Kansas State University Athletics
Thursday, March 15
Manhattan, Kan.
7 p.m.
Kansas State University
17-15
75
vs
61
Saint Louis
17-16
1
2
3
4
F
Saint Louis
10
22
17
12
61
Kansas State
12
26
19
18
75
K-State Advances to Second Round of Postseason WNIT
Mar 15, 2018 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – For the sixth time in program history, Kansas State women's basketball hosted an opening round game of the Postseason WNIT in Bramlage Coliseum and for the sixth time the Wildcats advanced to the second round, as K-State defeated Saint Louis, 75-61, on Thursday night.
Kansas State will face Utah on Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets for K-State's second round matchup with Utah are available now, by calling the K-State Ticket Office at (800) 221-CATS, visiting www.kstatesports.com/tickets or by stopping by the K-State Athletic Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum.
Tickets are priced at $15 for chair backs, $10 for adult general admission and $5 for youth and senior citizens. All K-State students will receive free entry by showing a valid K-State ID at the door.
Kansas State (17-15) was led on Thursday by the trio of Peyton Williams, Rachel Ranke and Kayla Goth. Williams finished with a game-high 21 points and pulled in eight rebounds. This was her 15th game this season with 15 or more points and five or more rebounds.
Ranke recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. With her three 3-pointers against the Billikens, Ranke has 88 for the season and is tied for seventh in program history.
Goth carded 19 points and six assists for her 18th game this season with 15 or more points and five or more assists. With her 19 points, Goth has now scored 545 for the season and ranks third in program history for points by a Wildcat in a junior season.
Senior Shaelyn Martin returned to the lineup to finish with eight points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Saint Louis (17-16) was paced by Maddison Gits with 14 points while Jenny Vliet chipped in with 13 points.
After a sluggish first quarter by both teams, Kansas State held a 12-10 lead. Goth would beat the end of quarter buzzer with a jumper to give the Wildcats the two-point edge. K-State shot 4-14 from the field in the opening frame, while Saint Louis was held to a 5-of-13 effort.
In the second quarter, K-State turned up the offense by racing out to 12 quick points to force a Billikens timeout as the Wildcats held a 24-16 lead with 6:58 remaining in the second frame. Goth capped the opened the run with a layup and capped the effort with a three-pointer to force the timeout.
After the timeout, Saint Louis narrowed the game to three, 24-21, with 6:01 to play. K-State then found Williams on the next three offensive possessions, as she tallied six points to give K-State a 30-23 lead.
Saint Louis would close to within three twice before the end of the half, but three free throws from Goth and Martin sent K-State into halftime with a 38-32 lead. K-State outscored Saint Louis, 26-22, in the second quarter as the Wildcats shot 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from the field.
After the teams traded baskets to open the third quarter, a baseline cut by Ranke resulted in a layup that started a 2-2 run. At the end of the run, Ranke chased down a loose ball. After gaining control away from a Billiken, Ranke remained on her backside and found a cutting Williams who finished a layup and forced a Saint Louis timeout with K-State leading, 48-38, with 6:29 to play in the third.
Ranke then scored K-State's next five points, knocking down a 3-pointer in transition then finishing a layup to increase K-State's lead to 53-38 with 4:59 to play in the quarter.
The Billikens ended the third quarter on an 11-4 run to bring the game to within eight, 57-49. K-State went cold from the field over the final 4:24 of the quarter, shooting 1-of-10 from the floor to close the third.
In the final frame, K-State used an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 16, 65-49, with 5:58 remaining. The Wildcats held the Billikens without a field goal for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to construct the advantage.
After five quick points from Saint Louis, K-State put the game away with a 7-0 run as Williams converted a layup and a jumper during the run to give K-State its largest lead of the night at 18, 72-54, with 2:54 remaining.
For the night, Kansas State shot 40.0 percent from the field (26-of-65) but held a 16-0 edge in second chance points. K-State outrebounded Saint Louis, 42-28, which was its largest rebounding margin since Dec. 18, 2017, against Chicago State when K-State held a +23 edge on the boards.
Saint Louis shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the floor but were forced into 17 turnovers. K-State tallied a 17-6 edge in points off turnovers.
