K-State, BK Samorin Face Off in First of Two Meetings
Aug 10, 2017 | Women's Basketball
(WATCH) Game Highlights vs BK Slovakian
SAMORIN, Slovakia – Kansas State women’s basketball reached its final destination of its 12-day European trip on early Thursday morning, as the Wildcats visited the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. K-State added an additional country to the list, as the Wildcats faced BK Samorin from the Slovakian Extraliga, falling to the pros, 84-76, at Sportscentrum Samaria on Thursday night.
Kansas State featured four players in double figures, led by senior guard/forward Shaelyn Martin with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Senior forward Kaylee Page tallied 14 points, four rebounds and five assists. Freshmen guards Cymone Goodrich and Rachel Ranke carded 13 and 12 points, respectively.
BK Samorin fired away from beyond the arc on Thursday night, connecting on 13 three-pointers, including six in the second quarter.
“When you look at us here in August in terms of our zone, I think the hardest spot to play in that zone is that center position,” said head coach Jeff Mittie about his team’s defense on Thursday. “We are playing two freshmen there a good portion of the game. There are a lot of rotations that aren’t sharp enough. The strength of European basketball is spreading you and shooting the three. We are going to play them through it. I didn’t come here to win the Europe Championship, I came here to get players ready for down the road. I would like to win the Europe Championship, but it’s not something that is up for grabs right now.”
K-State dashed out to a 26-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. The 26 first quarter points equaled the highest quarter output to date on the European trip for the Wildcats and were more than the entirety of the second half (20) in K-State’s last game on Sunday, August 6, against TK Hannover.
“We hit some shots during that stretch and we were getting turnovers defensively and creating some offense,” said Mittie about the hot opening quarter. “I liked our energy early in this game.”
The Wildcats used a 13-2 run during a four-minute stretch in the first quarter to build a 16-point lead. K-State was led in the opening stanza by Page with seven points and Ranke and sophomore forward Eternati Willock with five apiece.
“We were playing really unselfish and we came out with that fire that we need to every quarter and out of every timeout,” said Martin about the first quarter.
BK Samorin responded with 26 points of their own in the second quarter to take a 40-39 lead into the locker room at halftime. After going 7-of-8 from the foul line and making eight field goals, K-State made just six field goals, all from inside the arc, and just 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
The homestanding BK Samorin pushed its lead out to 70-55 with 6:43 remaining in the fourth quarter to force a K-State timeout. K-State responded to the timeout and charged back with a 16-7 rally to pull within six points, 77-71, with 2:20 left in the game. Martin and Page each registered four points during the run.
“It was simply just make the easy play,” said Martin about cutting into the BK Samorin lead. “We were forcing too many bad shots and no one shot was going to get us right back in the game. I think that was the hurried mentality we had. We just needed to trust what we could do. Once we got out of making things too difficult, that’s when we got on a run and got back to our basketball.”
BK Samorin utilized the shot clock in its final possessions and outscored K-State, 8-5, in the final two minutes of the game to capture the first game in the series.
Kansas State will conclude its four-game exhibition on Saturday afternoon, as the Wildcats face BK Samorin of Slovakia for a second game.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Kansas State | 26 | 13 | 13 | 24 | 76 |
| BK Samorin | 14 | 26 | 19 | 25 | 84 |
K-State Player Stats
| Players | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Kaylee Page | 14 | 4 | 5 |
| Cymone Goodrich | 13 | 3 | 3 |
| Alisa Wiggins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kayla Goth | DNP | ||
| Peyton Williams | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| Rachel Ranke | 12 | 3 | 2 |
| Eternati Willock | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Karyla Middlebrook | DNP | ||
| Ashley Ray | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Mary Lakes | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Shaelyn Martin | 16 | 4 | 3 |
| Totals | 76 | 29 | 16 |
Name Points, Rebounds, Assists
Kaylee Page 14, 4, 5
Cymone Goodrich 13, 3, 3
Alisa Wiggins 0, 0, 0
Kayla Goth DNP
Peyton Williams 6, 7, 1
Rachel Ranke 12, 3, 2
Eternati Willock 6, 1, 2
Karyla Middlebrook DNP
Ashley Ray 7, 5, 0
Mary Lakes 2, 2, 0
Shaelyn Martin 16, 4, 3
Totals 76, 29, 16
