The opening minutes were a struggle, but a 19-4 run during 10 minutes of the first half sparked Kansas to an 82-48 exhibition victory against Pittsburg State Sunday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I thought offensively we did a good job of sharing the ball. Defensively we had great energy, but we are going to have to get a little better on one-on-one defense,” said head coach Bonnie Henrickson.

Pittsburg State forward Larissa Richards caused match-up problems for Kansas on both ends of the court early. The freshman had four points and five blocks in the first half.

“Why we couldn’t figure out a shot fake might be necessary after her third block, I don’t really understand,” Henrickson said.

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Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Pitt State

Sophomore Porscha Weddington came in and limited Richards’ effect on the game, which then allowed fellow sophomore Danielle McCray to take over.

McCray finished with a game-high 20 points, also adding seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Like Henrickson, though, McCray recognizes that her team must improve defensively.

“We need to focus on our defense, especially getting over to help,” McCray said. “That was a big problem tonight.”

The Jayhawks went into halftime with an 11-point lead despite shooting just 30 percent from the field. But they came out on fire in the second half, scoring the first nine points.

Sophomore Sade Morris chipped in with 15 points, Weddington tallied 8 and senior Taylor McIntosh pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Also getting into the action was freshman Nicollette Smith, who scored nine points, six of which came from two three-pointers.

“She is a good player, but we have to be better on how we get her the ball,” Henrickson said about Smith.

According to Henrickson, Kansas will have plenty to work on before its second and final exhibition game with Emporia State on Thursday night.

Emporia State is ranked No. 3 in the nation in Division II.

— Edited by Luke Morris