OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce opened the 2023-24 season with a 66-9 win over Tennyson on Tuesday night, scoring the first 12 points of the game and building a 41-5 lead after one quarter. The Jayhawks (1-0) never trailed, collected 25 steals and held Tennyson to 4-of-27 shooting from the field.
Head-Royce took control from the start. The Jayhawks scored on six straight possessions, including a second-chance basket and a basket off a turnover, to go up 12-0 before Tennyson hit a 3-pointer to make it 12-3. Head-Royce answered with a 21-0 run that included two 3-pointers off turnovers and a second-chance 3-pointer, and the lead reached 33-3.
Tennyson ended that run with a basket, but the Jayhawks scored the last eight points of the first quarter to lead 41-5. That stretch grew into a 15-0 run that carried into the second quarter, and a Head-Royce free throw made it 48-5. Tennyson scored again to cut the deficit to 48-7, and the Jayhawks answered with a basket to take a 50-7 lead into halftime. That basket also started a 14-0 run.
Neither team scored in the third quarter. Head-Royce picked up where it left off in the fourth, scoring on consecutive possessions off turnovers as the run pushed the lead to 62-7. Tennyson added a second-chance basket for its final points, and the Jayhawks closed with two more baskets, the last one off a turnover, for the final 66-9 margin. That 57-point cushion was Head-Royce's largest of the game, and the Jayhawks outscored Tennyson 16-2 in the fourth quarter.
Individual statistics were not recorded for the game, so the team numbers told the story. Head-Royce shot 31 of 67 from the field (46.3 percent) and made all three of its 3-point attempts. The Jayhawks shared the ball well, with 18 assists on their 31 field goals, and made 1 of 5 free throws. Head-Royce finished with 34 rebounds, 17 of them offensive, and turned those extra chances into nine second-chance points. The Jayhawks scored 16 points off turnovers and were called for just three fouls.
The defense set the tone. Tennyson shot 14.8 percent from the field, went 1 of 6 from 3-point range and missed all four of its free throws. Tennyson did not record an assist and finished with 12 rebounds, five of them offensive. Tennyson did not score at all after the second quarter until its second-chance basket in the fourth, and it never scored more than two points in any quarter after the first.
Head-Royce moves to 1-0 with the win. The Jayhawks play next at Bentley on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.