New faces ready for big roles with KU women’s basketball

LAWRENCE (KSNT) — Shying away from the offseason challenge KU women’s basketball is faced with ahead of the 2024-25 season would be a disservice to the Jayhawks’ most recent senior class.

Kansas said goodbye to a historic group of super-seniors after the 2023-24 season. The Jayhawks graduated Holly Kersgieter, who played in 148 games over five seasons in Lawrence while breaking the program’s all-time record for three-pointers made. Zakiyah Franklin was right beside Kersgieter the whole way, leaving KU with more minutes and games played than anyone else in program history while ranking third all-time in assists.

Taiyanna Jackson went pro after three seasons with the Jayhawks: a tenure long enough to break the program record for blocks and field goal percentage.

Those notes indicate the Jayhawks needed to be busy with recruitment over the 2024 offseason, and they certainly were. Besides adding Washburn Rural’s own Zoe Canfield, an incoming freshman with Kansas, Brandon Schneider’s staff also inked several players out of the transfer portal.

Among the most notable portal additions for KU women’s basketball are Wisconsin transfer Sania Copeland and North Dakota State transfer Elle Evans. They’re both guards and will be juniors with Kansas next season.

“I hope to come in and be a contributing role,” Evans said. “I think my greatest aspect to my game is shooting… We’ve brought in a lot of shooters this year but just kind of doing whatever I need to do for the team, just contributing however I can but I’m hoping that’s a major role for the team this year.”

The numbers back up the talk for the former Bison. She shot 45.7% from beyond the arc as a sophomore.

The KU coaching staff’s best recruiting pitch just might’ve been the opportunity to play alongside S’Mya Nichols. The former five-star prospect earned All-Big 12 First Team as a freshman while averaging more than 15 points per game.

“That’s one of the very first things they talked about [when recruiting me,]” Evans said. “As a two-guard/three-guard, who wouldn’t want to play off a great point guard, [who can] pass well? Great to be on the court with her and excited to see what her and I can do.”

Copeland didn’t need much explanation on Nichols’ game. The two of them played alongside one another growing up in the KC area before competing against each other in high school.

“She’s unstoppable,” Copeland said of Nichols. “…She always talked about how much she loved the coaching staff, how much she loved the community like they’re supportive, it’s all around basketball and that was a thing that I really was attached to.”

Besides Copeland and Evans, KU also added one impressive scorer in Butler Community College product Freddie Wallace and Creighton transfer Brittany Harshaw, among others.

KU head women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider inked a contract extension after leading KU to the NCAA tournament in 2024.

KU also brings back tons of experience in rising fifth-year senior Wyvette Mayberry.

“Really really important,” Schneider said regarding Mayberry’s return for her final year of eligibility. “She’s such an integral part of our team on both sides of the ball and just excited to have her return.”