SE: Martin and Page Take Different Paths to Leave Significant Impacts on K-State
Feb 23, 2018 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Confetti rained down on an 8-year-old Shaelyn Martin as the 2003-04 K-State women's basketball team celebrated the program's first Big 12 Championship with a win over Texas Tech in Bramlage Coliseum.
Martin remembers the day well. She and her family were sitting in the general admission section, watching Wildcat greats like Nicole Ohlde, Kendra Wecker, Laurie Koehn and Megan Mahoney celebrate a historic achievement.
"I was just mesmerized," Martin recalled, also remembering what she told her mother next. "I said, 'I'm so playing here one day.'"
Martin, who attended more K-State games than she can remember growing up, made good on her 8-year-old self's promise. On Saturday at 3 p.m., K-State's fourth-year senior will play her final regular season game in Bramlage Coliseum against in-state rival Kansas.
"It's like I'm to the end of that road," said Martin, a native of Salina who's thought about moments like that day in 2004 more often lately. "It's just amazing how far I've come in four years. It's hard to put into words how much of an impact this place has had on me."
***
Kaylee Page grew up in nearby Wamego and attended countless K-State women's games. She even remembers her parents playing slow pitch softball with Wecker and Ohlde.
Still, Page said she doesn't necessarily have an iconic K-State memory where playing for the Wildcats became the ultimate dream. She said she always simply wanted to play college basketball. For the longest time, she thought she would go to Emporia State, where her mother, aunt and cousin all played.
"Honestly, for a while I had never even thought of going DI. I was, like, 'I just want to play college basketball,'" Page said. "And then I started getting invited to elite camps at DI colleges and I was, like, 'Huh? Maybe I'm better at this than I thought.'"
After a semester at Nebraska, Page transferred to K-State, where she's been part of two NCAA Tournament teams. On Saturday, she will join Martin in their regular season finale at Bramlage Coliseum.
"It's very ironic. It all comes full circle, they say," Page said of ending up at K-State. "I feel like now I have a bigger perspective on things. I can see this is so much bigger than a game. It's so much bigger than trying to put a ball through a hoop."
***
Martin and Page arrived at K-State a year apart, yet each has left her mark on the program's record book in one way or another.
Accurately labeled as "K-State's Swiss army knife" in game notes, Martin leaves as one of six players in K-State history to record at least 500 points, 700 rebounds and 350 assists. She joins Shalee Lehning, Brittany Chambers, Mahoney, Wecker and Ohlde. With four more assists, Martin, Mahoney and Lehning will be the only players from that group with 400 or more assists.
"I didn't know about (that one) until Brian Smoller brought it up on the radio show," Martin said. "Those are players I idolized growing up and I get to add my name next to them. It's something I never thought would happen. Those women had a great impact on me and I hope I can keep doing that for younger girls."
Along with Martin's program-best 90 charges drawn in her career, the 6-foot-1 guard/forward also ranks fifth in school history in career assists (396) and is ninth for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.37). Additionally, she ranks ninth in steals (197), 12th in rebounds (733), and with a start on Saturday she'll be alone in seventh in career starts (117).
All of these figures, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, paint an outline for the type of player and person Martin has been for the Wildcats.
"(She's) willing to do whatever the team needed, willing to sacrifice her body, willing to play whatever role we needed her to play in a season or on a given night, and willing to play at less than 100 percent," he said. "Those players are becoming fewer and fewer."
Page, in three years, has added exactly what Mittie wanted to bring to K-State: Lengthy athletes who can shoot. For her career, K-State is 26-13 when she has made two or more treys in a game. Among Wildcats 6-foot or taller, the 6-foot-3 Page holds the school record for career 3-point makes with 137, 20 more than Mahoney in second.
"There's no doubt that when Kaylee has played well, it has made a huge difference in our team. She has had a very, very good career here. She's had some big, big games," Mittie said, listing off Page's six-trey, 20-point night in this season's win over Oklahoma State, and her 21-point performance against Tulsa in her Wildcat debut. "I'll remember that one. She's had some big moments here."
***
Saturday's game marks another big moment for many.
For Martin and Page, it's their regular season home finale. Each will have an increased number of friends and family in attendance, along with the added emotion that comes with any senior day.
