Kansas State University Athletics
Thursday, January 28
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
5-8,0-6Big 12
60
vs
62
Iowa State
11-5,7-2Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Iowa St.
15
22
14
11
62
Kansas St.
17
15
18
10
60
K-State Drops Tight Contest to Iowa State
Jan 28, 2021 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State and Iowa State played to a one possession game on Thursday night at Bramlage Coliseum, as the Cyclones edged by the Wildcats, 62-60.
Trailing by one point, 51-50, entering the fourth quarter, K-State (5-8, 0-6 Big 12) made four free throws and Iowa State made a 3-pointer for a 54-54 tie with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. The teams shot a combined 1-of-12 from the field in the first six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter.
Iowa State (11-5, 7-2) would pull in front, 58-56, on an Ashley Joens layup with 34 seconds remaining. After a pair of Cyclone free throws, Ayoka Lee converted a layup to bring K-State within two, 60-58, with 13 seconds left.
Iowa State made one of two free throws with nine seconds to play for a 61-58 lead. Rachel Ranke made a wide-open layup on a baseline inbound play with six seconds remaining to bring the Wildcats within one. Another one of two effort from the foul line left the door open for K-State. Ranke's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer from the top of the key just missed to the left.
"Defensively, we played well and did some good things," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. "I think we did enough on that end of the floor to win the game. But it goes back to that fourth quarter. We can't shoot 3-of-14 and we're fortunate enough to be in it, especially against an offensive team like Iowa State because they are so offensive. I thought our group did execute some things a bit better. We had some open shots in the last three and a half minutes so there were some things we liked, but we have to make those plays. Our execution was better, and I thought we battled better and continued to be in the fight."
The Wildcats were led by Lee with her fourth double-double of the season and the 23rd of her career, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and 12 rebounds. The product of Byron, Minnesota, is tied for seventh in school history for career double-doubles with Shalee Lehning (2005-09; 23).
Lee was also 5-of-5 from the free throw line. She has now made 22 consecutive free throws dating back to her final make against Texas on December 21. This is the longest consecutive free throw streak by a Wildcat since Peyton Williams set the school record of 38 over a two-season span.
Joining Lee in double figures were sophomore guard Christianna Carr and senior guard Sydney Goodson with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Carr also hauled in six rebounds and dished five assists to tie her career-high.
Goodson added five rebounds, two asssists and two steals to her final line. The 11 points were a season-high for the product of Argyle, Texas.
The Cyclones were paced by Ashley Joens with 22 points, while Kristin Scott scored 15 points.
K-State opened the game with an 11-3 run which included three connections from beyond the arc including two from Goodson to build an 11-6 lead with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter. The Wildcats would end the frame with a 17-15 advantage.
Iowa State rallied to take a 34-23 lead with 4:21 to play in the second quarter. The Cyclones strung together a 14-1 run over a four-minute stretch to move in front.
The Wildcats would claw back into the game and trail by five, 37-32, at the half. Carr registered seven straight points to bring K-State back into the game. Carr would end the opening half with 10 points.
Goodson scored K-State's first five points of the third quarter to tie the game at 37 with 8:43 to play. Iowa State then pieced together a 9-0 run to pull ahead, 46-37, and force a K-State timeout with 5:28 remaining in the third stanza. After the timeout, Lee scored four points to bring the Wildcats back to within five, 46-41, with four minutes to play.
K-State would win the third quarter, 18-14, as Ranke connected on an off-balance jumper with 3:09 to play to begin a 9-2 run by the Wildcats. Lee would bury a jumper followed by an old-fashioned three-point play.
Carr then converted a jumper just before the shot clock expired with 31 seconds remaining in the quarter to bring the Wildcats within one, 51-50, at the end of the frame.
For the night, the Wildcats shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field which was boosted by a 34-22 edge in points in the paint as K-State was held to 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from 3-point range. Mittie was please with how the defense performed on Thursday.
"I thought our effort was better. The one stretch I didn't like, and I jumped them pretty good, was in the second quarter where we were tying our effort to how things were going offensively and I thought we were pretty internal at that time. That's an area this team has to get better at. They can get internal at times and that's when they lose their defensive effort. When they play and get tougher, I think our defense is pretty good and I think it made strides tonight."
The Cyclones shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the floor including a 23.3 percent (7-of-30) performance from 3-point range. Iowa State was 17-of-21 from the foul line, while K-State was 10-of-12.
