Kansas State University Athletics
Sunday, March 18
Manhattan, Kan.
5 p.m.
Kansas State University
18-15
74
vs
57
Utah
18-14
1
2
3
4
F
Utah
12
10
18
17
57
Kansas State
15
18
19
22
74
K-State Advances to Round of 16 in WNIT
Mar 18, 2018 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – With 47 combined points from Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth, Kansas State defended its home floor against in the 2018 Postseason WNIT with a 74-57 win over Utah on Sunday evening. K-State is now 16-4 all-time in the WNIT including a 16-2 record in Bramlage Coliseum.
Kansas State will face UC Davis on Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets for K-State's third round matchup with UC Davis 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.
K-State (18-15) featured a trio in double figures, as Williams tallied a game-high 24 points while Goth contributed 23 points. Williams added seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals to her final stat line. Goth dished out four assists and added two blocks.
Williams is the first Wildcat to score 20 or more points in consecutive Postseason WNIT games since Brittany Chambers during the 2013 Postseason WNIT.
With her four assists, Goth now ranks tied for 11th in Big 12 history for assists in a season with 221. The junior from DeForest, Wisconsin, needs nine assists to set the school single-season record for assists currently held by Shalee Lehning (229; 2008-09).
Joining Williams and Goth in double figures was senior forward Kaylee Page with 11 points, four assists and three steals.
Utah (18-14) was led by Megan Huff with 23 points, including 15 points in the first half, and nine rebounds. Also in double figures for the Utes was Tanaeya BoClair with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Both teams eased their way into the game, but the Wildcats built a 10-4 lead after Goth connected on a baseline jumper with 3:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Utah answered back with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 10 with 1:55 remaining.
K-State would hold the lead at the end of the first quarter, 15-12, as Ranke connected on her first 3-pointer of the evening and Goth found Shaelyn Martin wide open under the basket for a layup before the buzzer.
In the second quarter, K-State blitzed the Utes with a 9-0 run to construct a 24-12 lead with 7:24 to play in the opening half. Williams was responsible for seven of the nine points during the run, as she converted a pair of layups and a 3-pointer.
Utah was only able to pull within six points twice during the second quarter, as Kaylee Page finished a layup and then a three-pointer to give K-State a 29-20 lead with 2:26 to play in the quarter. Goth then closed the period with a pair of jumpers to send the Wildcats into the locker room with a 33-22 lead at the break. K-State shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from the field in the second quarter.
A jumper from Page with 8:06 to play in the third quarter gave K-State a 37-24 lead. Utah would respond with a 14-4 run over the next four and a half minutes to pull within three, 41-38, with 3:44 to play in the third stanza.
K-State ended the rally and closed the final 3:44 of the quarter with an 11-2 run to build a 52-40 lead entering the fourth quarter. Williams registered nine of the 11 points during the run and 11 total points in the third quarter.
Goth opened the fourth quarter scoring with a 3-pointer and K-State went on a 7-1 run to lead 59-41 with 5:59 remaining in the fourth quarter. Utah then used a 9-2 run to pull within 11, 61-50, with 4:28 remaining.
K-State used an 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch to seal the win over the Utes. A layup from Williams with 1:47 remaining in the game gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the night at 72-52.
For the game, K-State shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) which was boosted by shooting 50.0 percent or better in the final three quarters. Utah shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) but were forced into 14 turnovers resulting in a 14-11 edge for K-State in points off turnovers.
What They Said
K-State Head Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the game…
"It was good. I thought we did pretty good. I thought our group was pretty engaged right away. I felt like Utah could really move the basketball pretty well. Especially when they went to their small lineup. I thought early, we moved it offensively well enough. We made Emily Potter defend the perimeter. That got them to go to the smaller lineup. I thought our players had pretty good awareness most of the game."
On Peyton Williams…
"I was very impressed that she was catching with confidence and shooting the ball. There was no hesitation. She was not checking to see where the ball was. In order to do that you have to get the ball right where you want it, when you want it. I thought we passed the ball pretty well. Particularly at the end. When we were passing to a scorer, we were giving them a pretty good pass."
On what was said during halftime…
"We came out after halftime and played pretty well. But they went on that nice run. I did not say anything magical in terms of that. We did talk about getting our spacing back. There was a stretch where we were not well spaced. When we had good spacing we were scoring. We did talk about skipping the ball and continuing to spread them as much as we could. This game really boiled down to when we were able to move the ball and execute well, they had trouble defending us. When they did those things, we had trouble defending them. We had a difficult time defending their attack from the elbow. That was an area where we did not defend really well."
Junior Guard Kayla Goth
On advancing to the third round of the WNIT…
"It feels awesome. We are a pretty young team so to be able to make it to the postseason and make a run in the postseason is really big for us. We are playing pretty well right now as a team. We are moving the ball really well. Hopefully we can keep that going."
