Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, December 29
Manhattan, Kan.
1 p.m.
Kansas State University
9-3
72
vs
62
Northern Iowa
7-5
1
2
3
4
F
UNI
16
13
20
13
62
Kansas State
12
20
25
15
72
Strong Second Half Propels K-State to Win
Dec 29, 2018 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – Kansas State used a strong second half on Saturday afternoon to end its 2018-19 regular season non-conference schedule with a 72-62 win over Northern Iowa at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats have won seven straight home games.
K-State (9-3) shot 50 percent or better in both the third and fourth quarters, as the Wildcats outscored UNI, 40-33, in the second half. With K-State leading 32-29 at halftime, Northern Iowa opened the third quarter with a 6-0 burst to pull in front, 35-32, with 8:14 remaining.
The Wildcats answered with a 16-5 run over the next four minutes, as Peyton Williams registered six of the 16 points during the rally to stake Kansas State to a 48-40 advantage with 3:27 left in the third quarter.
Northern Iowa (7-5) closed to within five, 51-46, with 1:41 remaining but a 3-pointer from Kayla Goth gave K-State a 57-49 lead entering the final quarter.
In the fourth, the Wildcats held the Panthers without a field goal for almost five minutes as K-State built a 66-53 lead with 4:40 remaining in the game. A Goth jumper with 1:50 left sealed the win for the Wildcats. For the quarter, K-State shot 54.5 percent (6-of-11) and held UNI to a 28.6 percent effort (4-of-14).
K-State featured three players in double figures, led by Williams who tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 22 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. She also added a block and a steal. The six assists tied her career-high.
Goth also reached double figures, as she finished with 12 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. With her seven assists, Goth moved into sole possession of sixth place on the K-State career assists list with 386. She needs 18 points to become the 41st player in program history with 1,000 or more career points and the first since the 2016-17 season.
Also in double figures was freshman guard Christianna Carr with 11 points and four rebounds. Carr connected on three 3-pointers on the afternoon.
Northern Iowa was led by Karli Rucker and Ellie Howell with 15 points each. Rucker added six assists to her final stat line.
After a K-State timeout early in the first quarter, K-State went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 12 with 1:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Williams started the rally with a jumper. Carr then followed with five points as she connected on her first 3-pointer of the afternoon and then buried a pair of free throws.
Jasauen Beard then notched three points of her own to square the game. Northern Iowa would end the quarter with four points and hold a 16-12 lead entering the second quarter.
Maary Lakes helped K-State pull within one, 18-17, as she registered a pair of blocked shots in one possession by Northern Iowa. Following the second block, Lakes pulled in the rebound and found Goth with the outlet pass.
Goth raced up the floor and found Rachel Ranke for the corner three-pointer and force the UNI timeout with 7:58 remaining in the second quarter. Ranke finished the day with nine points and three steals.
After the timeout by the Panthers, K-State continued to roll on both ends of the floor. The Wildcats would go on a 16-0 run to capture a 28-18 lead with 4:48 remaining in the first half and force a second Northern Iowa timeout. During the rally Carr knocked down three-pointers on consecutive possessions, while Kali Jones dropped in a layup to force the timeout.
UNI would hold K-State without a field goal for the final 4:51 of the quarter, as the Panthers ended the quarter on an 11-4 run as K-State led 32-29 at the half.
Kansas State ended the afternoon shooting 44.4 percent from the field (24-of-54), while Northern Iowa was held to 35.9 percent (23-of-64). The Wildcats were 18-of-26 from the free throw line, making more free throws than Northern Iowa attempted (10-of-14).
K-State also finished the day with seven blocked shots, improving their season total to 67 through the first 12 games. This was seventh game this season for the Wildcats with five or more blocked shots.
Kansas State begins Big 12 play on Wednesday, January 2, in Ames, Iowa, as the Wildcats face Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday's game will be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"I thought there were some good spots in this game. First half, a lot of turnovers for us, a lot of missed plays. I think every coach worries about the execution - timing, spacing, coming off the break - certainly that was one of my concerns. We obviously had a lot of problems in the first half with ball movement and turnovers. Second half, though, settled down, only five turnovers. We talked at halftime about getting Peyton (Williams) more touches in the paint - deeper, quicker because we felt like they wanted to double our action down there. I thought our team did a pretty solid job of that, getting her the basketball. She was very, very active. She did a good job in the second half of reading the double team as well, picked up quite a few assists. So, much better second half."
On non-conference play and priorities headed into the conference schedule...
