K-State Ends Non-Conference Schedule Against Northern Iowa

GAME #12
Northern Iowa (7-4) at Kansas State (8-3)
Saturday, December 29, 2018 | 1 p.m. | Bramlage Coliseum | Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION
ESPN3
• Brian Smoller (play-by-play)
• Kristin Waller (analyst)
• Anna Christianson (sideline)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
• Matt Walters (play-by-play)
• Shalin Klein (analyst)
Listen Online: www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
• Call (800) 221-CATS or visit www.kstatesports.com
• Wildcat Weekend - $3 ticket with a MBB vs. George Mason ticket

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 541-292/27th season | At K-State: 87-57/5th season
vs. Northern Iowa: 0-2

Northern Iowa: Tanya Warren (Creighton '88)
Overall: 212-157/12th season | At Northern Iowa: Same

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (8-3)
G: #10 Kayla Goth | G: #12 Rachel Ranke | G: #43 Christianna Carr | F: #11 Peyton Williams | F: #15 Kali Jones

Northern Iowa (7-4)
G: #3 Karli Rucker | G: #10 Ellie Howell | G: #24 Mikaela Morgan | F: #11 Bre Gunnels | F: #34 Taylor Hagen

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Northern Iowa leads, 2-1
At Manhattan: 1-1
Last Meeting: December 21, 2017; UNI won 72-71
• K-State is 44-12 all-time against current members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - Kansas State (8-3) will conclude its 2018-19 regular season non-conference schedule on Saturday at 1 p.m., as the Wildcats host Northern Iowa.

• Saturday's game can be seen live on ESPN3, as Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Kristin Waller (analyst) and Anna Christianson (sideline) call the action.
• In K-State's last game on December 20 against Central Arkansas, the Wildcats overcame a difficult first quarter by using a dominant defensive effort in the second and third quarters to down the Sugar Bears, 70-54.
• K-State held Central Arkansas to nine or fewer points in the second and third quarters. The Wildcats trailed 13-10 after the first quarter, but outscored the Sugar Bears in the 20-minute segment in the next two quarters, 36-17.
• The Wildcats had a trio of players in double figures: Rachel Ranke, Peyton Williams and Jasauen Beard. This was the second time this season this trio reached double figures in the same game.
• Ranke led the all scorers with a personal season-high 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting including a 4-of-8 effort from beyond the arc. The four connections from deep were a season-high for the sophomore and the most since she made six at Texas Tech on Feb. 26, 2018. Ranke is averaging 10.2 points this season and has made 23 three-point field goals this season.
• Williams notched her 15th consecutive game with 10 or more points, as she recorded 12 points, six rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot.
• Williams, a 2019 Katrina McClain Award candidate, leads K-State with 14.5 points on a .574 field goal percentage and has pulled in 9.3 rebounds.
• Beard reached double figures for the fourth time this season with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes off the bench. The junior forward's 10 points led a K-State bench effort that tallied 20 points against Central Arkansas.

Number to Know
5.5
• #KStateWBB sent back shots through the first 11 games this season, as the Wildcats have 60 blocked shots or 5.5 per game.
• This is the fourth time in the five seasons under head coach Jeff Mittie that K-State has tallied 60 or more blocks through 11 games.
• The Wildcats rank 18th in the nation for total blocks and 15th for blocks per game. According to herhoopstats.com, K-State ranks 15th in the nation in block rate at 13.9 percent. K-State has finished among the top-35 in block rate in two of the last three seasons including 11th in the 2015-16 season.
• According to herhoopstats.com, K-State has held opponents to a 2-point field goal percentage of .381 which ranks 31st in the nation.
• K-State has six games this season with five or more blocks including a season-high of 12 against Lamar on Dec. 5.

At a Glance: Northern Iowa
• Northern Iowa (7-4) enters Saturday's tilt with wins in four of their last five games. Prior to the break for the holidays, the Panthers downed Omaha, 79-50, on December 21.
• On the sidelines, UNI is led by 12th-year head coach Tanya Warren. During her time in Cedar Falls, Warren has guided the program to 212-157 (.575) record and a pair of Missouri Valley Conference regular season crowns, including the 2015-16 title.
• On the floor, UNI is led by sophomore guard Karli Rucker and senior guard Ellie Howell.
• Rucker is averaging a team-high 15.9 points and 3.8 assists.
• Howell is second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points and is pulling in 4.2 rebounds and has pocketed 1.1 steals per game.

12th Month of the Calendar Reaches 200 Wins
• In the 51st year of women's basketball at K-State, the Wildcats own a record of 224-94 (.704) in the month of December.
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 23-9 (.719) in the month of December.
• K-State has had a .500 or better record in the month of December 45 times in its history, including a current streak of 25 consecutive seasons.

Kansas State Holds Foes to Single Digit Quarters
• In the fourth season of the quarter system in women's college basketball, Kansas State's defense has been able to limit its opponents point production for 10 minute durations.
• Kansas State is 40-9 (.816) when holding an opponent to single digits in any quarter in a game.
• K-State has held nine of its 11 opponents this season to a single digit quarter and have tallied a total of 10 single-digit quarters this season. The Wildcats carded consecutive games allowing a season-low five points in the fourth quarter to begin the season.
• Last season, the K-State defense registered 10 single-digit quarters.