K-State ends its week by hosting Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Tickets for Sunday's game are available by calling (800) 221-CATS or by visiting kstatesports.com/tickets.
Sunday's game will be available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, K-STATE HEAD COACH
On the late game talks with the team...
"I went into a long stretch with only one timeout. That was an opportunity for me to at least chat with them and rest a little bit and shorten the game, so we weren't really going to initiate offense until about 12 seconds (in the shot clock) so we were trying to help them with what we were seeing on the floor. I think we had shots. Laura (Macke) had a couple open threes in the corner and we knew they were sagging off of her there. We had a jumper in the paint, Chrissy (Carr) had a drive, so there were opportunities for us there, we just have to have the confidence to make those plays and I think we will. Lauren Macke played her tail off and got us off to a great start tonight. What a great effort by her. Emilee Ebert played her tail off, Chrissy played her tail off. I could go on and on, I thought there were some really good things. The results are hard to take, there's no doubt the results are hard to take. Ayoka (Lee) played through foul trouble and I thought we got her the ball in the second half better so there were some positives."
On multiple coaches missing tonight's game...
"We had two coaches out. We had a COVID protocol situation so we had two coaches out and an administrative coach out as well. It's just part of the challenge of this year is being ready for everything. At the start of the year I put out a depth chart for coaches. I've never done that in my life before, but I have a depth chart of coaches that have to go to different duties if these things happen. I was hoping not to use it but we had to use it tonight. I thought the staff did a good job, and executed things fine and kept me informed. They were busy with the fouls, we had to battle through foul trouble so the staff was busy with the fouls."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On her foul trouble…
"Unfortunately it's a situation I've been in a lot recently. I think tonight I played a lot smarter so it wasn't as frustrating. I think we were just playing well so I wasn't dwelling on it and went on to the next play."
On opponents' game plan against her foul trouble…
"They definitely run different plays to put me in not great positions that I'm not used to. But it's on me and comes down to being smart."
On her scoring tonight…
"I had to go in and be aggressive. Coach Mittie said go to work and you're going to get calls, and that's exactly what happened. I just had to be aggressive inside and go to work when they gave the ball to me."
SYDNEY GOODSON, SENIOR GUARD
On the late game possession…
"I think we obviously needed a three at that point, so kind of the game plan was to get it in bounds and skip pass over to one of the guards, either Chrissy or Rachel. Iowa State defended it really well, so props to them. They tipped it out of bounds and got us off rhythm. We for sure needed a three in that moment, so that was kind of the game plan and strategy there."
On her early success in the first quarter…
"I was super comfortable, kind of felt like I got my legs back under me and got some confidence going. Been in the gym a lot getting some extra shots up. It's cool to watch it pay off. I felt good and had lots of energy. I tried to keep it consistent throughout the whole game."
On the offense dealing with pressure defense…
"I think there's advantages to when they pressure me and disadvantages. So when they're off of me, it packs the paint a little bit more and makes it harder to get the ball inside and things like that. If they're up on me, it makes it harder for me to do my job to start the offense, so I think there are pros and cons to each side. I like a mixture of both if I had my pick. I obviously don't get to pick. They sagged off a little bit and kind of let us take our time and we kind of got the pace down a little bit to where we wanted it."
BILL FENNELLY, IOWA STATE HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"I realize some of the questions will be about 700 wins and I appreciate that but I would hope if we could start by celebrating 11 wins for this team, seven conference wins for this team, five road wins for this team. Those are the numbers that are more important today and certainly more important to this group of kids. So I'll answer whatever you need but hopefully we can talk about the game too. So thank you."
On the team grinding it out down the stretch…
"That's exactly the best word, grinding. We talked about at shootaround today being as determined as we can be. We knew it would be a hard game. We knew they would tempo the game. They did, they did a great job. We missed a lot of shots that I think on a normal night maybe we make but when we weren't scoring there in the fourth quarter for a few minutes, they weren't scoring either. So I thought we did, we grinded out. We played the game the way we had to play it tonight to win, a really, really gutsy effort by our team."
On the shot attempts they got on offense…
"Yeah I really thought we had good looks, I really did. We had some three's that I would say, take again. We had some drives to the basket that we didn't finish. I thought K-State played a really good defensive plan. They were switching a lot. They made us really work hard to get to the basket but 7-30 from the three and I'd say a lot of those shots were good ones and unfortunately tonight they weren't going in. We didn't turn over the ball a lot, we guarded really hard and found a way to survive I guess."