"It almost doesn't seem real," Page said. "It feels like you blink and then it's all gone."
For the team, it's a chance to extend its winning streak over Kansas to nine games. A win would also help keep the hopes of a WNIT bid alive for K-State (13-14, 5-11).
"I haven't lost to KU yet," Martin said. "If we could finish that out, it would mean a lot."
For the program, it will be the culmination of its 50th-year anniversary celebration. More than 65 alumni will be back for the 50th year of the Sunflower Showdown. Before it starts, more than a handful of players from K-State's first team will participate in a warm-up jersey exchange with the current Wildcats.
Martin, who ironically wears the number 50, said the season-long celebration of the program's rich history has been a great reminder of the progress made in women's athletics. Page agreed, referencing an experience some of the current Wildcats had with a few women on the first K-State team while making a video for the 50th-year celebration.
"They talked about how excited they were to get uniforms and when they got to actually use the practice gym because most of the time the guys wouldn't let them use it," Page said. "It was a lot of little things like that that we just take for granted. The little victories that they had throughout their careers were really, really cool to hear about."
Each generation of Wildcats built upon the achievements and sacrifices of those before them, inspiring girls in the stands in the process. If nothing else, Martin and Page said being able to continue that tradition has been one of the most rewarding experiences of being a Wildcat.
"It's so much bigger than a game," Page said. "I would definitely say I've grown in that perspective. Because you grow up and it is just a game…but it's so much bigger than that."
"That's probably what's impacted me the most, is all the girls that have said, 'I wear number 50 because of you. I wear my hair the way you do,'" Martin added. "That's the stuff you don't realize until you look down and you see that these little girls are what you were like when you were little, and I think that's something that really hits home with me. They've got big dreams, just like I did."
K-State MBB Take Three-Game Win Streak into Road Battle with Oklahoma
Riding three-straight wins to cap a trio of regular-season sweeps, K-State men's basketball brings momentum and confidence into its road battle with Oklahoma (16-11, 6-9) on Saturday at 5 p.m., on ESPN2.
Maybe more important, the Wildcats (20-8, 9-6) also enter Norman, Oklahoma, with a mature mindset.
"We've won three games in a row now in one of the toughest leagues and we have another big one coming up on Saturday," junior Barry Brown, Jr. said. "So we're just taking the momentum, trying to ride the wave but stay level-headed and be ready for Saturday."
K-State head coach Bruce Weber, now with four 20-win seasons in six years leading the Wildcats, credited his team's unselfishness in its latest string of wins. With three games left in the regular season, K-State is tied for third in the conference standings and just one game back of second.
"Coaches have been talking about it, and I know they have been talking about it as players, this is about the team," Weber said. "You can't reinvent yourself now. This is about the team, doing what you need to help the team and what you can do. I think they've bought into that."
The biggest benefactor from this team-first mindset? K-State's defense. In Wednesday's 10-point win over Texas, the Wildcats limited the Longhorns to only 48 points on a season-low 28.6 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Part of the Wildcats' defensive rise has come from sophomore Xavier Sneed embracing a battle with Brown as the team's "lockdown" defender. The progression of K-State's young forwards, like freshmen Levi Stockard III and James Love III, have helped as well. Weber said the overall focus and communication on defense has taken a step forward, too.
"Obviously the defense has been really hooked up. Our guys have been locked in," Weber said. "We've made a lot of strides on the defensive end."
The Sooners, one of the best offenses in the country, will test K-State's improvements. The Wildcats frustrated freshman sensation Trae Young and limited Oklahoma to 69 points in an 18-point home win on January 16. K-State knows duplicating such a performance against an Oklahoma team looking to break out of a slump at home will require even better defense, however.
"Keeping a body near (Young) at all times, not letting him get into a rhythm or anything like that and just keeping hands up as well," Sneed said of what K-State did well last time against the Sooners. "Hopefully we do that again this weekend."
Confetti rained down on an 8-year-old Shaelyn Martin as the 2003-04 K-State women's basketball team celebrated the program's first Big 12 Championship with a win over Texas Tech in Bramlage Coliseum.