"The concern for me is still, and I've pounded this, we started rebounding well enough. One of the things I need to look at is, I thought Northern Iowa was going to challenge us with the speed with which they run their offense. I think some of the shots surprised our group how quick they came coming off of action. So we were almost not even seeing the shot. I want to take a look at that. Now, one of the things that UNI runs it so fast, is that if you're in the vicinity, they haven't shot the ball well because they're so rushed coming off all that action. I did think our group did a good job. This Northern Iowa team came in and hit 16 [3-pointers] last year against us. They only get six today and shoot below 30 percent. So pretty decent job there. Rebounding, we have to anticipate those things better."
On avenging the last two losses to UNI…
"They're a tough matchup for us. They're able to spread you. They're able to move our size into spaces you don't like to guard. They do it at a speed that is difficult to defend. We probably played, maybe 10-12 minutes of zone today. But our zone was more effective because we weren't just staying in the zone all the time. We were mixing up our stuff. We did get a good push in the second quarter while we were in zone, so I think the zone played a big part of this game but I also think our man - being able to lock them down - also played a big part in this game."
On defensive effort...
"I don't know what the number of airballs that we forced - some we didn't get because they were coming off funny - but we probably had 4-5 airballs and shot clock violations as well. I thought this was an excellent test for us, in regards to discipline defensively and have to sustain a shot clock defensively. They are able to run their stuff for for 25-26 seconds at a high level."
On second-quarter and third-quarter runs ...
"In the second quarter, we had an open floor with the turnovers. The zone forced some deflections, we had an open floor and better push there. In the third quarter, it was really getting paint touches with Peyton (Williams). So both of them were different. The common denominator for us was getting stops at the other end and getting better execution at the offensive end. Now, we also had a stretch to end the second quarter where we went eight straight possessions without a field goal. We are having too many of those dry spells and that's something we've got to clean up. I will say this: our bench gave us some good energy today. Laura Macke gave us good energy today. Maary Lakes gave us good energy today. Ashley Ray gave us good energy today. They had some turnovers in that second quarter, but if they can give us that energy, as they play more, they'll clean up some of those turnovers."
On similarities between UNI and Iowa State ...
"Similar in that they can put out five shooters at times. They can put out four. They're like a lot of motion teams that can put out that kind of group, they'll run similar action. They (Iowa State) have more size than UNI. UNI runs at maybe a little faster clip. Iowa State has always been that way. To me, they've had a very successful non-conference. They've played a good schedule as well, they're deeper than they've been. Their depth, as I look at them, they look like they're playing really well. I'll get a good look at them tonight and tomorrow and get ready for Monday's practice."
On adjusting to teams in Conference play...
"I think there is always that, because we are a team that, well because we are a league that everybody plays each other twice, you're always trying to anticipate what adjustments somebody might make against you. We did that coming into this game. We haven't been doubled a lot down there, but we anticipated that Northern Iowa would double us. They had doubled some other players similar to Peyton (Williams) before and we haven't seen a lot of people double us this year. You are always trying to stay ahead of the curve. You're always trying to anticipate. They ran the buzz defense maybe five possessions today. We had walked through that this morning because that is something that they hadn't shown a lot of. It ended up being exactly what I thought, they pulled it out when they were close enough where they could steal four or five possessions. Our group in that stretch did a good job of not turning it over. We ended up missing a three-pointer but Peyton gets the rebound for an and-one. So yes, you are always trying to anticipate what another team might do. That's why when I look at teams, it's not just about what they are doing right now, it's about what they have done a year ago, two years ago, you're always trying to do that, because it is my job to at least be prepared for it even if we haven't gone over it. If another team plays triangle-and-two, it's my job to go into a timeout and say 'here's what they are doing here's what we are doing against it, here's how we're attacking this.' Our group, these two (Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth) do a pretty good job of going 'ok i gotcha.' I try to do as good of a job as I can of saying remember, 'this is a team that we attacked this way before to give them a reference. Now for freshmen, they don't even know so they're irrelevant, they won't even recognize it."
KAYLA GOTH, SENIOR GUARD
On familiarity of UNI…
"We had some new ones coming in this year, alot of them weren't there for the loss two years ago when we were at UNI. Us two (Goth and Peyton Williams), I don't want to say it was a revenge game but it was kind of a revenge game that we needed to get that win. That was really big for us."
On where team is at going into Big 12 play and her message to the freshmen…
"It's kind of hard to explain what the Big 12 is like because you are facing something new basically every night, so it is kind of hard to explain that. I feel pretty good with where we are at. Obviously rebounding is going to be huge as well as team play and being able to move the ball when we want to and not when the other team wants us to. I mean just trying to get them as ready as possible for that opening game at Iowa State and see what we can do there."
PEYTON WILLIAMS, JUNIOR FORWARD
On her 22 points and 13 rebounds…
"I think they do feed off of each other a little bit because whenever you're making shots you're more likely to have that energy to go and crash the boards a little bit. It makes it a lot more fun, of course when you are making shots as opposed to last game where I wasn't making hardly anything. To come around and have a good game like this is fun."
