Ankle injury? What ankle injury?

Not long after Kansas’ 85-78 win over San Diego State in the third round of the WBIT at Allen Fieldhouse on Thursday night, SDUS women’s coach Stacie Terry-Hutson called KU senior Lilly Meister the difference in the game.

It was a fair claim, as Meister, a transfer from Indiana and lifelong Jayhawk fan, scored 14 points in 19 minutes, including 11 on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting from point range and the free throw line in the game’s first quarter.

The KU forward was red-hot early, forced the Aztecs to change their defensive game plan and turned in a memorable showing in her final game at Allen Fieldhouse.

In all fairness, though, the difference in the game was that the Jayhawks had S’Mya Nichols and San Diego State did not.

Never was that more clear than during a stretch from the 8:32 mark in the third quarter to the 9:01 mark in the fourth quarter, when Nichols was on the bench after suffering a severe left ankle injury that forced her to miss an entire quarter of game time and threatened to keep her out for the final 18 minutes of the game.

Nichols went down after twisting her ankle while landing on a camera person following a layup in front of the KU bench. She was in immediate agony and stayed there for some time. On the bench, as trainers looked at her ankle, took off her left shoe, taped and retaped the ankle and then tried to help her work through the pain, Nichols had severe discomfort plastered all over her face.

S'Mya Nichols (yellow shoes) spent more time in the bench than she normally does on Thursday night, and her left ankle and its ability to hold up with the game on the line was a huge part of the story in the Jayhawks' latest win. [R1S1 Sports photos]

At one point, she exited the tunnel and appeared to be headed back to the locker room, only to return a couple minutes later, limping a little but looking like she was going to try to play.

“I had to ask our trainer multiple times, you know, how (she was),” KU coach Brandon Schneider said after the win. “Because (with her), it’s always, ‘She’ll be back.’”

It took a little longer than most of the other times — and Nichols has been knocked around a lot in her three years as a Jayhawk so far — but she found a way to shake off the injury and get back on the court.

“I don't think any of us were surprised when she came back in,” Meister said after the victory.

As soon as Nichols returned, at the 9:01 mark of the fourth quarter, it was game over. Even if it didn’t look like it when you watched her move.

On three consecutive possessions, Nichols made game-changing plays that pulled the Jayhawks out of the deep end and placed them on a beach chair in the Bahamas.

First, was a 3-pointer that gave KU the lead back at 68-67. She limped into it on the left wing, telegraphed it with her ginger steps and barely got any lift on her jump. Drained it anyway.

On the ensuing SDSU possession, Nichols’ steal and long-distance dime to Jaliya Davis in transition put the Jayhawks back up by three. Nichols laughed when she got the steal, knowing she wouldn’t be able to use her regular burst to break out and put pressure on the defense the other way. And then she did it anyway with the pinpoint pass for the easy bucket.

After a 3-pointer by Naomi Panganiban tied the game at 70, Nichols delivered again, casually hitting a pull-up jumper at the elbow to help Kansas regain the lead.

The Jayhawks (21-13) led the rest of the way en route to their third straight victory in the tournament. That earned them a trip to Wichita next week for the semifinals, where they’ll take on Big 12 foe BYU, a 76-61 winner over Stanford in another quarterfinal game on Thursday night.

Columbia and Wisconsin will square off in the other semifinal next week at Koch Arena.

The SDSU offense tried to attack Nichols with drives to the rim. And they upped the pressure and defensive intensity on her, too. It worked in spots but probably not like they hoped.

Nichols finished the night with 18 points and 5 assists on 8-of-12 shooting in just 24 minutes.

At the 2:36 mark of the fourth quarter, with KU leading 78-74 and set to play defense, Schneider subbed Nichols out to ensure that five fully-mobile Jayhawks were on the floor for the stretch run.

Credit Laia Conessa and Sania Copeland for handling huge parts of Nichols’ role on offense and defense with their leader and all-Big 12 guard on the bench.

The Jayhawks appeared poised to ride out that final 156 seconds with Nichols off her feet. But even that didn’t quite work out. With KU leading 83-78 with 16 seconds to play, and struggling a bit to inbound the ball against desperate SDSU pressure, Nichols checked back in to close the deal, inbounding the ball to Elle Evans for the final two free throws of the night.

During that final stretch, SDSU cut a 6-point KU lead to 2 and actually had a shot inside the final minute to take the lead.

All with Nichols on the bench.

It’s been known for quite some time what a talent Nichols is. And she loves her role as the Jayhawks’ leader and veteran and rock and facilitator and everything else she does for this team and program.

On Thursday, it was her fight and physical strength that stood out the most, and it’s a big reason the Jayhawks are still playing.

“She’s a super-tough player,” said freshman phenom Jaliya Davis, who led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting in 38 minutes. “And it really showed her leadership skills for her to come back out there after an injury like that.”