With star center Ayoka Lee back on the floor, No. 5-seed Kansas State women’s basketball made quick work of No. 12-seed Fairfield on Friday afternoon, winning 85-41 powered by a 29-6 third-quarter performance.
The Wildcats (27-7) advanced to face opening weekend host in No. 4 seed Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, at Memorial Coliseum. The winner moves on to the Sweet 16 in Spokane, Washington next week.
K-State was paced by its All-American tandem in Lee and senior guard Serena Sundell, each of whom the Associated Press named honorable mention All-American on Wednesday. It was the first time since 2004 that the Wildcats saw two players garner All-America honors.
Lee scored 17 points to reach 2,500 career points, becoming the first Wildcat to accomplish the mark. The 6-foot-6 senior notched a double-double, adding 10 rebounds in 15 minutes. Sundell scored 18 points on 8-10 shooting with nine assists.
Here are a couple takeaways from the win.
Lee-ding the way
Before the game, Lee said she felt 100% after playing just five minutes of game time over the last two months of the season with a foot injury, and her comfort showed.
Right away, Lee’s return allowed the Wildcats offense to mirror its early season form, as she and Sundell combined for 14 points on 7-8 shooting in the first quarter.
“Yokie who is such a force and such a threat and brings so much gravity, it just gives our offense a completely different look,” Sundell said before the game. “I think practices that we’ve had this week were smooth. We were figuring out how to play with her again, and I think we clicked quicker than we have in the past.”
K-State led 21-9 after the first frame before the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s Fairfield settled in to the form of a 28-win team. The Wildcats’ lead didn’t grow anymore before halftime, deadlocking with the Stags at 16-16 in the second quarter.
The Big 12’s leader in 3-point shooting percentage, K-State tallied just 2-10 from distance in the first half, but led by double-digits courtesy of 11 points and five rebounds from Lee, along with five assists and six points from Sundell.
When it rains, it pours
After the 3-ball struggled to drop in the first half, K-State opened the floodgates in the third quarter, shooting 73.3% (11-15) on all field goals in the stanza, adding 4-6 from distance.
Sophomore Taryn Sides bottomed a pair of triples, while Sundell and senior Jaelyn Glenn tallied one each. With a final run of 16-0, the third quickly became K-State’s highest scoring quarter with 29 points. Coupled with its best defensive period, only allowing six points, the lead grew to 35 points, 66-31.
“Having some early offensive success, I think, slowed their offensive push down,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “That was critical…coming out of halftime, we wanted to get some things reestablished, and I think we did that in the third quarter.”
In the fourth quarter, Sides led the Wildcats’ final effort with another pair of triples. Resting starters down the stretch, K-State still finished the fourth quarter outscoring the Stags by nine. Sides finished with 14 points and Glenn rounded out double-figure Wildcats with 10 points.
K-State finished the game with a 53% mark on field goals, including 8-23 from 3-point land. The Wildcats held Fairfield to 15-51 shooting (29%) and 5-31 (16%) from beyond the arc.
Up next
Up next is a battle between two Wildcat squads on Sunday as K-State and Kentucky meet in the blue ‘Cats home arena with tip time to be determined.
K-State put together the more impressive Round of 64 performance on Friday, as host Kentucky nearly was upset by No. 13 seed Liberty in a 79-78 nail-biting win.
