Carolyn Davis’ junior season came to a sudden end last February when she suffered a knee injury. But her recovery has goen well, and her senior season got off to a good start.

Davis had 10 points and eight rebounds in 18 minute as the Kansas women’s basketball team opened its season with a 52-36 victory over Idaho State on Sunday in Lawrence.

“Every day is a positive step for Carolyn,” Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson said.. “Every day is progress for her. It’s good for her, they tried to shove her around a little bit, and that’s going to happen to her and she’ll respond better. We don’t beat her up too much in practice, by design....

“She’s an unbelievable player. She’ll be fine.”

Senior guard Monica Engelman also scored 10 points for the Jayhakws and added four offensive rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes.

Defensively, KU was led by sophomore Natalie Knight, an Olathe South graduate who had a three steals to go with her seven points.

Idaho State, who returned four starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, was led by senior forward Ashleigh Vella, who scored 10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 28 minutes for the Bengals.

Kansas held Idaho State scoreless for the last eight minutes of the first half and led 23-11 at the break.

After four-straight points from the Jayhawks to open up the second half, Idaho State would score its first basket in almost 10 minutes of game time when Vella connected on a three-pointer with 18:25 to play and the Jayhawks leading 27-14. During their offensive, drought the Bengals were zero for nine from the field and committed eight turnovers.

KU continue its strong defensive effort for the rest of the game, holding the Bengals to just 22 percent shooting (12 for 55) for the game.

K-State cruises

Kansas State took command late in the first half and cruised to an 89-55 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan, Kan.

Brittany Chambers led the Wildcats with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Bri Craig reached double figures for the first time in her career with 13 points.

The Wildcats were never threatened after closing the first half with a 23-4 run. The 89 points were the most scored by K-State since Dec. 16, 2007 against Texas State, when the Wildcats won 90-52.

K-State made 14 of 35 three-point shots. The 35 attempts tied the school record for three-point field goals attempted, which was originally set on Jan. 31, 2007 at Colorado.

With the win, K-State improved to 2-0 for the season. They reached that mark for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.

The Wildcats got 45 points from their reserves. All ten players who got in the game scored for K-State.

“It is great to be 2-0,” Wildcats coach coach Deb Patterson said. “It was a great game for us to build on our system and to give our players the opportunity to be on the floor, to see a lot of combinations out there and just to continue to get a feel for what individuals can do.

“There is nothing like that game experience for those young players. So I was excited about the opportunity to play so many people.”