Trailing by one point, 51-50, entering the fourth quarter, K-State (5-8, 0-6 Big 12) made four free throws and Iowa State made a 3-pointer for a 54-54 tie with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. The teams shot a combined 1-of-12 from the field in the first six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter.
Iowa State (11-5, 7-2) would pull in front, 58-56, on an Ashley Joens layup with 34 seconds remaining. After a pair of Cyclone free throws, Ayoka Lee converted a layup to bring K-State within two, 60-58, with 13 seconds left.
Iowa State made one of two free throws with nine seconds to play for a 61-58 lead. Rachel Ranke made a wide-open layup on a baseline inbound play with six seconds remaining to bring the Wildcats within one. Another one of two effort from the foul line left the door open for K-State. Ranke's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer from the top of the key just missed to the left.
"Defensively, we played well and did some good things," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. "I think we did enough on that end of the floor to win the game. But it goes back to that fourth quarter. We can't shoot 3-of-14 and we're fortunate enough to be in it, especially against an offensive team like Iowa State because they are so offensive. I thought our group did execute some things a bit better. We had some open shots in the last three and a half minutes so there were some things we liked, but we have to make those plays. Our execution was better, and I thought we battled better and continued to be in the fight."
The Wildcats were led by Lee with her fourth double-double of the season and the 23rd of her career, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and 12 rebounds. The product of Byron, Minnesota, is tied for seventh in school history for career double-doubles with Shalee Lehning (2005-09; 23).
Lee was also 5-of-5 from the free throw line. She has now made 22 consecutive free throws dating back to her final make against Texas on December 21. This is the longest consecutive free throw streak by a Wildcat since Peyton Williams set the school record of 38 over a two-season span.
Joining Lee in double figures were sophomore guard Christianna Carr and senior guard Sydney Goodson with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Carr also hauled in six rebounds and dished five assists to tie her career-high.
Goodson added five rebounds, two asssists and two steals to her final line. The 11 points were a season-high for the product of Argyle, Texas.
The Cyclones were paced by Ashley Joens with 22 points, while Kristin Scott scored 15 points.
K-State opened the game with an 11-3 run which included three connections from beyond the arc including two from Goodson to build an 11-6 lead with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter. The Wildcats would end the frame with a 17-15 advantage.
Iowa State rallied to take a 34-23 lead with 4:21 to play in the second quarter. The Cyclones strung together a 14-1 run over a four-minute stretch to move in front.
The Wildcats would claw back into the game and trail by five, 37-32, at the half. Carr registered seven straight points to bring K-State back into the game. Carr would end the opening half with 10 points.
Goodson scored K-State's first five points of the third quarter to tie the game at 37 with 8:43 to play. Iowa State then pieced together a 9-0 run to pull ahead, 46-37, and force a K-State timeout with 5:28 remaining in the third stanza. After the timeout, Lee scored four points to bring the Wildcats back to within five, 46-41, with four minutes to play.
K-State would win the third quarter, 18-14, as Ranke connected on an off-balance jumper with 3:09 to play to begin a 9-2 run by the Wildcats. Lee would bury a jumper followed by an old-fashioned three-point play.
Carr then converted a jumper just before the shot clock expired with 31 seconds remaining in the quarter to bring the Wildcats within one, 51-50, at the end of the frame.
For the night, the Wildcats shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field which was boosted by a 34-22 edge in points in the paint as K-State was held to 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from 3-point range. Mittie was please with how the defense performed on Thursday.
"I thought our effort was better. The one stretch I didn't like, and I jumped them pretty good, was in the second quarter where we were tying our effort to how things were going offensively and I thought we were pretty internal at that time. That's an area this team has to get better at. They can get internal at times and that's when they lose their defensive effort. When they play and get tougher, I think our defense is pretty good and I think it made strides tonight."
The Cyclones shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the floor including a 23.3 percent (7-of-30) performance from 3-point range. Iowa State was 17-of-21 from the foul line, while K-State was 10-of-12.
K-State ends its week by hosting Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Tickets for Sunday's game are available by calling (800) 221-CATS or by visiting kstatesports.com/tickets.
Sunday's game will be available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, K-STATE HEAD COACH
On the late game talks with the team...
