Wildcats Earn First Win, 70-63

Ashley Sweat scored a career-high 33 points on Friday night.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Behind a career night from senior Ashley Sweat, Kansas State secured its first victory of the 2009-10 season, a 70-63 decision over Washington State on Friday night.

Sweat carded her first career double-double with a career-high 33 points and 11 rebounds. The Naismith Trophy candidate was 12-of-19 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Entering the contest, Sweat had tallied 32 points in the two previous games. Combined with last season's meeting against Washington State in Pullman, Sweat has now scored 63 points in the two games in the series with the Cougars.

With her 33 points, Sweat moved into ninth-place on the K-State career scoring list with 1,356 points. With her eight connections from the free throw line, Sweat moved into sixth in school history for career free throws made with 313.

Kansas State (1-2) dug themselves an early hole, trailing Washington State (1-1) by 10 to open the game. K-State chipped away at the Cougars' lead and captured its first advantage at 24-23 on a pair of Branshea Brown free throws with 4:30 to play in the first half. Brown would finish the contest with four points and six rebounds off the bench.

K-State was able to sustain and build upon the lead with an 11-4 run to close the opening stanza, capped by a Brittany Chambers' three. For the second consecutive game, K-State held a 35-27 lead at the break. At the half, Sweat had scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 14 of K-State's first 20 points.

In the second half, Washington State captured its final lead of the game at 43-42 with 14:11 to play. The Wildcats battled back with a 16-1 run, to make the score 58-44, highlighted by three aggressive drives to the basket by freshman guard Mariah White. The product of Midwest City, Oklahoma finished with a career-high nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.

A late rally by the Cougars brought them to within four with 2:39 to play, but senior guard Kari Kincaid tallied seven of her nine points in the final two minutes to send K-State to the win.

K-State finished the night with a field goal percentage of .460 and was 20-of-25 from the foul line.

Kansas State will begin its first road trip of the season on Monday night, as the Wildcats start the three-game trip at Creighton. The Wildcats will also visit BYU (Nov. 27) and Arkansas (Dec. 2) during the trip. K-State will return to Manhattan to host the Commerce Bank Wildcat Classic on Dec. 4-5.