy layups off turnovers for the Cougs. However, Washington would soon reassert herself on the offensive end, leading to a pair of baskets in transition, and a 22-10 lead for the team out of the Big 12 Conference. Washington would again hit on a long two, before Kostourkova would answer with a tough runner in the lane to bring the lead down to single digits at the midway point in the second quarter, with KU enjoying a 24-15 advantage.

As the second quarter progressed, it was the Cougars who ramped up the defense by going on a 7-0 run to close the gap to 24-20 with about three minutes to go. Washington again responded, answering with a dagger as the shot clock expired, pushing the Jayhawks' lead back to 6.  Moments later, Kylee Kopatich hit the first of consecutive threes to put the Jayhawks lead to 12. Washington would be the Jayhawks' leading scorer in the first half, tallying 13 points to lead all scorers.

Kostourkova was later able to respond with a nice cut on the inside to bring Washington State to within ten points, but KU responded with Mariane de Carvalho burying a wide open three from the corner to head into the half with a comfortable 39-24 lead.

In the game's second half it was Lyons, Richardson, and Washington who would again lead the way for the Jayhawks' offensive attack. Chanelle Molina did her best to offset the offensive output by the opposing guards, working her way free with a nifty contested lefty layup off of a deft spin move, and even converting on a conventional three-point play after soaring in for an improbable offensive rebound, but on this day the Cougars from Pullman were simply outgunned by Washington, Kopatich, and a more well-rounded Jayhawks squad from Lawrence.