The shooting did include a number of lay-ups and inside shots as I recall, even beyond the 16 inside points from Vonleh and 8 from Buggs. 23 assists shows that the offense was more than just some hot shooting, but they were moving the ball around well and getting good shots. By contrast, Kansas only had 9 assists.
But even more than the shooting, the defensive effort was there - 11 blocks (vs. 2 for KU), and winning the turnover battle 11-8. I bet we win most games when we hold the opponent to 66 points, especially on the road. Pretty impressive considering KU shot 30 FT's. We also out-rebounded Kansas 44-37, limiting them to 7 offensive rebounds on 39 missed shots.
I do think part of the mid-4th quarter issues were that Sarah got tired, playing 38 minutes with Jada being in foul trouble. Also, Jennings is not quite ready for prime time against quality competition. Maybe she will get there, but she is not there yet. Or maybe it was because they had both Jennings and Bartley in at the same time, with 3 starters in foul trouble, that allowed the brief KU 4th quarter surge. A good time-out by CNC I thought to get Jada back in the game.
At least in my opinion, the team needs to work on maintaining the same defensive intensity while fouling a bit less. A fine line, but one area of needed improvement.