The Jayhawks, who are fresh off of consecutive blowouts of Creighton and St.,”With 1,010 career points now under her belt, Krystal Ellis looks to lead the Marquette women to a win tonight in Kansas' Allen Field House, something no team has managed yet this season.

The Jayhawks, who are fresh off of consecutive blowouts of Creighton and St. Louis, are expecting this game to be a much more competitive one.

Marquette "is much, much better," Jayhawks head coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "Right now, looking at film and on paper, they're the best team we've played this year."

In the past two games Kansas has come out strong and been able to break the game open early. Against Creighton the Jayhawks jumped out to a 27-2 lead with 12:25 still left in the first half. Then on Sunday against St. Louis the team cruised to an early 29-7 lead that they would never surrender.

In those two wins the Jayhawks shot an impressive 54 percent from the field.

"They're playing really good basketball right now," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "And they're playing really good basketball at home. It's always going to take something extra on the road to achieve a win."

The Golden Eagles are 1-2 so far on the road, with the two losses to Oregon and Gonzaga coming when Ellis, the team's leading scorer was out with a right knee injury.

In her first game back from the injury Ellis put up 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. She played 32 minutes, which is right at her average for the season.

"I didn't have any expectations," Ellis said. "I just wanted to get out there and be able to play finally."

On top of that, Ellis scored her 1,000th career point with 6:34 left in the second half. Ellis took only 69 games to reach that milestone, tying Abbie Willenborg as the second-fastest player to reach 1,000 in the history of Marquette women's basketball.

"You know what," Ellis said. "I didn't actually know until (Tuesday). Terri had mentioned it, but I didn't know. But I am excited about it."

Ellis participated in her first full week of practice this week since sustaining the injury. She is also sporting a knee brace that is to be worn during all workouts and games.

"She's obviously a very important part of their program," Henrickson said. "I don't think anybody can stop that kid, but we need to slow her down."

After playing three games without Ellis, the team feels that they have learned a few things. Defense is one of them. Mitchell said the team is realizing that while injuries might slow down a team's offensive production, you can always show up on defense.

Ellis's absence has also given a few other players a chance to step up. Senior forward Svetlana Kovalenko, freshman forward Paige Fiedorowicz and freshman guard Angel Robinson have all capitalized on the opportunity.

"We are starting to understand that other people can score besides Krystal," Mitchell said. "She's a great scorer, but other people have to step up to the plate, because it will open up Krystal that much more."

That's the hope against Kansas, a physical team with big rebounding guards.

"It's just one of those situations," Mitchell said. "You take no team for granted, especially on the road. We are going to have to play with a lot of focus and a lot of energy to come out with a victory."

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