Chaos in the Octagon of Doom occurred a second time Saturday. The No. 7 Kansas State Wildcats scraped away with yet another close win, defeating UCF 60-58 in the final moments. Guard Serena Sundell sent a full court pass to guard Jaelyn Glenn, laying in a layup with two seconds left to prevent overtime in a game filled with notable statlines from K-State.
K-State’s nail biting victory still had a rough start. After center Ayoka Lee returned against Iowa State, head coach Jeff Mittie announced before the game that the All-American would miss her expected Bramlage return with a sprained right ankle.
Her absence was shown early as the Wildcats went down 7-0 early. The quarter ended 18-10 with K-State shooting less than half the shooting percentage of UCF as forward Eliza Maupin scored eight of the 10 Wildcat points.
As the first half ended, so did the Knights’ grand lead. K-State quickly tied the game and eventually grabbed the lead in the back half of the second quarter. While K-State ended the half 0-11 from 3, the team held UCF to merely six second-quarter points.
The second half opened with a 27-23 Wildcat lead but quickly returned to the Knights. Nevertheless, the lead just as quickly flipped back to K-State. Guard Zyanna Walker was the third quarter catalyst, scoring all 10 of her points while dishing out two assists in the quarter.
The Wildcats entered the final quarter of play comfortably ahead, but the Knights made one final push. Even with guard Gabby Gregory scoring seven of her season-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, UCF slowly chipped away at the lead, tying the game with six seconds left after a pair of free throw misses from Sundell.
Sundell and K-State quickly responded, as the hero against Oklahoma State sent a pass down the court to a wide open Glenn, who finished off the night with an easy layup for the victory.
Outside of her game-winning layup, Glenn snatched a career-high seven steals in the victory. Joining her on the statsheet was Maupin, who brought in a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.
The victory marks the sixth game in the past seven ending within one score.
With or without Lee, K-State will stay home to host the No. 24 West Virginia Mountaineers at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. West Virginia comes off a 70-66 win over the top of the Big 12 standings, No. 23 Oklahoma.
