Photo by Rylan Howe

Senior guard Aquanita Burras lays the ball up during the second half for two of her 10 points. Burras also grabbed seven rebounds during the Jayhawks 67-53 victory against Nebraska yesterday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Coming into the game, senior guard Aquanita Burras promised that she would be out for blood against Nebraska.

After 40 minutes of basketball yesterday, it was pretty obvious that Burras and the Jayhawks had bloodied the Cornhuskers with a blue-collar thumping.

As Kansas out-hustled, out-rebounded and out-played Nebraska, the rest fell into place for a 67-53 victory.

“We got out-hustled today,” Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. “I really felt like they were the aggressors.”

Kansas saw it the same way, with a dominant performance in effort and on the scoreboard.

“We emphasize it all of the time that we need to be the team that goes out there and set the tone,” junior guard Kaylee Brown said. “We need the other team to match our tone and they were unable to do that today.”

With Burras on defense and junior guard Erica Hallman’s career-high 22 points, the Jayhawks, 12-12 (5-8 Big 12), had leaders on both ends of the floor and the success was contagious.

“When you see someone dive on the floor, that brings out a lot of excitement,” Burras said.

And the energy that was lacking in the previous defeat to Texas Tech proved crucial to the effort against Nebraska and helped Kansas dominate and shut down the Nebraska offense. The Cornhuskers, 16-9 (8-5 Big 12), arrived in Lawrence averaging 70.9 points per game.

Burras shut down sophomore guard Kiera Hardy, Nebraska’s leading scorer, and dictated the flow of the Cornhusker offense.

“Aquanita was fantastic on Hardy,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “She stepped up and guarded her tougher and the rest of the team rotated when they needed to.”

The 5-foot-6 Hardy usually produces 19.5 points each game but was limited to only 13 on 5-13 shooting from the field. Hardy had only five points at halftime.

“When you get their leading scorer frustrated, the team starts to get frustrated,” Burras said.

No Cornhusker scored in double figures except Hardy.

For the Jayhawks, Hallman led a balanced attack that saw four players in double figures. Brown scored 14, junior forward Crystal Kemp added 11 and Burras recorded 10 in the victory.

To open the game, Hallman scored the team’s first eight points with a mid-range jumper and two three-point baskets. She remained hot for the duration of the game, finishing with 22 and connecting on 8-of-16 shot attempts, including 5-for-10 from three-point range.

“We came out on fire and stayed hot the whole day,” Hallman said.

Good passing in fast-break situations also gave Hallman five first-half assists, jumpstarting the offense and giving the shooters the confidence to take shots.

“She feels good about herself when she gets into transition and makes nice passes,” Henrickson said. “That makes her a more confident shooter.”

Though the Jayhawks shot only 46 percent, they owned the offensive boards and produced second and third looks. Burras, Kemp and freshman forward Taylor McIntosh all brought down four offensive rebounds.

For the game, Kansas grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and held a 39-29 overall rebounding margin.

“They got physical inside on the offensive glass and that’s what allowed them to offensive rebound,” Yori said.

At the break the Jayhawks held a 30-24 lead. They did nothing to relinquish it coming out of the locker room.

A healthy mix of perimeter shooting, points off turnovers and inside scoring stretched the lead from six to 22 at the 9:22 mark.

The victory evened up Kansas’ record for the season. The Jayhawks will now face three ranked opponents to close out the regular season. Henrickson said her team would not roll over though, and had incentive to bring its best for the final three games.

“Right now we are not playing for an NCAA Tournament or NIT invitation, but we still have something to play for,” Henrickson said. “We have Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M; chasing us for a good seed in the Big 12 Tournament.”

The season-ending gauntlet resumes at 7 p.m. Wednesday when Kansas faces No. 7-ranked Baylor.

Edited by Austin Caster