Magic Number is 70 Points for Wildcats
• Since the 2001-02 season, K-State is 192-22 (.897) when scoring 70 or more points in a game including a 40-8 (.833) record in the Jeff Mittie era.
• The Wildcats registered a season-high 80 points against Princeton in the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 24. The 80 points snapped a streak of five straight games of K-State scoring 61 or fewer points.
• K-State scored 70 or more points in a game 16 times in 2017-18 (13-3) including a high of 99 against Chicago State on Dec. 18.
• This was the 18th season in program history in which K-State had 15 or more games with 70 or more points scored. The 2017-18 season is the first since the 2005-06 season (17) that K-State scored 70 or more points in 15 or more games.
• Against Kansas on February 24, K-State scored 91 points. This marked the most points K-State has scored in regulation against the Jayhawks in the history of the series. The 91 points were the most by K-State in a Big 12 game since February 11, 2015, when K-State scored 93 against TCU.
• Kansas State scored 85 or more points in consecutive Big 12 games for the first time as a member of the Big 12, as the Wildcats tallied 86 at Texas Tech on February 26. It was the first time K-State scored 85 or more points in consecutive conference games since the 1983-84 season in three straight Big Eight games.

Wildcats Cash In at the Charity Stripe
• Kansas State has continued to earn trips to the free throw line, which is a trend during head coach Jeff Mittie's time at K-State.
• K-State is 119-of-165 (.725) from the free throw line after 11 games and ranks second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage.
• For the season, K-State has made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. The Wildcats have had the edge in free throw attempts in eight of 11 games this season.
• Against Syracuse, the Wildcats carded a season-high for free throw percentage (min. 10 attempts) at 92.9 percent by connecting on 13-of-14.
• Against Central Arkansas, the Wildcats carded a season-high for free throws made and attempted with an 18-of-24 effort.
• In the 2017-18 season, the Wildcats were 438-of-605 (.724) from the foul line, which was 18.9 percent of the team's overall point total. K-State ranked fourth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage.
• This was the eighth season in program history that K-State tallied a 70.0 percent or better free throw percentage (minimum of 500 or more free throws attempted in a season).
• This was the fourth straight season under Mittie that K-State made 350 or more free throws in a season and the first time to do so in four straight seasons since 1975-76 to 1992-93, a stretch of 17 consecutive seasons.

Goth Approaching 1,000-point Mark for Career
• Senior guard Kayla Goth has built herself into a dynamic scoring threat for K-State over the last two seasons and is on the verge of becoming the 41st player in program history with 1,000 points in their career. She needs 30 points to reach the 1,000-point mark in her career.
• To open the 2018-19 season, the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award candidate is second on the Wildcats with 11.5 points per game on a .458 field goal percentage. She ranks 20th in the Big 12 in scoring.
• Against North Texas, Goth led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.
• Goth has 21 career games with at least 15 points and five assists, including 19 last season. She has more games with 15 or more points and five or more assists (21) than every other K-State player since the start of the 2014-15 season (11).
• Against Lamar, Goth tallied her second career game with 20 or more points and 10 or more assists.
• Goth earned her first career Big 12 Player of the Week honor on December 10 by averaging 17.5 points on a .579 field goal percentage with 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds.

Williams Goes Wild
• Junior forward Peyton Williams was one of the most improved players in the Big 12 during her second season in 2017-18 and has continued to improve early in 2018-19.
• The 2019 Katrina McClain Award candidate is averaging team-highs of 14.5 points on a .574 field goal percentage with 9.3 rebounds. Her field goal percentage of .574 ranks fifth in the Big 12 and 33rd in the nation.
• Williams appears among the Big 12 statistical leaders in nine of the 13 categories.
• For her career, Williams has 38 career games with 10 or more points and five or more rebounds. Williams has an active streak of 15 consecutive games scoring in double figures dating back to March 2, 2018, against Kansas in the Big 12 Championship.
• She also remains an efficient scorer, as she ranks seventh in program history for career field goal percentage (305-576; .530). She has 43 games in her career with a field goal percentage of .500 or better.
• Last season, Williams set career season-highs in every statistical category including: points (501; 14.7 ppg), free throws made and attempted (89-of-104; .856), field goals made and attempted (199-of-371; .536), blocks (47; 1.4 bpg), steals (50; 1.5 spg), three-point field goals made and attempted (14-of-47; .298) and double-doubles (7).
• Williams improved her scoring average by 11.0 points per game from her freshman season. This was the third-largest improvement from one season to the next in program history.
• The native of Topeka, Kansas, ranked 40th in the nation in field goal percentage and seventh in the Big 12. She ranked 12th in the Big 12 in scoring and eighth in rebounding.
• In Big 12 action, Williams averaged 15.4 points on a .549 field goal percentage while pulling in a team-high 6.9 rebounds.
• In K-State's game at Iowa State on Jan. 10, 2018, Williams tallied 15 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and two steals. Williams was the first Wildcat since Breanna Lewis on Feb. 29, 2016 at Oklahoma State to record 15 or more points, 10 or more rebounds, five or more blocks and two or more steals in a game.

K-State Ends Non-Conference Schedule Against Northern Iowa

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Players Mentioned

Jasauen Beard

Christianna Carr

Kayla Goth

Kali Jones

Rachel Ranke

Peyton Williams

Kansas State University Athletics