Hot Shooting Bradley Leads Kansas Over Iona, 90-49

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – With four Jayhawks in double figures, multiple season and career highs were reached as Kansas (5-1) powered past Iona (1-4), 90-49, Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.
 
Freshman guard Terriell Bradley set career-high with 16 points and was perfect from behind the three-point line making all five of her shots, which is second-best in single game history to Kay-Kay Hart’s 6-for-6 performance in 1991. Senior guard Asia Boyd was also hot behind the arc after making four of her eight attempts and finished with a season-high 19 points. Rounding out the Jayhawks’ double-digit scoring efforts were senior forward Chelsea Gardner (16) and senior guard Natalie Knight (13). Kansas shot 57 percent from three-point range sinking 13-of-23 attempts.
 
Senior guard Damika Martinez, who averages 25 points per game, led the floor and lived up to her scouting report and had 25 points and four rebounds for Iona on the night. The Gaels were held to just 28 percent from the field, shooting 16-for-58, including only 15 percent in the opening frame.
 
“I think it was good to get Terriell moving and attacking,” said head coach Bonnie Henrickson. “We all think she is very good and really talented, but she had been hesitant. If you’re reluctant and hesitant, you got no chance for something good to happen. It was good to see her step up, be more aggressive and play more confidently”
 
Off her own offensive rebound, sophomore forward Jada Brown was the first player of either team to hit a shot. Iona quickly followed with a layup from sophomore guard Marina Lizarazu. Back on the Jayhawks’ end, Brown came back and assisted freshman guard Lauren Aldridge, who drained a three and gave Kansas an early lead, 7-2.

“I thought we were aggressive and didn’t let them get good looks,” Henrickson said. “We played  (Damika) Martinez one-on-one and we trapped her. There were lot of good things defensively that we were be able to do.  I thought we were active and rebounded well. We were able to get some tough balls.”

Iona would miss seven shots before Martinez connected a jump shot at the 13-minute mark. This allowed Kansas to go on a 10-2 run. The run was highlight by a three-pointer from Knight, who led the Jayhawks thus far with five points.

KU came out of the under-12 media timeout with a jump shot from Gardner putting the Jayhawks in front, 16-5. That would be the last field goal for almost four minutes until Aldridge stole the ball from junior guard Aaliyah Robinson. She passed it to Gardner, who finished at the other end for the Jayhawks.

With an impressive 27-3 run over 11 minutes, the Jayhawks continued to build their lead over the Gaels. Turnovers and fouls from Iona helped Kansas along the way. The Gaels turned the ball over four times in a three-minute span. This gave Gardner the opportunity to score eight points during the run. A wide open two-point shot by freshman guard Chayla Cheadle brought the score to 31-7 and forced an Iona timeout.

After the break, Bradley put up another two points for the Jayhawks. The Gaels weren’t able to answer at the other end and turned the ball back over to the Jayhawks. The action took a break for the final official timeout of the half.

With just under three minutes left in the first frame, sophomore forward Caelynn Manning-Allen stepped onto the court for the first time all season after suffering a injury. Boyd laid in a shot behind the arc, bringing Kansas’ advantage to 39-7. Iona fought until the end of the first half as Martinez hit a trey to end the first half. Kansas headed into the locker room at half time with a 40-12 lead. Iona’s 12 points is the least amount given up the Jayhawks in the first half this season.

Gardner led the floor in the first 20 minutes of action with 10 points. Cheadle led the charge on defense with four rebounds and held Martinez to just eight points in the opening frame. The Gaels made only four field goals and went 4-for-27.

“I thought our defense intensity was impressive to start the game,” said Henrickson. “There aren’t a lot of times you get to play one of the top scorers in the country and I thought Chayla stepped up to the challenge. She walled up and forced tough shots. What is as equally impressive was Iona only shooting 15% in the first half. They only had four offense rebounds, and then we got balls off the rim and then got opportunities in transition. To me the reason we shot the ball well was our footwork was good.”

A layup by Gardner right at the start of the half would be the last field goal for either team for three minutes. Gardner then broke the scoring drought by putting up a shot in the paint. On the next Jayhawk possession, Knight drained a three-point shot with the help of Aldridge. Iona answered at the other end with a bucket of its own, which made the total count 47-16 going into the first timeout on the floor of the half.

Now heating up, Martinez hit another three on the Gaels’ next possession.  This allowed Iona to go on a 7-0 run, with Martinez as the star, scoring all seven points. Three points from Knight, her third of the night, broke the run. Bradley and Boyd hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to balance out the Gael run. Kansas now led Iona, 58-26, going into an official timeout.

Repeated buckets by the Gaels forced Kansas to take another timeout. The Jayhawks then saw another three-point shot after the break from Bradley, her third of the night, Kansas’ fifth. On the two Jayhawk possessions, Boyd and Morgan tallied up back-to-back jump shots.

Morgan shared the ball, and assisted Bradley with yet another shot from behind the three-point line. When the Jayhawks got the ball back, Morgan put up another two points extending the lead, 72-34. Bradley was at it again with five minutes left to play when she hit her fifth three. On fire, Boyd followed suit and knocked in two shots from behind the arc in a row.
After a layup by Manning-Allen, Iona hit three shots back-to-back to end the game. Kansas ended it’s six-game homestand with a victory, 90-49, over the Gaels.
 
NOTES:

• Freshman guard Terriell Bradley had a career-high performance after knocking in 16 points. She had a perfect 5-for-5 mark from three-point range and made her way into the record books. She now sits just behind Kay-Kay Hart, who was 6-6 against Nebraska on Feb. 6, 1991.
• Senior guard Asia Boyd posted her second game in a row with double figures. She set a new season high with 19, four shy of her career high.
• Senior forward Chelsea Gardner has a perfect record of games in double figures throughout the 2014-15 campaign. She finished tonight with 16 points and four rebounds.
• Tonight’s game marks the third game of the season with four players in double figures.
• Kansas also shot season-bests 54 percent from the field and 57 from three-point range.

 
UP NEXT:
Kansas will have its first road test of the season against No. 1 Notre Dame in the final game of the 2014 Naismith Hall of Fame Women’s Basketball Challenge inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Game time is slated for 12 p.m. CT.