K-State (9-3) shot 50 percent or better in both the third and fourth quarters, as the Wildcats outscored UNI, 40-33, in the second half. With K-State leading 32-29 at halftime, Northern Iowa opened the third quarter with a 6-0 burst to pull in front, 35-32, with 8:14 remaining.
The Wildcats answered with a 16-5 run over the next four minutes, as Peyton Williams registered six of the 16 points during the rally to stake Kansas State to a 48-40 advantage with 3:27 left in the third quarter.
Northern Iowa (7-5) closed to within five, 51-46, with 1:41 remaining but a 3-pointer from Kayla Goth gave K-State a 57-49 lead entering the final quarter.
In the fourth, the Wildcats held the Panthers without a field goal for almost five minutes as K-State built a 66-53 lead with 4:40 remaining in the game. A Goth jumper with 1:50 left sealed the win for the Wildcats. For the quarter, K-State shot 54.5 percent (6-of-11) and held UNI to a 28.6 percent effort (4-of-14).
K-State featured three players in double figures, led by Williams who tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 22 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. She also added a block and a steal. The six assists tied her career-high.
Goth also reached double figures, as she finished with 12 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. With her seven assists, Goth moved into sole possession of sixth place on the K-State career assists list with 386. She needs 18 points to become the 41st player in program history with 1,000 or more career points and the first since the 2016-17 season.
Also in double figures was freshman guard Christianna Carr with 11 points and four rebounds. Carr connected on three 3-pointers on the afternoon.
Northern Iowa was led by Karli Rucker and Ellie Howell with 15 points each. Rucker added six assists to her final stat line.
After a K-State timeout early in the first quarter, K-State went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 12 with 1:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Williams started the rally with a jumper. Carr then followed with five points as she connected on her first 3-pointer of the afternoon and then buried a pair of free throws.
Jasauen Beard then notched three points of her own to square the game. Northern Iowa would end the quarter with four points and hold a 16-12 lead entering the second quarter.
Maary Lakes helped K-State pull within one, 18-17, as she registered a pair of blocked shots in one possession by Northern Iowa. Following the second block, Lakes pulled in the rebound and found Goth with the outlet pass.
Goth raced up the floor and found Rachel Ranke for the corner three-pointer and force the UNI timeout with 7:58 remaining in the second quarter. Ranke finished the day with nine points and three steals.
After the timeout by the Panthers, K-State continued to roll on both ends of the floor. The Wildcats would go on a 16-0 run to capture a 28-18 lead with 4:48 remaining in the first half and force a second Northern Iowa timeout. During the rally Carr knocked down three-pointers on consecutive possessions, while Kali Jones dropped in a layup to force the timeout.
UNI would hold K-State without a field goal for the final 4:51 of the quarter, as the Panthers ended the quarter on an 11-4 run as K-State led 32-29 at the half.
Kansas State ended the afternoon shooting 44.4 percent from the field (24-of-54), while Northern Iowa was held to 35.9 percent (23-of-64). The Wildcats were 18-of-26 from the free throw line, making more free throws than Northern Iowa attempted (10-of-14).
K-State also finished the day with seven blocked shots, improving their season total to 67 through the first 12 games. This was seventh game this season for the Wildcats with five or more blocked shots.
Kansas State begins Big 12 play on Wednesday, January 2, in Ames, Iowa, as the Wildcats face Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday's game will be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"I thought there were some good spots in this game. First half, a lot of turnovers for us, a lot of missed plays. I think every coach worries about the execution - timing, spacing, coming off the break - certainly that was one of my concerns. We obviously had a lot of problems in the first half with ball movement and turnovers. Second half, though, settled down, only five turnovers. We talked at halftime about getting Peyton (Williams) more touches in the paint - deeper, quicker because we felt like they wanted to double our action down there. I thought our team did a pretty solid job of that, getting her the basketball. She was very, very active. She did a good job in the second half of reading the double team as well, picked up quite a few assists. So, much better second half."
On non-conference play and priorities headed into the conference schedule...
"The concern for me is still, and I've pounded this, we started rebounding well enough. One of the things I need to look at is, I thought Northern Iowa was going to challenge us with the speed with which they run their offense. I think some of the shots surprised our group how quick they came coming off of action. So we were almost not even seeing the shot. I want to take a look at that. Now, one of the things that UNI runs it so fast, is that if you're in the vicinity, they haven't shot the ball well because they're so rushed coming off all that action. I did think our group did a good job. This Northern Iowa team came in and hit 16 [3-pointers] last year against us. They only get six today and shoot below 30 percent. So pretty decent job there. Rebounding, we have to anticipate those things better."