What They Said
K-State Head Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the game…
"I thought it was a grind it game early. Offense was hard to come by. We felt like coming into the game we needed to get to the free throw line, that was one of the things that I thought we did fairly well tonight was get to the line. On film, we had seen that teams had been getting [to the free throw line], so that was part of a charge to our group. We were fairly sporadic shooting the ball tonight, so there were really good stretches then really poor stretches, so the free throw line was the point that was most consistent for us. Defensively we played quite a bit more man than we had in the past, and this has been a style of team that has given us a lot of trouble, so we spent more time on man in the layoff, but that was intentional because that was before we knew who our opponent was. That was just us trying to do better at what we have as a weakness."
On limiting Jackie Kemph…
"I thought we did a good job on her. Now, she ends up with 10 assists and nine points, but this is a player who averages 17 points a game, she has been the A-10 player of the year twice in her four years. I thought our group was pretty good against her most of the night. I give credit to our defense, we stunted and recovered better on their shooters. We left her one on one with our bigger guards, and we felt like that would be the best way to defend her."
On the rebounding…
"It was pretty good. We were out-rebounded by a junior high team over the break, so for us to out rebound anybody that was big. I did think we rebounded well. It started with Shae (Martin) and Rachel (Ranke) ended up with a double-double. She had been rebounding better since January and she had made an emphasis to rebound better. She understands when we send her to the offensive glass more recently and she has done a good job there, so pretty solid."
Sophomore Forward Peyton Williams
On missing some opportunities at the beginning of the game …
"Like Coach Mittie said, it was a slow start for all of us. We were kind of joking that no one could score there for a little while and that there were lids on the basket on both sides. There were some missed opportunities but it was not like we were not making plays. It just was not quite falling the way we hoped. You can argue there are a lot of missed opportunities all the time but it was just very apparent in that first part of the game."
On getting into a rhythm late in the game…
"I started being more aggressive and trying to play through contact more. My counter move was not quite working towards the beginning so I had to adjust to them switching up people who were playing me. One time I had a short girl on me and the next time I had the big girl on me. I was kind of discombobulated at that at first so I had to adjust. It ended up with me being more aggressive and trying to find my shot over time. I obviously got some assists from Shae Martin and Kayla Goth so that is helpful as well."
Freshman Guard Rachel Ranke
On getting her first career double-double…
"It feels great, honestly. It is always fun to have the home court advantage in the NIT so just coming out with a lot of confidence was pretty big for our first round."
Kansas State will face Utah on Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets for K-State's second round matchup with Utah are available now, by calling the K-State Ticket Office at (800) 221-CATS, visiting www.kstatesports.com/tickets or by stopping by the K-State Athletic Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum.
Tickets are priced at $15 for chair backs, $10 for adult general admission and $5 for youth and senior citizens. All K-State students will receive free entry by showing a valid K-State ID at the door.
Kansas State (17-15) was led on Thursday by the trio of Peyton Williams, Rachel Ranke and Kayla Goth. Williams finished with a game-high 21 points and pulled in eight rebounds. This was her 15th game this season with 15 or more points and five or more rebounds.
Ranke recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. With her three 3-pointers against the Billikens, Ranke has 88 for the season and is tied for seventh in program history.
Goth carded 19 points and six assists for her 18th game this season with 15 or more points and five or more assists. With her 19 points, Goth has now scored 545 for the season and ranks third in program history for points by a Wildcat in a junior season.
Senior Shaelyn Martin returned to the lineup to finish with eight points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Saint Louis (17-16) was paced by Maddison Gits with 14 points while Jenny Vliet chipped in with 13 points.
After a sluggish first quarter by both teams, Kansas State held a 12-10 lead. Goth would beat the end of quarter buzzer with a jumper to give the Wildcats the two-point edge. K-State shot 4-14 from the field in the opening frame, while Saint Louis was held to a 5-of-13 effort.
In the second quarter, K-State turned up the offense by racing out to 12 quick points to force a Billikens timeout as the Wildcats held a 24-16 lead with 6:58 remaining in the second frame. Goth capped the opened the run with a layup and capped the effort with a three-pointer to force the timeout.
After the timeout, Saint Louis narrowed the game to three, 24-21, with 6:01 to play. K-State then found Williams on the next three offensive possessions, as she tallied six points to give K-State a 30-23 lead.
