The Jayhawks were in a hurry to prove that they could move on without their leader. Coach Bonnie Henrickson and her team did just that.

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Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Kansas State

Photos from Sunday's Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State. Freshman guard Monica Engelman led the Jayhawks to a 70-60 victory as Kansas improved to 14-7 for the season.

Kansas defeated Kansas State 70-60 in its first game without injured senior guard Danielle McCray. With the victory, Kansas jumped to 14-7 and 4-4 in the Big 12, extending the Jayhawks’ winning streak to three games while also snapping a five-game losing streak against the Wildcats.

McCray, an Olathe native, tore the ACL in her left knee during Thursday’s practice, ending her career at Kansas.

“Today’s game was as much emotional adversity as it was physical adversity,” Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. “Emotion translated to execution.”

As McCray sat between her coaches, knee braced, furiously scribbling observations in a notepad, freshman guard Monica Engelman was placed on center stage as the newest piece of the starting lineup. In her first collegiate start, Engelman, San Antonio, Texas, native, finished with a career-high 16 points while adding five assists.

“She has the green light now,” McCray said. “You’ve got to take over.”

Rarely considering the time left on the shot clock, Engelman and her teammates charged to the hoop with a sense of urgency. The Jayhawks dictated the pace of the first half with fast breaks and hurried, but intelligent, shots.

Without one of its best shooters, Kansas instead looked inside and opted for high-percentage shots. As a result, Kansas scored 18 points in the paint and shot 54 percent from the field in the first half.

With a game plan centralized on bombarding the rim in a hurry, Kansas led 36-26 at halftime with seven different players scoring in the opening 20 minutes.

“I think they’ll buy into whoever is open. Whoever has got a good shot,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Yet despite the conscious effort to attack the painted area, Engelman was still firing away. As the only Jayhawk to play a full 40 minutes, she knocked down rim-evasive three-point shots, but also displayed her ability to drive and score closer to the hoop.

“We came out swinging,” Engelman said. “Bonnie was telling us to be the lion and the aggressor.”

As a defender, Engelman exhibited the necessary aggressiveness to prevent being a liability. She harassed her assignments by swatting at the ball, jumping around screens and fighting for rebounds.

“I was trying to pressure them and make them play faster,” Engelman said.

Freshman forward Carolyn Davis was once again a force in the paint, using her size to her advantage on both ends of the court. Offensively, Davis, Houston, Texas native, properly positioned her overwhelming frame to create easy angles to the hoop. Defensively, she stood as the warden of the paint, clogging lanes and either blocking or at least altering shots. She earned her second career double-double, tallying 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes of play.

As an inside-outside tandem, Davis and Engelman disoriented the Wildcats’ defense. The visitors weren’t sure where to focus their attention with Engelman knocking down shots and Davis scoring in the paint.

“We’re really close off the court,” Davis said of Engelman. “So I knew she was going to prove herself today.”

Despite Engelman and Davis’ top-notch play, Sunday’s victory was made possible by team-wide contributions. Rallying off of McCray’s injury, the Jayhawks shot 60 percent in the second half and played passionately in a triumph that they sorely needed.

“Bonnie tells us all the time that one person can’t do it all,” Davis said. “The one person is out now.”

Using the injury as an alleviating step rather than a handicap, Kansas exemplified the meaning of inspired basketball.

“Just because Danielle is out doesn’t mean that the Jayhawks are going to go downhill,” senior guard Sade Morris said. “We felt like we needed to prove something.”

— Edited by Drew Anderson