OAKLAND, Calif. International scored the first 15 points of the game and forced 27 turnovers, and the Head-Royce girls varsity basketball team fell 37-17 at home on Tuesday, Nov. 18. The loss dropped the Jayhawks to 0-2 in the 2025-26 season.
International took control from the start. The visitors mixed baskets with free throws, and two of their field goals came off Head-Royce turnovers, as they built a 15-0 lead before the Jayhawks scored.
Head-Royce answered with its best stretch of the game. Abigail Kim turned a turnover into the Jayhawks' first basket, and Ella Smith scored off another turnover on a pass from Kim to make it 15-4. After an International basket, freshman Harper Tong finished an assist from Kim to make it 17-6. Kim later scored off a turnover and Smith added a basket, and Head-Royce had outscored International 10-4 to pull within 19-10.
International put the game away with a 14-0 run. Two second-chance baskets, a basket off a turnover, a free throw, a 3-pointer and two more field goals pushed the lead to 33-10, the largest margin of the game at 23 points. The Jayhawks closed with a 7-1 burst. Kim scored on a feed from Emmy Mitchell and added a free throw, Kara Waldrop and Mitchell each made a free throw, and Smith scored a second-chance basket to make it 34-17. International hit a 3-pointer for the final margin.
Kim led Head-Royce with 7 points on 3-of-9 shooting and added three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Smith scored 6 points on 3-of-6 shooting and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, three on the offensive glass, with a block and a steal. Tong finished with 2 points and three rebounds. Mitchell and Kai Vasquez each grabbed five rebounds, and Mitchell added an assist and a block. Osa Enabulele had four rebounds and a steal, and Waldrop's free throw accounted for the only bench point.
Turnovers decided the game. Head-Royce committed 27 turnovers to International's 12, and the visitors finished with 18 steals. The Jayhawks limited the damage, as International scored 10 points off turnovers to Head-Royce's 6, and the defense held International to 15-of-58 shooting (25.9 percent) and 2-of-13 from 3-point range. Head-Royce also won the rebounding battle 37-33, with 12 offensive rebounds, but turned those into only 2 second-chance points. The Jayhawks shot 7-of-35 from the field (20 percent), went 0-for-2 from 3-point range and made 3 of 9 free throws.
International's leading scorer finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine steals. A teammate added 8 points and seven rebounds.
Head-Royce is 0-2 on the season and has lost its first two games.