No. 12 Kansas State women’s basketball saw big days from senior stars Ayoka Lee, Temira Poindexter, and Serena Sundell, propelling the Wildcats to a big 92-65 road win over BYU on Saturday.
With the win, head coach Jeff Mittie took second place for career wins at K-State, passing Judy Akers with 207 wins. K-State with the victory moved to 17-1 on the season and 5-0 in conference play and extended its winning streak to 12 games.
“I think, from a road trip perspective, two quality teams, they’ve got a lot of really good players, and so we’re excited to get out of here with a couple W’s and get back home,” Mittie said to K-State Athletics.
The first quarter was a tightly contested battle with both teams scoring a lot of points. K-State led after the first frame 23-20.
In the second quarter, K-State started to make its run and proved its high ranking. K-State saw a big performance from Poindexter in the first half as she had 19 points.
“I felt we found (Temira) Poindexter a lot in that stretch. And obviously, Temira was really hot in that stretch,” Mittie said.
Poindexter finished the game with 24 points, hitting a season-high five 3-point baskets and shooting an efficient 9-14 from the field.
“I feel like Serena and the guards were just finding me very well. I just have my feet set and just have the confidence to shoot the ball,” Poindexter said.
K-State had a 27-point outburst in the second quarter, coupled with a stellar defensive performance, holding the Cougars to just 12 points. The big quarter gave K-State a 50-32 lead at the break.
Coming out of the break it was more of the same from the ‘Cats as they continued to dominate BYU inside and outside. K-State ended the third quarter on a 16-4 run and led 73-40 going into the fourth.
Lee also continued her run of good play scoring 19 points and adding in 7 rebounds as well.
“It was a quiet 19 tonight, but the one thing is, she’s hard to play one-on-one, and if you play her one-on-one, then we’re fine with taking that as well,” Mittie said.
The third star of the game was Sundell as she had 12 points and tied her career-high and school record with 13 assists. Sundell notched her sixth double-double on the season.
“I think Serena Sundell had a really good feel of where BYU was bringing the help,” Mittie said.
As a team, K-State totaled 26 assists and only turned the ball over five times — a feat that makes anyone a tough team to beat.
With the 33-point lead, K-State was able to rest their starters in the fourth. Mittie still feels comfortable with bench players in the game though, speaking to the depth of the team.
“I think all 10 on our roster can really play. There were things I was not happy about in this game, but I think when we’re at our best, we’ve got all 10, and certainly we’ve had good balance over the course of the season,” Mittie said.
With most of the bench in for the fourth, BYU was able to find some offense to the tune of 25 points but the Wildcat offense remained hot and still scored 19 points.
In the game, K-State shot 37-71 (52%) from the field and 12-26 (46%) from three. Defensively the Wildcats held Houston to 25-60 (42%) from the field which was boosted during the big fourth quarter.
K-State returns home for a two-game homestand beginning with Arizona on Thursday. The game will tip off at 6:30 pm and be aired on ESPN+.
