When Carolyn Davis stepped on the floor, her mission was clear: exploit her height and size advantage against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Just seven minutes into the game, she had already scored 14 points and nailed all six of her shots.

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Kansas Women's Basketball vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Kansas faced off against the Islanders of Texas A&M Corpus Christi for the first time in school history Wednesday night. Sophomore forward Carolyn Davis scored 12 of the Jayhawks 14 points en-route to a 22 point performance in Kansas 85-44 victory.

With this kind of offensive production, KU’s 85-44 victory wasn’t shocking. Still, coach Bonnie Henrickson was unsatisfied. Plain and simple, she said the Jayhawks’ performance was “just ugly.”

“I didn’t care what the score was,” Henrickson said. “It was about execution, about effort, about how we’re supposed to play.”

Maintaining their four-game winning streak, the Jayhawks came out strong. But what seemed like a strong start quickly translated into a series of sloppy offensive and defense possessions.

With 13 minutes left on the clock before halftime, senior guard Marisha Brown ended that trend when she grabbed a steal and finished on the other end. In her first career start, Brown finished with eight points, five rebounds and two steals.

Henrickson said her defensive and rebounding aggressiveness made her ready for the starting spot.

Still, it was Davis’ 22 points that led the Jayhawks.

“I want to carry my team,” Davis said. “I know what I can do inside and I want to make my teammates better.”

Halfway through the first half, Davis headed to the bench. As the Islanders edged closer, coach Bonnie Henrickson called on Davis’ offensive production to recover the lead. The energy she added to the court was palpable. She ended the half with 20 points and helped the Jayhawks hold a 44-26 halftime lead.

“We got it to her pretty quick,” Henrickson said. “I was like, ‘Throw her the play until you can’t get it to her anymore.'”

Davis had just a few touches in Sunday’s game against the University of South Dakota and refused to allow that happen again. She demanded the ball inside and her guards got it her.

That’s not to say KU’s offensive play was perfect, or anything close to it. The Islanders took advantage of the Jayhawks’ 13 first-half turnovers, converting them into 14 first half points.

Kansas finished with 29 turnovers in the game.

What seemed like a different team at the start of the half ended up no less sloppy than before the break. The Jayhawks started the second half with an 8-0 scoring streak that forced visiting coach Robert Robinson to call a timeout less than three minutes into play.

“We got down early and that kind of destroyed our confidence,” Robinson said.

The self-proclaimed “inconsistent” player, Aisha Sutherland didn’t show that side against the Islanders. In just 21 minutes, she scored 13 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had two blocks and three steals.

“The last game I let my player get a few shots off, so I’ve been working on making sure that doesn’t happen again,” Sutherland said. “I’ve always been a rebounder, but this time I made sure to go to the boards every time.”

The Jayhawks maintained a steady lead, despite the fact that they hit their first shot from behind the arc with only six minutes left in the game.

The team’s outside shooter, sophomore guard Monica Engelman, scored only six points in the first half, but finished with 10 by the end of the game. Henrickson said she was confused by her hesitance to shoot, something she doesn’t see in practice.

“I got myself in a funk that I had no business being in,” Engelman said.

Engelman said she hoped the team would improve offensively both inside and outside. She said it would be important to do both against tougher teams, like the Wisconsin squad the Jayhawks face at 5 p.m. Sunday.

— Edited by Michael Bednar