Kansas State University Athletics
Sunday, January 31
Manhattan, Kan.
1 p.m.
Kansas State University
5-9,0-7Big 12
78
vs
80
Oklahoma
6-7,3-5Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Oklahoma
20
24
19
17
80
Kansas St.
14
22
19
23
78
K-State Comeback Ends in Final Second
Jan 31, 2021 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State trailed Oklahoma by 11 points three minutes remaining in regulation, however the Wildcats used an 11-0 run to tie the game with a chance to win on its final possession with 10 seconds to play. A late foul on K-State benefitted the Sooners and allowed them to escape Bramlage Coliseum on Sunday afternoon with an 80-78 win.
With the score 78-67 in favor of the Sooners, K-State (5-9, 0-7 Big 12) started an 11-0 run by going to sophomore center Ayoka Lee, who finished with an old-fashioned 3-point play with 2:56 to play in the fourth quarter. Lee would finish the afternoon with a career-high 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting.
Her 37 points set the school record for points in a Big 12 Conference game, are the fifth-most points scored in any game and are the most since Brittany Chambers set the school-record of 42 against Texas Southern on March 21, 2013.
After a defensive stop, Emilee Ebert knocked down two free throws with 2:25 remaining to bring the Wildcats within six, 78-72. Another K-State stop, resulted in a pair of free throws by Lee with 1:54 to play. Lee registered a 7-of-10 effort from the charity stripe, ending her consecutive free throws made streak at 25 in the second quarter.
K-State then held Oklahoma to a fourth straight empty possession and Sydney Goodson made two free throws with 1:05 to play in the final quarter to bring the deficit to two, 78-76.
K-State's defense registered another stop and Lee squared the game at 78 with a layup and 22 seconds to play. The Sooners were unable to score on their possession and K-State had a chance with 10 seconds remaining.
Ebert found Lee, but a swarm of Sooners crashed into the sophomore center and knocked the ball free as Lee attempted her game-winning shot. A foul on K-State was then called on the ensuing scramble. Oklahoma converted the pair of free throws for the win.
The Wildcats held Oklahoma without a made field goal for the final 4:34 of the contest, with all five of their points coming from the free throw line.
The Wildcats were led on Sunday afternoon by the trio of Lee, Christianna Carr and Rachel Ranke. Lee finished the game with her fifth double-double of the season and the 24th of her career, carding her career-high 37 points while pulling in a K-State season-high 18 rebounds.
Her 15 field goals made tied the school record for field goals made in a conference game, tying the mark held by Diana Miller against Oklahoma on January 20, 1990. Overall, her 15 made field goals are tied for the fourth-most in school history.
She is the fifth player in school history to register a double-double with 30 or more points and 15 or more rebounds. In her three career meetings with Oklahoma, Lee is averaging 28.0 points on 67.9 percent shooting and 17.0 rebounds.
Carr notched her 12th double figure scoring game this season with 17 points which included a 4-of-11 effort from 3-point range. She also added three rebounds and three assists.
The 54 combined points by Lee and Carr are tied for the sixth-most combined points in a single-game by two teammates in school history.
Ranke came off the bench to add 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. She also hauled in six rebounds and dished out four assists. In her last three games against Oklahoma, Ranke is 17-of-32 (.531) from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma (6-7, 3-5 Big 12) saw four of its six active players score 15 or more points, led by Gabby Gregory with 19 points and Madi Williams with 18 points.
K-State shot a season-high 50.0 percent (27-of-54) from the field and tied their season-high with nine connections from 3-point range. The Wildcats handed out a season-high 24 assists and held a 41-27 advantage on the boards.
The Sooners cooled off in the second half and finished at 42.9 percent (27-of-63) shooting. Oklahoma was held to a 10-of-31 (.326) performance in the second half.
