The opportunity to keep making memories: it’s what March Madness is all about.
And it’s exactly what is on the line for No. 5 seed Kansas State women’s basketball as it prepares for its first trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
The No. 4-seed Wildcats of Kentucky and Manhattan’s own scratched and clawed for 45 minutes last Saturday, serving a see-saw scoreboard to the delight of college basketball enjoyers, but a haphazard heart rate for fans of each team.
“Every time I’ve left the house, at least one person says, ‘You took 15 years off my life, you guys almost gave me a heart attack,'” All-American center Ayoka Lee said with a sly grin on her fourth day back in Manhattan.
After 21 lead changes and nine ties, the Wildcats sporting purple were favored at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky. Players like Lee, who have felt the heartbreak of March, wept tears of joy as the final buzzer sounded.
“It felt so good,” she said. “My identity is in Jesus and not in sports, so [my mindset] was being grateful for the opportunity, but also knowing regardless of the outcome of this game, that it doesn’t define my career.”
Lee’s is a collegiate career that includes a Division I record for points in a single game (61), four All-Big 12 first team selections (2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024) and more, including her 2,500th point scored that Saturday. Still, it was all about the team at that moment.
“Winning the way we did, man, it just felt like such a sweet gift,” Lee said. “Just to be in that position and to be here now.”
K-State improved to 28-7 and equalled the second-most victories in program history, while redeeming a home-court loss in the Round of 32 last year.
“That game had so many back and forth moments,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “I had to keep checking the score because it was like, ‘We’re up three, are we down one now?’ [That led to] the emotion and the happiness that we saw in the locker room, on the floor and on the plane ride home. Those are the moments they’ll remember.”
When the Wildcats’ wheels set down in Manhattan that night, hundreds of buzzing basketball fans huddled at the Little Apple’s airport to celebrate the team.
A welcome back to MHK❕@KStateWBB x #EMAW pic.twitter.com/NRLWOPYTe1
— K-State Athletics (@kstatesports) March 24, 2025
“I expected 25 or 30 [fans],” Mittie said. “I don’t know how many the tally was, but that was pretty cool. The plane ride was energetic early, super quiet through the middle. I think everybody crashed at that point. Ten minutes before we landed, it started picking up again, the excitement, and then just walking into that welcome home is pretty special.”
Now, the page flips to a new chapter for this monumental K-State women’s basketball team, which heads to Spokane, Washington, to face No. 1 seed USC at 7 p.m. Saturday, broadcasted on ESPN.
“The opportunity to keep [making] those moments they’ll remember, we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us,” Mittie said. “We’re not going to spend much time in the rear view mirror. Now it’s now on to that next one, and now that next opportunity.”
While the roster is composed of individuals who weren’t yet born, or just learning to crawl the last time the Wildcats made the Sweet 16, there’s no doubt they’re prepared for the moment.
“We have a lot of experience in this group,” senior guard Serena Sundell said. “I think we’re playing with that underdog mentality. Nothing to lose, but also knowing that we’re very capable and confident in having a group with so much experience who could play with poise.”
When wheels are back down toward the Sweet 16 at Spokane Regional 4, that slightly uneasy feeling the Wildcats have won’t be nerves, just excitement, senior Jaelyn Glenn said.
“I’m really more so excited and not necessarily nervous,” she said. “I’m just happy to be here at this point, still playing with this group of girls.”
Should the Wildcats earn one more game together, it will mark the second Elite Eight appearance in program history — first reached in 1982 — and tie the 2003 program record with 29 wins.