On the benefits of the postseason experience…
"It is very beneficial. It is very big for a young team. We are graduating Kaylee Page, Shaelyn Martin which are big minutes there, and Karyla Middlebrook is a big part of that. We are really young. We have a lot of really young players. It is good to get them on the floor. It is good to get them some minutes and to see what we can make of it."
Kansas State will face UC Davis on Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets for K-State's third round matchup with UC Davis 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.
K-State (18-15) featured a trio in double figures, as Williams tallied a game-high 24 points while Goth contributed 23 points. Williams added seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals to her final stat line. Goth dished out four assists and added two blocks.
Williams is the first Wildcat to score 20 or more points in consecutive Postseason WNIT games since Brittany Chambers during the 2013 Postseason WNIT.
With her four assists, Goth now ranks tied for 11th in Big 12 history for assists in a season with 221. The junior from DeForest, Wisconsin, needs nine assists to set the school single-season record for assists currently held by Shalee Lehning (229; 2008-09).
Joining Williams and Goth in double figures was senior forward Kaylee Page with 11 points, four assists and three steals.
Utah (18-14) was led by Megan Huff with 23 points, including 15 points in the first half, and nine rebounds. Also in double figures for the Utes was Tanaeya BoClair with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Both teams eased their way into the game, but the Wildcats built a 10-4 lead after Goth connected on a baseline jumper with 3:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Utah answered back with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 10 with 1:55 remaining.
K-State would hold the lead at the end of the first quarter, 15-12, as Ranke connected on her first 3-pointer of the evening and Goth found Shaelyn Martin wide open under the basket for a layup before the buzzer.
In the second quarter, K-State blitzed the Utes with a 9-0 run to construct a 24-12 lead with 7:24 to play in the opening half. Williams was responsible for seven of the nine points during the run, as she converted a pair of layups and a 3-pointer.
Utah was only able to pull within six points twice during the second quarter, as Kaylee Page finished a layup and then a three-pointer to give K-State a 29-20 lead with 2:26 to play in the quarter. Goth then closed the period with a pair of jumpers to send the Wildcats into the locker room with a 33-22 lead at the break. K-State shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from the field in the second quarter.
A jumper from Page with 8:06 to play in the third quarter gave K-State a 37-24 lead. Utah would respond with a 14-4 run over the next four and a half minutes to pull within three, 41-38, with 3:44 to play in the third stanza.
K-State ended the rally and closed the final 3:44 of the quarter with an 11-2 run to build a 52-40 lead entering the fourth quarter. Williams registered nine of the 11 points during the run and 11 total points in the third quarter.
Goth opened the fourth quarter scoring with a 3-pointer and K-State went on a 7-1 run to lead 59-41 with 5:59 remaining in the fourth quarter. Utah then used a 9-2 run to pull within 11, 61-50, with 4:28 remaining.
K-State used an 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch to seal the win over the Utes. A layup from Williams with 1:47 remaining in the game gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the night at 72-52.
For the game, K-State shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) which was boosted by shooting 50.0 percent or better in the final three quarters. Utah shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) but were forced into 14 turnovers resulting in a 14-11 edge for K-State in points off turnovers.
What They Said
K-State Head Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the game…
"It was good. I thought we did pretty good. I thought our group was pretty engaged right away. I felt like Utah could really move the basketball pretty well. Especially when they went to their small lineup. I thought early, we moved it offensively well enough. We made Emily Potter defend the perimeter. That got them to go to the smaller lineup. I thought our players had pretty good awareness most of the game."
On Peyton Williams…
"I was very impressed that she was catching with confidence and shooting the ball. There was no hesitation. She was not checking to see where the ball was. In order to do that you have to get the ball right where you want it, when you want it. I thought we passed the ball pretty well. Particularly at the end. When we were passing to a scorer, we were giving them a pretty good pass."
On what was said during halftime…
"We came out after halftime and played pretty well. But they went on that nice run. I did not say anything magical in terms of that. We did talk about getting our spacing back. There was a stretch where we were not well spaced. When we had good spacing we were scoring. We did talk about skipping the ball and continuing to spread them as much as we could. This game really boiled down to when we were able to move the ball and execute well, they had trouble defending us. When they did those things, we had trouble defending them. We had a difficult time defending their attack from the elbow. That was an area where we did not defend really well."
Junior Guard Kayla Goth
On advancing to the third round of the WNIT…
"It feels awesome. We are a pretty young team so to be able to make it to the postseason and make a run in the postseason is really big for us. We are playing pretty well right now as a team. We are moving the ball really well. Hopefully we can keep that going."
On the benefits of the postseason experience…
"It is very beneficial. It is very big for a young team. We are graduating Kaylee Page, Shaelyn Martin which are big minutes there, and Karyla Middlebrook is a big part of that. We are really young. We have a lot of really young players. It is good to get them on the floor. It is good to get them some minutes and to see what we can make of it."
Team Stats
UTAHW
K-STATE
FG%
.323
.491
3FG%
.190
.227
FT%
.867
.929
RB
37
35
TO
14
12
STL
8
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
10
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
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