On avenging the last two losses to UNI…
"They're a tough matchup for us. They're able to spread you. They're able to move our size into spaces you don't like to guard. They do it at a speed that is difficult to defend. We probably played, maybe 10-12 minutes of zone today. But our zone was more effective because we weren't just staying in the zone all the time. We were mixing up our stuff. We did get a good push in the second quarter while we were in zone, so I think the zone played a big part of this game but I also think our man - being able to lock them down - also played a big part in this game."
On defensive effort...
"I don't know what the number of airballs that we forced - some we didn't get because they were coming off funny - but we probably had 4-5 airballs and shot clock violations as well. I thought this was an excellent test for us, in regards to discipline defensively and have to sustain a shot clock defensively. They are able to run their stuff for for 25-26 seconds at a high level."
On second-quarter and third-quarter runs ...
"In the second quarter, we had an open floor with the turnovers. The zone forced some deflections, we had an open floor and better push there. In the third quarter, it was really getting paint touches with Peyton (Williams). So both of them were different. The common denominator for us was getting stops at the other end and getting better execution at the offensive end. Now, we also had a stretch to end the second quarter where we went eight straight possessions without a field goal. We are having too many of those dry spells and that's something we've got to clean up. I will say this: our bench gave us some good energy today. Laura Macke gave us good energy today. Maary Lakes gave us good energy today. Ashley Ray gave us good energy today. They had some turnovers in that second quarter, but if they can give us that energy, as they play more, they'll clean up some of those turnovers."
On similarities between UNI and Iowa State ...
"Similar in that they can put out five shooters at times. They can put out four. They're like a lot of motion teams that can put out that kind of group, they'll run similar action. They (Iowa State) have more size than UNI. UNI runs at maybe a little faster clip. Iowa State has always been that way. To me, they've had a very successful non-conference. They've played a good schedule as well, they're deeper than they've been. Their depth, as I look at them, they look like they're playing really well. I'll get a good look at them tonight and tomorrow and get ready for Monday's practice."
On adjusting to teams in Conference play...
"I think there is always that, because we are a team that, well because we are a league that everybody plays each other twice, you're always trying to anticipate what adjustments somebody might make against you. We did that coming into this game. We haven't been doubled a lot down there, but we anticipated that Northern Iowa would double us. They had doubled some other players similar to Peyton (Williams) before and we haven't seen a lot of people double us this year. You are always trying to stay ahead of the curve. You're always trying to anticipate. They ran the buzz defense maybe five possessions today. We had walked through that this morning because that is something that they hadn't shown a lot of. It ended up being exactly what I thought, they pulled it out when they were close enough where they could steal four or five possessions. Our group in that stretch did a good job of not turning it over. We ended up missing a three-pointer but Peyton gets the rebound for an and-one. So yes, you are always trying to anticipate what another team might do. That's why when I look at teams, it's not just about what they are doing right now, it's about what they have done a year ago, two years ago, you're always trying to do that, because it is my job to at least be prepared for it even if we haven't gone over it. If another team plays triangle-and-two, it's my job to go into a timeout and say 'here's what they are doing here's what we are doing against it, here's how we're attacking this.' Our group, these two (Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth) do a pretty good job of going 'ok i gotcha.' I try to do as good of a job as I can of saying remember, 'this is a team that we attacked this way before to give them a reference. Now for freshmen, they don't even know so they're irrelevant, they won't even recognize it."
KAYLA GOTH, SENIOR GUARD
On familiarity of UNI…
"We had some new ones coming in this year, alot of them weren't there for the loss two years ago when we were at UNI. Us two (Goth and Peyton Williams), I don't want to say it was a revenge game but it was kind of a revenge game that we needed to get that win. That was really big for us."
On where team is at going into Big 12 play and her message to the freshmen…
"It's kind of hard to explain what the Big 12 is like because you are facing something new basically every night, so it is kind of hard to explain that. I feel pretty good with where we are at. Obviously rebounding is going to be huge as well as team play and being able to move the ball when we want to and not when the other team wants us to. I mean just trying to get them as ready as possible for that opening game at Iowa State and see what we can do there."
PEYTON WILLIAMS, JUNIOR FORWARD
On her 22 points and 13 rebounds…
"I think they do feed off of each other a little bit because whenever you're making shots you're more likely to have that energy to go and crash the boards a little bit. It makes it a lot more fun, of course when you are making shots as opposed to last game where I wasn't making hardly anything. To come around and have a good game like this is fun."
Team Stats
UNI
K-STATE
FG%
.359
.444
3FG%
.273
.400
FT%
.714
.692
RB
39
38
TO
15
17
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballF
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