During Monday’s practice, coach Bonnie Henrickson became an observer, at least for a little bit.

In the Jayhawks’ first practice since a 33-point loss at Kansas State, two of Henrickson’s players filled in as disciplinarians. Junior guard Sade Morris and sophomore forward Nicollette Smith not only verbally led the team in practice, they backed it up in Kansas’ 75-58 victory against rival Missouri.

Photo Gallery

Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Missouri

A photo gallery of the women's basketball game Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse against Missouri.

“They were fussing at everybody, and they were getting on everybody,” Henrickson said. “I was just standing and watching.”

That the two stepped up — and held teammates accountable — coming off the K-State loss is just as important as the 17-point victory against Missouri. Morris led the Jayhawks (12-3, 1-1) with 20 points, and Smith chipped in a season-high 16.

And that’s exactly what Kansas needed.

Early in the first half, with Missouri’s full-court press and trap disrupting timing, Smith buried three three-pointers from nearly identical spots on the court. Smith’s three-pointers came at just the right time. The Jayhawks’ offense appeared thrown by the Tigers’ pressure during the game’s opening 10 minutes.

“I really haven’t been hitting that much in practice,” Smith said. “It was nice to get my confidence up, especially because our team seemed to be struggling offensively besides those threes.”

But as halftime neared, Kansas became more at ease — primarily because the Jayhawks’ defense kept the Tigers from scoring and, subsequently, setting up their press.

“We know how to beat the press,” Morris said. “We just had to relax and realize that we’ve beaten this press before. It’s just a press.”

The Jayhawks closed the first half on a 15-8 run, including a 9-0 stretch where Kansas built a lead as big as nine. Morris drove the length of the court for a layup as the half expired, giving Kansas a 36-29 lead.

More impressive than any offensive indicator was the way Kansas played on the defensive end. The Jayhawks held the Tigers to 30-percent shooting and allowed few easy points.

At one point midway through the first half, Missouri guard RaeShara Brown made a fall away jumper as the shot clock expired after Kansas had clamped down for 34 seconds of solid defense. Instead of showing frustration, Henrickson and her staff applauded the defensive effort.

“The numbers aren’t reflective — we only forced 11 turnovers — but we forced a lot of tough twos,” Henrickson said. “I thought we were a lot more active, a lot more disruptive. You just can’t let people get comfortable with timing and spacing.”

That’s what happened to Kansas’ leading scorer, junior forward Danielle McCray.

On a night when she scored only 12 points, McCray saved two well-timed three-pointers for the second half. With just under 14 minutes left, McCray’s three-pointer put Kansas in front 52-36 – its biggest lead to that point.

Then, with Missouri beginning to slowly stir, McCray hit another three to reassert Kansas to a 55-41 advantage. In the second half, the Jayhawks never let the Tigers get closer than six.

“I thought that tonight showed huge maturity by us to come out like we did,” Smith said.

— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe