At the first media timeout, four minutes and one second into Kansas’ 65-54 victory against Colorado on Wednesday night, the Jayhawks jogged to the bench with coach Bonnie Henrickson displaying a stare of complete disbelief.

True, Kansas trailed by only one point at the time. But the Jayhawks’ sluggish and uninspired start left Henrickson shocked.

Photo Gallery

Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Colorado

A photo gallery of the Jayhawks 65-54 win over Colorado Wednesday night.

“It was like we were in a coma,” Henrickson said. “Both ends of the floor we were terrible and not executing. I wasn’t worried, I just didn’t understand why.”

Neither did Kansas’ players. Coming off their best performance on the road this season at No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday, the Jayhawks turned the ball over and looked out of sync on the offensive end.

For a team attempting to snap a four-game losing streak, that’s not what Henrickson or her players expected.

“It felt like we were in shellshock or something,” junior forward Danielle McCray said. “I don’t know what was happening. It was just slow and we were missing shots and coming late to things. After that media timeout, I think we got things going.”

During the game’s opening four minutes, Henrickson pleaded with her team to pick up the intensity. While Kansas never trailed by more than five at any point, the Jayhawks struggled early with offensive consistency.

Midway through the first half, though, Kansas began playing more like a team desperately in need of a win. Sparked by two players who combined for six points in Kansas’ last two games, junior guard Kelly Kohn and sophomore forward Nicollette Smith, the Jayhawks outscored the Buffaloes 21-4 to end the first half.

Kohn hit two three-pointers and Nicollette Smith added another in helping Kansas to a 32-18 halftime lead.

“We knew that this was kind of like a must win game,” junior guard Sade Morris said. “We knew if we want to make the tournament, we had to win this game. We were like ‘look, let’s put this behind us, play some defense and get up in them.’”

That’s exactly what Kansas did.

Kansas’ defense created turnovers and forced Colorado to settle for bad shots in the first half. The Buffaloes made just 29 percent of their first-half shots and committed 21 turnovers.

And during Kansas’ run to end the first half, defense provided a spark.

“Man, I feel like when we play defense, that makes our offense so much easier,” Morris said. “We get in a really good flow and then everything goes right for us.”

For the fifth consecutive game, McCray paced Kansas offensively, scoring 24 points. Unlike previous games, though, McCray received help from her teammates.

Morris added 13 points and freshman forward Aishah Sutherland chipped in 12 points and five rebounds off the bench. At different times in the game, McCray, Morris and Sutherland each scored points in bunches.

For stretches in the second half Kansas’ carelessness with the ball allowed Colorado to remain within striking distance. The Jayhawks committed 12 turnovers in the second half, allowing the Buffaloes to cut their lead to seven late in the second half.

But McCray scored the game’s final four points to seal Kansas’ first victory in almost three weeks.

“It feels good to have a smile on your face again,” McCray said. “I think that we came out with a purpose tonight and knew that we needed to do things we were capable of doing to get a win.”

— Edited by Andrew Wiebe