No. 9 Kansas State women’s basketball competed in the Ball Dawgs Classic, a four-team tournament in Las Vegas, over the holiday break, splitting its two-game set.
After dropping to No. 13 Duke in the opener, K-State found itself in a third-place matchup with DePaul where both teams were looking to finish feast week with a win. K-State jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, using a big offensive output to win 92-66.
The ‘Cats were led by none other than star center Ayoka Lee who notched a double-double, scoring 23 points and 10 rebounds. Lee was efficient, shooting 11-16 from the field while becoming a force on the defensive end as well, recording four blocks.
Other contributors were senior guard Serena Sundell, who had 15 points but more impressively dished out a career-tying 11 assists. Sophomore Zyanna Walker scored 13 points, including 12 in the second quarter, all of which were three-point baskets.
Off the bench, sophomore Taryn Sides added 11 points, making 3-4 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed six rebounds and four assists, promoting the Wildcats’ depth.
The guard play from the trio of Sundell, Sides and Walker was what head coach Jeff Mittie wanted to see after struggling in the first matchup against Duke.
“I want to see for 40 minutes that our guards play the way we need to play going forward,” Mittie said to K-State Athletics.
The game started close as DePaul tied it at 11, but the ‘Cats went on an 11-0 run to stretch the lead to 22-11 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, K-State started to assert its dominance and stretch the lead. The Wildcats scored 31 points in the second frame including hitting six 3-pointers and outscoring DePaul 31-21, leading 53-32 at the half.
In the third and fourth quarters, DePaul hung around with K-State but wasn’t able to cut into the deficit. For every DePaul K-State had a counter attack, including a 12-4 run to finish the game.
The tournament opener was the complete opposite as the Wildcats lost to the Blue Devils 73-62. Duke downed Oklahoma 109-99 in overtime in the Ball Dawgs Classic championship game.
K-State got off to an 11-0 run against Duke, but after that K-State found little success.
“I thought at that time we were obviously getting the ball inside, and our passing was pretty sharp. So obviously the start was great. They cranked up their pressure, and we didn’t handle that very well,” Mittie said.
Duke forced K-State into 18 turnovers and held the Wildcats to just 46% from the field and 20% from long distance.
“We had travels, we had stuff out of bounds. I mean, we had a lot of things that were just bad offense,” Mittie said.
After surviving the 11-0 run, Duke was able to crawl back in the first quarter and trailed K-State by one after the first. A 12-0 Blue Devil run in the second quarter put them out in front and they never looked back.
K-State trailed by just six at halftime but in the third quarter, Duke went on an 8-1 run to lead 55-41. K-State never got the lead back to single digits, as Duke got stops and hit timely shots to cruise its way into the championship game.
While K-State struggled on the offensive end, it also struggled to slow down Duke guard Ashlon Jackson whose 30 points terrorized the Wildcats all afternoon with a 6-9 mark from three-point land.
K-State was led by three seniors in Lee, forward Kennedy Taylor and Sundell who all scored double figures in the contest.
“For us to take that next step, our guards have to play better against that kind of pressure, and we don’t have that downhill, one-on-one drive so we have to do it with the pass,” Mittie said.
As K-State travels home from Vegas, it will host three games in five days beginning on Sunday against Central Arkansas.
