Eight Jayhawks ejected, but Kansas women’s basketball team still gets first win

Eight members of the Kansas women’s basketball team were ejected with 7 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the second quarter of Sunday’s road game against Memphis.

Memphis (2-2) also had two players ejected in what proved to be a 68-58 Jayhawks victory.

An altercation occurred when Memphis’ Breigha Wilder-Cochran and Kansas’ Jessica Washington were battling for possession of the ball during a tie-up in front of KU's bench. Both received Flagrant 2 technical fouls for fighting and were ejected.

Seven KU players left the bench during the fight, including Chelsea Lott, Timeka O’Neal, Aisia Robertson, Jayde Christopher, Lisa Blair, Sydney Benoit and Caelynn Manning-Allen, which resulted in their ejections. Memphis’ Brea Elmore also was ejected for leaving her team’s bench.

According to Kansas coach Brandon Schneider, Washington and Wilder-Cochran were the fighting for the ball on the ground when the technical fouls were called. No other player participated in the altercation. Officials used video replay to determine which players to eject.

"I was disappointed obviously in the fact that we had players leave the bench,” Schneider said. “That is 100 percent my responsibility to make sure they're educated on that rule and the consequences of it. The unfortunate thing is we had three or four players that literally might have taken one step onto the court, and consequently, they're ejected. That's on me.”

The Jayhawks (1-2) had just six eligible players available after the ejections but still picked up their first win of the season.

"I'm disappointed in how we reacted to the situation, but I couldn't be prouder of the six players that were eligible, just in how they stepped up and performed,” Schneider said. “We didn't have a single player that played their natural position for 27 minutes. We played 2-3 zone for 27 minutes and literally are reteaching some offensive things and plays in timeouts and at halftime, just to try to put some people in positions to have some success."

Starter Chayla Cheadle and reserve McKenzie Calvert each finished with 21 points for Kansas. Kylee Kopatich added 16.

Kansas will return home to Allen Fieldhouse to face Oral Roberts at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Eight Jayhawks ejected, but Kansas women’s basketball team still gets first win."