No. 10 Kansas State women’s basketball welcomed its first power conference opponent to Bramlage Coliseum on Thursday night, flying past Creighton with an 86-68 win.
“A total team effort,” head coach Jeff Mittie said to open his postgame statement. “We had to battle through some foul trouble tonight. We had to battle through some players coming back off of injury that hadn’t had as many reps. And yet, you look up, and we shoot 53% from the field — we do a lot of really good things.”
Star center Ayoka Lee made her return to substantial minutes after suffering a minor ankle injury in the season opener — and the Bluejays paid the price. The seventh-year graduate collected 28 points in just 16 minutes on the floor, recording a mark of 13-18 on field goals.
“Our guards did a really good job of just looking and getting good entry passes.,” Lee said. “I think me, Kennedy [Taylor] and Imani [Lester] just did a good job of getting good seals.”
Senior wings Serena Sundell and Temira Poindexter trailed in scoring with 12 points each, combining with Lee to lead the K-State offense to a 53.7% mark on field goals.
Forward Kennedy Taylor, coming off the bench as a backup to a healthy Lee, continued to prove her worth beyond being labeled a backup. The senior notched 10 points and six rebounds in just 13 minutes of game time.
“It’s been so good to play against her in practice and have her in games,” Lee said. “She’s solid, you know she’s going to get some offensive boards, she’s going to finish at the rim and play good defense.”
K-State (3-0) came out firing on offense, recording 3-3 from beyond the arc, 60% on all field goals over halfway into the first quarter. The fast start propelled the Wildcats into a 22-9 first-quarter lead.
K-State cooled off from long distance in the second frame but a halftime point total of 17 from Lee gave K-State a 39-23 advantage going to the halftime break.
The Bluejays caught some momentum in the second half as Lee found herself in foul trouble but the depth of K-State proved too much for Creighton down the stretch. Plus, 11 fourth-quarter points from Lee returning back to the floor that sealed the deal.
“That third quarter when we needed it … there were a lot of bad things going on with Lee on the bench,” Mittie said. “And yet, we saw [Taryn] Sides make plays. We saw Kennedy make plays. We saw Serena do some things. Poindexter got more active. So I liked our answer to their push in that early part of the third quarter.”
K-State continues its stretch of home games to kick off the season, hosting Little Rock at 6:30 p.m. Monday.