"I went into a long stretch with only one timeout. That was an opportunity for me to at least chat with them and rest a little bit and shorten the game, so we weren't really going to initiate offense until about 12 seconds (in the shot clock) so we were trying to help them with what we were seeing on the floor. I think we had shots. Laura (Macke) had a couple open threes in the corner and we knew they were sagging off of her there. We had a jumper in the paint, Chrissy (Carr) had a drive, so there were opportunities for us there, we just have to have the confidence to make those plays and I think we will. Lauren Macke played her tail off and got us off to a great start tonight. What a great effort by her. Emilee Ebert played her tail off, Chrissy played her tail off. I could go on and on, I thought there were some really good things. The results are hard to take, there's no doubt the results are hard to take. Ayoka (Lee) played through foul trouble and I thought we got her the ball in the second half better so there were some positives."
On multiple coaches missing tonight's game...
"We had two coaches out. We had a COVID protocol situation so we had two coaches out and an administrative coach out as well. It's just part of the challenge of this year is being ready for everything. At the start of the year I put out a depth chart for coaches. I've never done that in my life before, but I have a depth chart of coaches that have to go to different duties if these things happen. I was hoping not to use it but we had to use it tonight. I thought the staff did a good job, and executed things fine and kept me informed. They were busy with the fouls, we had to battle through foul trouble so the staff was busy with the fouls."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On her foul trouble…
"Unfortunately it's a situation I've been in a lot recently. I think tonight I played a lot smarter so it wasn't as frustrating. I think we were just playing well so I wasn't dwelling on it and went on to the next play."
On opponents' game plan against her foul trouble…
"They definitely run different plays to put me in not great positions that I'm not used to. But it's on me and comes down to being smart."
On her scoring tonight…
"I had to go in and be aggressive. Coach Mittie said go to work and you're going to get calls, and that's exactly what happened. I just had to be aggressive inside and go to work when they gave the ball to me."
SYDNEY GOODSON, SENIOR GUARD
On the late game possession…
"I think we obviously needed a three at that point, so kind of the game plan was to get it in bounds and skip pass over to one of the guards, either Chrissy or Rachel. Iowa State defended it really well, so props to them. They tipped it out of bounds and got us off rhythm. We for sure needed a three in that moment, so that was kind of the game plan and strategy there."
On her early success in the first quarter…
"I was super comfortable, kind of felt like I got my legs back under me and got some confidence going. Been in the gym a lot getting some extra shots up. It's cool to watch it pay off. I felt good and had lots of energy. I tried to keep it consistent throughout the whole game."
On the offense dealing with pressure defense…
"I think there's advantages to when they pressure me and disadvantages. So when they're off of me, it packs the paint a little bit more and makes it harder to get the ball inside and things like that. If they're up on me, it makes it harder for me to do my job to start the offense, so I think there are pros and cons to each side. I like a mixture of both if I had my pick. I obviously don't get to pick. They sagged off a little bit and kind of let us take our time and we kind of got the pace down a little bit to where we wanted it."
BILL FENNELLY, IOWA STATE HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"I realize some of the questions will be about 700 wins and I appreciate that but I would hope if we could start by celebrating 11 wins for this team, seven conference wins for this team, five road wins for this team. Those are the numbers that are more important today and certainly more important to this group of kids. So I'll answer whatever you need but hopefully we can talk about the game too. So thank you."
On the team grinding it out down the stretch…
"That's exactly the best word, grinding. We talked about at shootaround today being as determined as we can be. We knew it would be a hard game. We knew they would tempo the game. They did, they did a great job. We missed a lot of shots that I think on a normal night maybe we make but when we weren't scoring there in the fourth quarter for a few minutes, they weren't scoring either. So I thought we did, we grinded out. We played the game the way we had to play it tonight to win, a really, really gutsy effort by our team."
On the shot attempts they got on offense…
"Yeah I really thought we had good looks, I really did. We had some three's that I would say, take again. We had some drives to the basket that we didn't finish. I thought K-State played a really good defensive plan. They were switching a lot. They made us really work hard to get to the basket but 7-30 from the three and I'd say a lot of those shots were good ones and unfortunately tonight they weren't going in. We didn't turn over the ball a lot, we guarded really hard and found a way to survive I guess."
Team Stats
IowaSt
KState
FG%
.339
.397
3FG%
.233
.222
FT%
.810
.833
RB
34
36
TO
11
12
STL
4
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
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