Freshman forward Carolyn Davis watched helplessly from the bench as No. 14 Texas A&M dominated Kansas en route to a lopsided 78-54 victory Saturday.

Davis suffered a concussion in last Friday’s practice after her head collided with freshman guard Monica Engelman’s knee. As a result, Davis could only offer words of encouragement as Kansas struggled to again adjust to life without one of its premier players.

“It was emotional for me because I was the one that gave her the concussion,” Engelman said.

Davis has transformed into one of the more dominant freshmen in the Big 12. Since the start of conference play, Davis has averaged 12.5 points per game, which places her in the conferences top 20 scorers and also puts her second among Big 12 freshmen.

With that kind of production,, Davis was a player the Jayhawks could scarcely afford to lose. Yet that’s exactly what happened.

The story is now a familiar one, the Jayhawks have encountered it several times this season.

First, freshman Angel Goodrich tore her ACL in a Jan. 12 loss to No. 15 Oklahoma State.

Goodrich’s natural passing ability was the driving force behind the Jayhawks offense. With Goodrich running the show Kansas’ offense averaged 72.7 points per game, but in her absence it has floundered, averaging only 62 points per game.

Less than a month later, in early February, Kansas lost senior guard Danielle McCray, another keystone player.

McCray led Kansas in scoring with almost 20 points per game, and Kansas especially needed her to perform well after the injury to Goodrich. That made her loss even more devastating for Kansas and for coach Bonnie Henrickson.

“What Bonnie has gone through this year, no one should have to go through that,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.

The loss of just one star player can often mask the success a team might have achieved if not for the injury. Take Nebraska for example.

After a knee injury ended Kelsey Griffin’s season before it even began last year, the Cornhuskers struggled throughout the season on their way to a 15-16 overall record and an early exit from the WNIT.

This year Nebraska returned all but one player from that sub-.500 squad, including a healthy Griffin. The addition of Griffin to a well established core helped guide Nebraska to the first ever undefeated Big 12 conference record.

While it’s not realistic to assume Kansas would have mimicked that success story this season if it had not suffered any injuries, especially considering that it had lost four games before the first injury, it’s hard to deny that it has affected the results of this season.

“I think they’ve adjusted kind of well, but the results don’t show that much,” McCray said.

Kansas has now lost seven of its last eight games, including five straight. The last three defeats have been by an average of 24 points.

“It has been a struggle this year and if we want to end up our strongest we just to keep pushing and fighting,” senior guard Sade Morris said. “No matter what we come across we just have to keep fighting and fighting.”

The good news for the Jayhawks, in this instance, is that Davis is not out for the season and she will likely return to the lineup before the Big 12 tournament, which begins Thursday.

“We’re cautiously optimistic she’ll be able to go next week,” Henrickson said. “The good thing is we’ll get her back. We’ve been through ones where we don’t get them back.”

— Edited by Jesse Rangel