Martin remembers the day well. She and her family were sitting in the general admission section, watching Wildcat greats like Nicole Ohlde, Kendra Wecker, Laurie Koehn and Megan Mahoney celebrate a historic achievement.
"I was just mesmerized," Martin recalled, also remembering what she told her mother next. "I said, 'I'm so playing here one day.'"
Martin, who attended more K-State games than she can remember growing up, made good on her 8-year-old self's promise. On Saturday at 3 p.m., K-State's fourth-year senior will play her final regular season game in Bramlage Coliseum against in-state rival Kansas.
"It's like I'm to the end of that road," said Martin, a native of Salina who's thought about moments like that day in 2004 more often lately. "It's just amazing how far I've come in four years. It's hard to put into words how much of an impact this place has had on me."
***
Kaylee Page grew up in nearby Wamego and attended countless K-State women's games. She even remembers her parents playing slow pitch softball with Wecker and Ohlde.
Still, Page said she doesn't necessarily have an iconic K-State memory where playing for the Wildcats became the ultimate dream. She said she always simply wanted to play college basketball. For the longest time, she thought she would go to Emporia State, where her mother, aunt and cousin all played.
"Honestly, for a while I had never even thought of going DI. I was, like, 'I just want to play college basketball,'" Page said. "And then I started getting invited to elite camps at DI colleges and I was, like, 'Huh? Maybe I'm better at this than I thought.'"
After a semester at Nebraska, Page transferred to K-State, where she's been part of two NCAA Tournament teams. On Saturday, she will join Martin in their regular season finale at Bramlage Coliseum.
"It's very ironic. It all comes full circle, they say," Page said of ending up at K-State. "I feel like now I have a bigger perspective on things. I can see this is so much bigger than a game. It's so much bigger than trying to put a ball through a hoop."
***
Martin and Page arrived at K-State a year apart, yet each has left her mark on the program's record book in one way or another.
Accurately labeled as "K-State's Swiss army knife" in game notes, Martin leaves as one of six players in K-State history to record at least 500 points, 700 rebounds and 350 assists. She joins Shalee Lehning, Brittany Chambers, Mahoney, Wecker and Ohlde. With four more assists, Martin, Mahoney and Lehning will be the only players from that group with 400 or more assists.
"I didn't know about (that one) until Brian Smoller brought it up on the radio show," Martin said. "Those are players I idolized growing up and I get to add my name next to them. It's something I never thought would happen. Those women had a great impact on me and I hope I can keep doing that for younger girls."
Along with Martin's program-best 90 charges drawn in her career, the 6-foot-1 guard/forward also ranks fifth in school history in career assists (396) and is ninth for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.37). Additionally, she ranks ninth in steals (197), 12th in rebounds (733), and with a start on Saturday she'll be alone in seventh in career starts (117).
All of these figures, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, paint an outline for the type of player and person Martin has been for the Wildcats.
"(She's) willing to do whatever the team needed, willing to sacrifice her body, willing to play whatever role we needed her to play in a season or on a given night, and willing to play at less than 100 percent," he said. "Those players are becoming fewer and fewer."
Page, in three years, has added exactly what Mittie wanted to bring to K-State: Lengthy athletes who can shoot. For her career, K-State is 26-13 when she has made two or more treys in a game. Among Wildcats 6-foot or taller, the 6-foot-3 Page holds the school record for career 3-point makes with 137, 20 more than Mahoney in second.
"There's no doubt that when Kaylee has played well, it has made a huge difference in our team. She has had a very, very good career here. She's had some big, big games," Mittie said, listing off Page's six-trey, 20-point night in this season's win over Oklahoma State, and her 21-point performance against Tulsa in her Wildcat debut. "I'll remember that one. She's had some big moments here."
***
Saturday's game marks another big moment for many.
For Martin and Page, it's their regular season home finale. Each will have an increased number of friends and family in attendance, along with the added emotion that comes with any senior day.
"It almost doesn't seem real," Page said. "It feels like you blink and then it's all gone."
For the team, it's a chance to extend its winning streak over Kansas to nine games. A win would also help keep the hopes of a WNIT bid alive for K-State (13-14, 5-11).
"I haven't lost to KU yet," Martin said. "If we could finish that out, it would mean a lot."
