cott Hildebrand/Iowa State Daily

Junior forward Crystal Kemp and junior guard Erica Hallman go up to block a shot by Iowa State’s senior forward Katie Robinette. The Jayhawks closed out the regular season with a 61-52 loss to the Cyclones, in Ames, Iowa.

Whenever Iowa State delivered a scoring jab to Kansas’ collective face, the Jayhawks returned in kind.

An inadvertent blow to Crystal Kemp’s mouth down the stretch of the game, however, injured the junior forward and took away Kansas’ strongest scoring threat, with the contest on the line. The injury to Kemp, coupled with foul trouble for the other Jayhawk post players, prevented Kansas from pulling the upset at No. 20 Iowa State, falling 61-52 in the regular season finale.

Competing fiercely against the highest scoring offense in the Big 12, the Kansas front court got into foul trouble early, but the guards kept it close.

Junior guard Erica Hallman led the Jayhawks with 15 points and a game-high five assists.

“The guards kept us in the game and the posts gave us a chance to win it,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

At the 10:32 mark, Kemp netted her first score of the game. It was a hook shot that pulled the fading Jayhawks within eight, 44-36. Kemp then scored five over the next two possessions to bring the rejuvenated Jayhawks back in the contest.

A Kaylee Brown, junior guard, three-point shot over Mary Fox stunned the Cyclone crowd and closed the gap to 44-43.

The game reached a 47-47 tie after Kemp’s final score of the night, but not before freshman forwards Jamie Boyd and Taylor McIntosh both picked up their fourth fouls.

Kemp not only missed serious playing time in key minutes with the injury, but also remained scoreless for the game’s first 30 minutes while she battled foul trouble. Boyd made her first career start, fouled out of the game with more than four minutes remaining.

The foul trouble set back the already short Kansas roster and forced Henrickson to use a four-guard lineup, but the Jayhawks were not done yet.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Henrickson said of her team’s battles. “We needed some mental toughness and some physical toughness.”

McIntosh hit a tough shot over Iowa State forward Katie Robinette for Kansas to regain the lead, 52-51.

Kansas would not score again.

Fox hit a jumper and Iowa State — 22-5, 12-5 Big 12 — drained eight consecutive free throws to end the game.

“They got to the free throw line a lot,” Henrickson said.

For the night, the Cyclones attempted 31 free throws, while the Jayhawks made only three trips to the line.

Even with the defeat, Henrickson realized the confidence gained from playing a top-25 team down to the wire.

“Believe it or not, we’ll gain momentum off this,” Henrickson said.

One area the Jayhawks can take a positive swing from their defense, limiting Iowa State to only 61 points. Against a team that entered the game averaging 78 points per outing, Henrickson saw the necessity of shutting down the Cyclones.

“We felt like it had to be in the mid-60s to be in the game,” Henrickson said. “Right now, the uglier the better for us.”

Kansas held the potent Iowa State offense in check for the first 20 minutes but still trailed by one, 25-24, at the break.

The Cyclones, who shot under 40 percent from three-point range as a team, started out the contest 0-7 from the outside. A Fox three-point shot, just before the half, made Iowa State 2-10 for the half and gave it the advantage going into the locker room.

“We didn’t give them shots they wanted,” Henrickson said.

During the same time frame, Kansas made four of 13 attempts from beyond the arc.

Coming into the game, the Jayhawks stressed the need to answer runs by the conference’s better teams and respond with spurts of their own and they did that early.

A brief 7-0 charge capped by a three by Brown gave Kansas a five-point lead minutes into the game. Iowa State scored six unanswered points, but Kansas fired back and reclaimed its five-point cushion, 18-13.

In the second half, Kansas trailed 40-31 and seemed dead in the water before Kemp’s return jump-started the team.

Up next for the Jayhawks — 12-15, 5-11 — is the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Kansas will play at noon Tuesday against either Missouri or Texas A&M;, in Kansas City, Mo.

Edited by Nikola Rowe