Saint Louis would close to within three twice before the end of the half, but three free throws from Goth and Martin sent K-State into halftime with a 38-32 lead. K-State outscored Saint Louis, 26-22, in the second quarter as the Wildcats shot 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from the field.
After the teams traded baskets to open the third quarter, a baseline cut by Ranke resulted in a layup that started a 2-2 run. At the end of the run, Ranke chased down a loose ball. After gaining control away from a Billiken, Ranke remained on her backside and found a cutting Williams who finished a layup and forced a Saint Louis timeout with K-State leading, 48-38, with 6:29 to play in the third.
Ranke then scored K-State's next five points, knocking down a 3-pointer in transition then finishing a layup to increase K-State's lead to 53-38 with 4:59 to play in the quarter.
The Billikens ended the third quarter on an 11-4 run to bring the game to within eight, 57-49. K-State went cold from the field over the final 4:24 of the quarter, shooting 1-of-10 from the floor to close the third.
In the final frame, K-State used an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 16, 65-49, with 5:58 remaining. The Wildcats held the Billikens without a field goal for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to construct the advantage.
After five quick points from Saint Louis, K-State put the game away with a 7-0 run as Williams converted a layup and a jumper during the run to give K-State its largest lead of the night at 18, 72-54, with 2:54 remaining.
For the night, Kansas State shot 40.0 percent from the field (26-of-65) but held a 16-0 edge in second chance points. K-State outrebounded Saint Louis, 42-28, which was its largest rebounding margin since Dec. 18, 2017, against Chicago State when K-State held a +23 edge on the boards.
Saint Louis shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the floor but were forced into 17 turnovers. K-State tallied a 17-6 edge in points off turnovers.
What They Said
K-State Head Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the game…
"I thought it was a grind it game early. Offense was hard to come by. We felt like coming into the game we needed to get to the free throw line, that was one of the things that I thought we did fairly well tonight was get to the line. On film, we had seen that teams had been getting [to the free throw line], so that was part of a charge to our group. We were fairly sporadic shooting the ball tonight, so there were really good stretches then really poor stretches, so the free throw line was the point that was most consistent for us. Defensively we played quite a bit more man than we had in the past, and this has been a style of team that has given us a lot of trouble, so we spent more time on man in the layoff, but that was intentional because that was before we knew who our opponent was. That was just us trying to do better at what we have as a weakness."
On limiting Jackie Kemph…
"I thought we did a good job on her. Now, she ends up with 10 assists and nine points, but this is a player who averages 17 points a game, she has been the A-10 player of the year twice in her four years. I thought our group was pretty good against her most of the night. I give credit to our defense, we stunted and recovered better on their shooters. We left her one on one with our bigger guards, and we felt like that would be the best way to defend her."
On the rebounding…
"It was pretty good. We were out-rebounded by a junior high team over the break, so for us to out rebound anybody that was big. I did think we rebounded well. It started with Shae (Martin) and Rachel (Ranke) ended up with a double-double. She had been rebounding better since January and she had made an emphasis to rebound better. She understands when we send her to the offensive glass more recently and she has done a good job there, so pretty solid."
Sophomore Forward Peyton Williams
On missing some opportunities at the beginning of the game …
"Like Coach Mittie said, it was a slow start for all of us. We were kind of joking that no one could score there for a little while and that there were lids on the basket on both sides. There were some missed opportunities but it was not like we were not making plays. It just was not quite falling the way we hoped. You can argue there are a lot of missed opportunities all the time but it was just very apparent in that first part of the game."
On getting into a rhythm late in the game…
"I started being more aggressive and trying to play through contact more. My counter move was not quite working towards the beginning so I had to adjust to them switching up people who were playing me. One time I had a short girl on me and the next time I had the big girl on me. I was kind of discombobulated at that at first so I had to adjust. It ended up with me being more aggressive and trying to find my shot over time. I obviously got some assists from Shae Martin and Kayla Goth so that is helpful as well."
Freshman Guard Rachel Ranke
On getting her first career double-double…
"It feels great, honestly. It is always fun to have the home court advantage in the NIT so just coming out with a lot of confidence was pretty big for our first round."
Team Stats
SLU
K-STATE
FG%
.414
.400
3FG%
.318
.286
FT%
1.000
.773
RB
28
42
TO
17
11
STL
3
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
19
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
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