SPOKANE, Wash. — Seniors Serena Sundell, Ayoka Lee and Jaelyn Glenn each scored in double figures for one last time in Kansas State women’s basketball uniforms as the No. 5-seeded Wildcats fell 67-61 to No. 1 seed USC in the Sweet 16 on March 29.

“This group has been with us a long time, it’s hard right now,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “We didn’t want this to end for a lot of reasons. You wanted to have one more film session, one more practice, one more walk through — how long could you extend it? And when it ends, it ends like that.”

Each earning honorable mention All-American in 2025, Sundell led the Wildcats (28-8) at Spokane Arena with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Lee notched another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Glenn scored 10 points with two rebounds and two steals.

“I’m proud of the senior group,” Mittie said. “I think they’ve done some good things — disappointed with the outcome tonight — but I told them in the locker room, ‘At some point your tears will be happy tears.’ You start to remember the time you spent with your coaches, the wins, the bus trips, the plane trips, all the stuff.”

Embracing Mittie in a tear-filled hug, Lee put into words how special her career was, taking K-State to new heights despite the adversity of multiple injuries over seven years.

“It means a lot,” Lee said, still fighting tears. “To have a coach that has just continued to believe in me through everything I’ve been through, and to have teammates like Serena who have just been game changers from the minute they stepped on campus. Not everyone gets a college career like that. I’m extremely grateful.”

To the eye, it was a battle between two of the top teams in the country. USC (31-3) limited its mistakes in comparison to K-State, which lost the turnover battle 16-9. The Wildcats allowed a 12-0 run in the third quarter, which proved too much to overcome despite a competitive fourth quarter finish.

“The third quarter hurt us, because we made shots, we shoot over 60%, but we only get eight shots,” Mittie said. “Turnovers hurt us. They get 15 shots in the quarter, that’s a big number to overcome. And the physicality, I thought we had trouble with getting movement in our offense.”

The Trojans were without superstar JuJu Watkins, who tore her ACL in the Round of 32. K-State held USC’s second-leading scorer, Kiki Iriafen, 12 points below her average at seven points on 3-13 shooting. Freshman Kennedy Smith and Avery Howell stepped up for the Trojans, scoring 19 and 18, respectively.

“That’s the sting for us right now,” Mittie said. “There were a lot of things we did well. We did a great job on her [Iriafen]. Our players had a great awareness, but credit to their freshmen. This is a big stage, and they’re the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for a reason, and they stepped up.”

How it happened

USC opened on a 7-0 run as scoring was a struggle for each team early on, combining to start 3-21 from the field. The Trojans led 7-2 midway through the quarter. Out of timeout, Glenn bottomed back-to-back buckets and a 3-pointer from Zyanna Walker kept K-State within one.

However, by the end of the first quarter, Sundell, Lee and Poindexter were held scoreless and USC owned a 16-9 lead. Poindexter, similar to the previous start against No. 4 seed Kentucky, started 0-3 from beyond the arc but kept her poise and began to settle in.

Coupled with a triple from Glenn, Poindexter’s first 3-pointer forced a quick USC timeout to start the second quarter. As a team, K-State opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run, jumpstarting a 21-12 period in favor of the Wildcats. Sundell scored 10 in the frame, including 6-7 at the charity stripe.

Without Watkins, Iriafen was on track to be the next player up after a 36-point performance in the Round of 32. K-State held the 6-foot-3 forward to two points on 1-7 shooting in the first half and led 30-28 at halftime.

USC landed its 12-0 run amid a three-minute scoring drought for the Wildcats in the third quarter as the Trojans led by seven and took the game’s largest lead.

“We talked about needing to win the middle of the floor in that stretch — I thought USC won the middle of the floor,” Mittie said. “From a basketball perspective, they won the middle of the floor more than we did tonight.”

K-State fended off any further damage, and brought its deficit down to 48-45 entering the final frame, which became a battle to the end.

“There’s no doubt — we wanted this one,” Mittie said. “We wanted this one bad. We thought it was right there … we’re a shot away from flipping it.”

With 26 seconds left, down by four, Sundell dove all-out on an in-bound attempt by the Trojans, forcing a turnover to gave K-State the ball. The moment characterized the fight of the Wildcats’ all-time leader in career assists.

“You’re playing to go the Elite Eight, you better be diving on the floor,” Mittie said. “You better be making those plays or you’re not advancing, and even if you are doing those things, as we know, we sit here today, not advancing. But that doesn’t surprise me. I’d have been more surprised if she didn’t dive.”

The Trojans made their free throws in the remaining ticks, clinching an Elite Eight matchup with No. 2 seed UConn on Monday.

The Collegian will continue coverage of the Sweet 16 in the coming days.