By Paulina Pengelley
Special to Fox4KC.com
DALLAS, Texas — The Kansas women’s basketball team have a long wait to see if they will make the big dance again this season. They were eliminated from the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament on Saturday in a 77-62 loss to the tournament’s No. 2 seeded Iowa State Cyclones.
Coming off of a stellar performance last night in a 83-61 win over TCU, the rim wasn’t as kind to the Jayhawks tonight, shooting only 42 percent from the field.
“We didn’t finish at the rim,” said Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson. “We thought we competed and played hard and showed some toughness, just not enough.”
After falling into a 0-6 deficit, the Cyclones picked up the defense and went on a 12-5 run to put them up one point with 11 minutes left in the first half. The Jayhawks couldn’t find an answer to the Cyclone’s tough defense and did not regain the lead the rest of the way.
“They are going to challenge you and make you want to kick it out and make you hit perimeter shots,” said KU guard Angel Goodrich. “Once that happens, you’ve got to knock them down.”
The Jayhawks connected on only three of their 16 attempts from beyond the arc.
Led by All-American candidates Chelsea Poppins and Hallie Christofferson, scoring 24 and 23 points respectively, the Cyclones cruised second half. Nine points with 14 minutes left to play was the closest KU would get to continuing their tournament run.
Senior Carolyn Davis led the way for the Jayhawks with 17 points and six rebounds. Goodrich ended the game with 15 points and seven assists while Sophomore Chelsea Gardner contributed 12 points.
On the bubble, Kansas will have to wait until next weekend to find out if they will make the NCAA Tournament, but the Jayhawks are confident and ready for anything.
“We are not so sure what’s going to happen,” said Goodrich. “But we have got to stay positive, look forward, keep practicing and get better because, more than likely, we still want to play.”