Women’s Basketball Set to Renew Rivalry with Kansas on Monday

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri women’s basketball team will face rival Kansas in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with the contest to be broadcast on ESPN+ and The Varsity Network.

Missouri advanced to the Round of 32 with a 61-51 victory over Illinois State on Thursday night. The win improved the program to 6-10 all-time in the tournament.

Senior forward Hayley Frank led the Tigers in the scoring column for the 17th time this season with 15 points.

Junior guard Sara-Rose Smith notched her sixth double-double off the bench in the current campaign with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

With her scoring output, Frank now stands 39 points behind Evan Unrau (2000-04) for eighth on the program’s all-time scoring leaderboard.

Monday will mark the fourth appearance in the second round of the postseason tournament for the Tigers. They have previously achieved the feat in 2000, 2003 and 2015.

The Tigers wrapped up the regular season with a 17-12 record overall including a 6-10 standing against SEC opposition. The team suffered an 85-74 defeat against Arkansas in the first round of the SEC Tournament on March 2.

The upcoming contest will mark the 81st installment of the rivalry between the teams and the first since Feb. 18, 2012, when the Tigers defeated the Jayhawks 70-65 away from Mizzou Arena.

Kansas is 20-11 on the year and concluded the regular season with a 9-9 mark against Big 12 opponents. The Jayhawks defeated Western Kentucky on Friday to set up the second-round matchup.

The opposition is led by 2021-22 Big 12 Coach of the Year Brandon Schneider who is in his eighth season on the sideline. Since his arrival, he has led the Jayhawks to a 102-136 record with two 20+ winning seasons. Schneider guided his squad to the second round of the NCAA tournament a year ago before falling to Stanford.

On the court, Kansas is paced by Zakiyah Franklin and Taiyanna Jackson who each average over 15 points a game. The pairing was named to the All-Big 12 First Team earlier this month. Jackson also earned a nod on the conference’s All-Defensive Team.

Utilizing a staunch defensive first approach, the Jayhawks rank first in their conference and 49th nationally as they limit their opponents to a 37.4 percent conversion rate from the field.

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