The season of glory for the No. 12 Kansas State women’s basketball marches onward with another milestone victory. This time, the Wildcats took down the No. 10 Texas Longhorns 61-58 Saturday afternoon in Bramlage Coliseum.
The victory for K-State was a constant back-and-forth. After center Ayoka Lee scored the first five points of the game herself leading to a 7-0 K-State lead, the Longhorns sprung back with their own 8-0 run. The entire first half continued the theme with Texas holding a 31-30 lead at the break.
The Longhorns gave their game-high lead of 45-39 with 3:32 left in the third quarter, but the Wildcats answered in tremendous fashion. Down two with a few seconds left in the quarter, guard Serena Sundell blocked a Texas shot, grabbed a rebound and sent a pass down the court. On the receiving end was guard Zyanna Walker. The redshirt freshman proceeded to bring the home crowd to their feet, sinking a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to give K-State a 46-45 with a quarter remaining.
“I’m telling you right now, that’s a hell of a crowd,” head coach Jeff Mittie said on game attendance. “It’s a hell of a commitment from seven, eight [thousand], whatever-it-ended-up-being crowd to be there. And I know the ones that weren’t there were watching on TV, so I probably can’t thank them enough because I saw the stuff this week and I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know what the crowd’s going to be.’”
From then on, the lead stayed with the Wildcats.
Completing an 11-0 run extending from the third quarter, K-State held the lead until the end.
Lee was again the leading scorer for K-State, grabbing her 2000th career point and 55th career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. The All-American also smacked four shots out of the air, becoming the all-time leader for blocked shots in K-State history.
“I’m just glad we got the win, I’m glad we fought through 40 minutes,” Lee said about her 2000th career point. “It’s exciting, I think it’s an honor.”
Alongside her, Sundell added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Guard Gabby Gregory only played 25 minutes, twice limping with an ankle injury.
“She’s come back many times after an injury and made big plays,” Mittie said on bringing Gregory in after her injury. “Gabby’s a winner. And yeah, I’m always going to give her a look. … I wanted her in to see what she could do early enough that if she couldn’t go, I could get somebody else back in.”
With Lee’s record-setting night, the 11 straight victories mark the longest winning streak for Mittie’s K-State career.
K-State’s victory moves the team to a 17-1 record with two Top 10 victories. The Wildcats have defeated every team they have faced, going 1-1 against Iowa this season.
The two victories give the Wildcats a chance to find themselves inside the Top 10 after the weekend. The next opponent attempting to hunt down the striving Wildcats is TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
