Lawrence, Kan. – Despite a 16-point performance by senior Tina Stephens, the Jayhawks’ women’s basketball team fell to the North Dakota Bison, 72-69, on Monday afternoon inside Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas was led by Stephens, who scored 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. She was 1-of-2 from behind the arc and 3-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Junior Brooklyn Mitchell added 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. The 5-6 guard also recorded three assists. Graduate transfer Julie Brosseau was perfect from the free-throw line (9-of-9) and ended the game with 13 points.
The Jayhawks started the game off scoring 13 points and leading the Bison 18-5 at the end of the first 10 minutes of play. In the second quarter, KU struggled to keep up its momentum from the first quarter, resulting in a Bison come-from-behind effort. Kansas held onto a one-point lead at the game’s midpoint as NDSU erased a 13-point deficit, 30-29.
In the third quarter, the Jayhawks kept the game within their control, staying within one possession of the lead. Kansas came up with 24 points in those 10 minutes of action to give KU a 54-52 lead at the end of the quarter.
It was a down-to-the-wire type of game, where the Jayhawks and the Bison went point-for-point until North Dakota State iced the game with free-throws down the stretch and prevailed by the score of 72-69.