For the program, it will be the culmination of its 50th-year anniversary celebration. More than 65 alumni will be back for the 50th year of the Sunflower Showdown. Before it starts, more than a handful of players from K-State's first team will participate in a warm-up jersey exchange with the current Wildcats.
Honoring the past with a celebration during the present
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 23, 2018
This Saturday's warmup shirts honor the first #KStateWBB team by featuring the names of the players from 1968-69 ?? #50thSeason pic.twitter.com/vcSjFeaNzo
Martin, who ironically wears the number 50, said the season-long celebration of the program's rich history has been a great reminder of the progress made in women's athletics. Page agreed, referencing an experience some of the current Wildcats had with a few women on the first K-State team while making a video for the 50th-year celebration.
"They talked about how excited they were to get uniforms and when they got to actually use the practice gym because most of the time the guys wouldn't let them use it," Page said. "It was a lot of little things like that that we just take for granted. The little victories that they had throughout their careers were really, really cool to hear about."
Each generation of Wildcats built upon the achievements and sacrifices of those before them, inspiring girls in the stands in the process. If nothing else, Martin and Page said being able to continue that tradition has been one of the most rewarding experiences of being a Wildcat.
"It's so much bigger than a game," Page said. "I would definitely say I've grown in that perspective. Because you grow up and it is just a game…but it's so much bigger than that."
"That's probably what's impacted me the most, is all the girls that have said, 'I wear number 50 because of you. I wear my hair the way you do,'" Martin added. "That's the stuff you don't realize until you look down and you see that these little girls are what you were like when you were little, and I think that's something that really hits home with me. They've got big dreams, just like I did."
K-State MBB Take Three-Game Win Streak into Road Battle with Oklahoma
Riding three-straight wins to cap a trio of regular-season sweeps, K-State men's basketball brings momentum and confidence into its road battle with Oklahoma (16-11, 6-9) on Saturday at 5 p.m., on ESPN2.
Maybe more important, the Wildcats (20-8, 9-6) also enter Norman, Oklahoma, with a mature mindset.
"We've won three games in a row now in one of the toughest leagues and we have another big one coming up on Saturday," junior Barry Brown, Jr. said. "So we're just taking the momentum, trying to ride the wave but stay level-headed and be ready for Saturday."
K-State head coach Bruce Weber, now with four 20-win seasons in six years leading the Wildcats, credited his team's unselfishness in its latest string of wins. With three games left in the regular season, K-State is tied for third in the conference standings and just one game back of second.
"Coaches have been talking about it, and I know they have been talking about it as players, this is about the team," Weber said. "You can't reinvent yourself now. This is about the team, doing what you need to help the team and what you can do. I think they've bought into that."
The biggest benefactor from this team-first mindset? K-State's defense. In Wednesday's 10-point win over Texas, the Wildcats limited the Longhorns to only 48 points on a season-low 28.6 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Part of the Wildcats' defensive rise has come from sophomore Xavier Sneed embracing a battle with Brown as the team's "lockdown" defender. The progression of K-State's young forwards, like freshmen Levi Stockard III and James Love III, have helped as well. Weber said the overall focus and communication on defense has taken a step forward, too.
"Obviously the defense has been really hooked up. Our guys have been locked in," Weber said. "We've made a lot of strides on the defensive end."
The Sooners, one of the best offenses in the country, will test K-State's improvements. The Wildcats frustrated freshman sensation Trae Young and limited Oklahoma to 69 points in an 18-point home win on January 16. K-State knows duplicating such a performance against an Oklahoma team looking to break out of a slump at home will require even better defense, however.
"Keeping a body near (Young) at all times, not letting him get into a rhythm or anything like that and just keeping hands up as well," Sneed said of what K-State did well last time against the Sooners. "Hopefully we do that again this weekend."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballK-State Women's Basketball | Tess Heal Senior Video
Sunday, February 22
K-State Women's Basketball | Mikayla Parks Senior Video
Sunday, February 22
K-State Women's Basketball | Senior Night Ceremony 2025 - 2026 Season
Sunday, February 22
K-State Women's Basketball | Coach Mittie Press Conference vs Kansas
Sunday, February 22
