SE: Wesemann Wills K-State to Win Over Oklahoma State
Jan 30, 2017 | Women's Basketball
The roar of the K-State crowd gave Kindred Wesemann a hint of what just happened, but she still had to ask.
“Did that just go in?”
At the 8:48 mark of the third quarter with K-State in a 38-29 hole, Wesemann absorbed contact, drew a whistle and threw up a blind layup attempt, knowing at worst she would shoot two free throws. She soon confirmed with her teammates that the shot fell through the net.
Wesemann’s unlikely bucket turned into a three-point play, jumpstarting a 14-0 run for K-State as she willed her team to a 74-69 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday in Bramlage Coliseum.
The bucket began a 26-point second half for Wesemann — the most points in a half by a K-State player since Brittany Chambers’ 29 in a 2013 WNIT game. Wesemann finished with a career-high 34 points, the most by a Wildcat since Chambers broke out for 42 in the same WNIT game. Wesemann’s performance also fell just two points shy of Chambers’ program record for points in a conference game.
“Kindred Wesemann… that’s ball game right there. She played great. She was very good in every phase of the game,” Oklahoma State head coach Jim Littell said. “We put two kids on her that we expect to be stoppers and they got torched. She’s one of those kids that it seems like she’s been around for eight years; I’m glad she’s graduating. But she has just a lot of savvy, a really good player. They have a go-to player, they went to her and she produced.”
Wesemann finished 10-of-18 from the field for the game, hitting 4-of-10 from beyond the arc and 10-of-10 from the free throw line. The fiery senior scorched the Oklahoma State defense for 15 points in the third quarter — a school record for points in one quarter.
“It always feels good whenever the ball is going in the hoop,” said Wesemann, who made all 10 of her free throws in the second half while converting 7-of-12 from the field. “The second half was a lot more fun for me than the first half, obviously, but I like flying around on defense too. I take a lot of pride on defense and I thought our team did very, very well to find me in spots, too, and to get me open shots.”
After her hard-to-believe three-point play, Wesemann hit a jumper to even the game at 38 and continue her team’s 14-0 run. Two possessions later, she sank a step-back 3-pointer to liven the crowd once more. Soon after, Wesemann stretched K-State’s lead to eight with a steal that she turned into another three-point play.
“The little step-back three I had on (Katelyn) Loecker, that one felt pretty good to have,” Wesemann said. “I was feeling myself a little bit after that, so that one got me pumped up.”
“It was amazing to watch, just her energy and her focus throughout the whole game — staying engaged the whole time, pushing through adversity. It was amazing to watch,” K-State freshman forward Eternati Willock added. “I’m really proud of her and excited.”
Wesemann cooled down offensively in the fourth, at least relatively. She recorded 11 points in the final quarter, making numerous plays and six free throws when K-State needed them the most.
It capped what was a shining example of Wesemann’s passionate attempt to become a well-rounded offensive player for K-State.
“Kindred, obviously, had an amazing second half and just kind of willed us to victory. She’s worked hard at finishing around the rim for a smaller guard, midsized guard,” K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said of his 5-foot-7 senior. “One of the things we wanted her to have is a midrange floater so that she could change speeds in those areas and then be under control at the finish. She’s worked really hard at those things because I think in the past she might flail in there out of control at times, and now she’s much more under control. Her change of speed is much better from the top of the key to the rim. That’s part of her game we can utilize that we couldn’t utilize in the past as well.”
When Oklahoma State cut K-State’s lead to two about midway through the fourth quarter, Wesemann threaded a perfect bounce pass to Jessica Sheble for a layup. She followed it up by pulling in a rebound and sinking her fourth trey of the day shortly after to give K-State a five-point cushion.
“We kind of take pride in playing some defense and she was just spectacular tonight in every phase of the game,” Littell said. “With shot selection, we got up and crowded her and she drove on us, she made layups, got to the free throw line, made free throws on us. The bottom line, when you look at everything on the stat sheet, is we did not have an answer for her.”
After the Wildcat lead was again cut to two points, Wesemann used a crafty move to bump it back to four. Driving baseline, Wesemann reversed course just past the rim to create an open layup, which made her the first 30-point scorer for K-State since Breanna Lewis put up 30 on December 21, 2015, against Western Illinois.
“I don’t know her background, but I bet she’s one of those kids that’s a gym rat and just lives in the gym. Since her career has developed, she’s added more phases to her game,” Littell said of Wesemann. “What I mean by that is she’s always been able to shoot the ball since she came in the league, but now she’s pretty good off the dribble. She’s got a little floater too. I always talk about three phases to the game: the three, the intermediate shot, whether it be a floater or the jump shot, or the drive to the hole. Right now she’s got all three of those.
“I would’ve liked to have guarded her better, but there’s sometimes you have to give a kid credit that she had a big-time game.”
The win snapped a two-game skid for K-State (16-6, 6-4), which will play at Texas Tech on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
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