No. 11 Kansas State women’s basketball stayed undefeated in conference play and pushed its win streak to 14 games with an 81-69 win over Arizona State, but it looks to be without star center Ayoka Lee for the near future.
“It’s not good. I don’t have a definitive update, but it’s not going to be a week or two,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “I talked to her 10 minutes ago, but I haven’t spoken to the doctors or trainers yet. Yeah, it’s probably not good.”
K-State (19-1, 7-0 Big 12) improved its overall record to 19-1 for the second time under the direction of Mittie. This is the second straight season and just the second time in program history K-State has opened a season with a 19-1 record.
K-State featured four players in double figures led by senior forward Temira Poindexter with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field including 5-of-7 from long range, five rebounds and four assists. In her last three games, Poindexter is 12-of-25 (.480) from behind the three-point line.
Joining Poindexter was senior guard Serena Sundell, an All-America candidate and the national leader in assists, with 15 points, five assists and six rebounds.
Sophomore guard Taryn Sides led a K-State bench that outscored Arizona State’s bench, 22-5, with 11 points, six assists and three rebounds. Senior guard Jaelyn Glenn notched 10 points, all in the second half, on 4-of-4 shooting, three rebounds and two assists.
While defense was the story in a 62-47 win over Arizona on Thursday, the Wildcats offense took over Sunday and equaled their season-high from the 3-point line by making 13 on 24 attempts (.542) against the Sun Devils, who dropped to 8-11, 2-4.
Arizona State got off to a hot start against the ‘Cats as it scored the first four points of the game. K-State answered the Sun Devils’ quick start with a 7-0 run. The first quarter ended high-scoring as it was K-State with a slight advantage at 18-16.
The second quarter started with Sundell knocking down a triple to extend the K-State lead. However, Arizona State went on a 10-0 run — boosted by Sun Devil guard Jayln Brown who scored six points during that run.
Brown dominated for the Sun Devils, scoring 32 points as K-State had no answer for her all game. 18 of her 32 points came in the first half and she scored the most as an individual against the Wildcats this season.
“I thought we’d do a better job on her [Brown], but she’s tough to cool off once she gets going. She got going early and continued on for all four quarters,” Mittie said.
After the Sun Devils run, the ‘Cats started their own to take the lead which they would not give back. Lee hit a turnaround jumper during the run before coming off the court and not return with an apparent foot injury.
However, with her seven points on the day, Lee moved into sixth place all-time for points scored by Big 12 players. Losing Lee to injury is tough, but allows others to step up.
Forwards Eliza Maupin and Gisela Sanchez came in for Lee and both played with great energy and gave K-State a different look on offense than what they have with Lee on the court.
“I just decided to see what it was like. Honestly, it wasn’t anything specific, just a gut feeling to try a small ball and see how they reacted. We were able to get some layups in transition and open up the floor more,” Mittie said. Once [Eliza] Maupin had that run, I decided to see how [Gisela] Sanchez would look in that situation. Gisela did some good things, too.”
Also in the first half, Poindexter continued her hot streak in Big 12 play as she hit a couple three which helped K-State to regain the lead.
“I felt pretty comfortable picking the shots that are open, and I felt like my teammates do a good job and give me confidence, too. I feel like I’m very comfortable,” Poindexter said.
Out of the half, K-State scored the first eight points as Poindexter and guard Zyanna Walker were the leaders. The third quarter was an offensive explosion as K-State scored 29 points and was a scorching 6-7 from three-point land.
“I think it is contagious. I feel like once somebody hits like two or three, I feel like that’s when we continue to roll on, keep going,” Poindexter said.
In the fourth quarter, K-State extended its lead to 17 points and looked like they would win easily but the Sun Devils didn’t give up as they cut the lead back down to seven before the ‘Cats held on for the victory.
K-State as a team moved the ball well as they finished with 26 assists on 29 made field goals.
“I think when we get the ball moving and we don’t over dribble, we can get so many open shots. It’s hard to guard us, because anyone can hit the shot, and everyone’s pretty versatile,” Sides said.
K-State has six days of rest before its next game against Colorado in Boulder. The game is on Saturday tip-off at 2 p.m.