K-State will begin the month of February with a road trip to Lubbock, Texas, to face Texas Tech on Wednesday, February 3, at 6 p.m. Wednesday's game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and will be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Obviously another one that comes down to the wire. We played from behind for most of today. We had trouble executing. I thought Oklahoma was playing extremely well, particularly their secondary scorers. They were really scoring the ball well, shooting the ball well, so that gave us problems early in trying to figure out who we could match up. They're a tough matchup, because they really spread you, and that puts us in a tough spot trying to find a player for Lee to defend. I thought their secondary players played really well and we struggled for a good portion of this game. We made some plays down the stretch to give us a chance, and at the end I think you guys all saw the play. That's an unfortunate play at the end."
On the current frustration level...
"I am tired of situations where it would appear that the people who have decisions to make on the floor decide not to make a decision, which is in turn making a decision. Yeah, I'm a little tired of that. So yes, it's frustrating to answer your question."
On the message to the team late in the game...
"It's a challenge right now to get us, I think we're competing at times but sense of urgency today wasn't very good and assignment wasn't very good. We had a lot of mistakes today. Those were the things that were frustrating. What was really frustrating to me was that I couldn't get players to move the ball to the right player. That was whipping them all day long. It takes us a good portion of the first 10-15 minutes of the game to figure out that Lee is pretty good and that she's got an advantage down there. It was a pickup game for us today early in this game, and that's not very good for us. You're talking specifically in the last five minutes, I challenged them to get three stops in a row, do what we had talked about, get the ball to the wing. If they brought help, get it to the other side of the floor quickly, play both sides of the floor and if we'll do that, we'll get good shots."
On the defense today...
"They come off a game where they hit 15 threes the other day. They got 11 today. We cool them off a little bit towards the end. The start was problematic with eight in the first half. It was a problem for us."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On if this was one of her better performances …
"Yeah I think it took us a little bit to get going with the game plan. I think we struggled to execute it early on but I think once we got going, yeah it was good."
On staying out of foul trouble early in the game...
"Yeah I definitely think it helped me as the game went on, especially in the end just being able to give a foul when we had to and not having to put it on my teammates."
CHRISTIANNA CARR, JUNIOR GUARD
On Coach Mittie's message to the team in the final media timeout…
"I think that our emphasis was to play hard. He was kind of upset that we didn't get as many deflections in our 2-3 zone as he expected. And then also we needed to move the ball quicker, we were turning the ball over too much so he wasn't too happy about that. Yeah I feel like going into that timeout he just had to remind us to pick up the pace and not turn the ball over."
On the final play…
"The first option was to get the ball inside to Yoki (Ayoka Lee) right away. The second option was to skip it to me and then I was supposed to either look inside, well either shoot the three or look inside because we knew that they were going to be helping down on Yoki on the back side and so putting me on the opposite side forces them to either have Yoki over the top or they have to crash down on my side which opened up a three for me. I thought Emilee (Ebert) made the right play, we threw the ball inside to Yoki, she just didn't get the call."
On if she got into a rhythm from the 3-point line…
"Yeah, I mean, everytime you hit a couple in a row I feel like I'm kind of getting into a rhythm. Honestly what was on my mind was just taking and making the shot that they give me, trying not to force it. Sometimes I get caught in my head about forcing shots instead of letting it come to me and I find it a lot easier when it does come to me. So I think those two threes kind of just came to me and I trust that my teammates were going to continue to find me and they did."
With the score 78-67 in favor of the Sooners, K-State (5-9, 0-7 Big 12) started an 11-0 run by going to sophomore center Ayoka Lee, who finished with an old-fashioned 3-point play with 2:56 to play in the fourth quarter. Lee would finish the afternoon with a career-high 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting.
Her 37 points set the school record for points in a Big 12 Conference game, are the fifth-most points scored in any game and are the most since Brittany Chambers set the school-record of 42 against Texas Southern on March 21, 2013.
After a defensive stop, Emilee Ebert knocked down two free throws with 2:25 remaining to bring the Wildcats within six, 78-72. Another K-State stop, resulted in a pair of free throws by Lee with 1:54 to play. Lee registered a 7-of-10 effort from the charity stripe, ending her consecutive free throws made streak at 25 in the second quarter.
K-State then held Oklahoma to a fourth straight empty possession and Sydney Goodson made two free throws with 1:05 to play in the final quarter to bring the deficit to two, 78-76.
K-State's defense registered another stop and Lee squared the game at 78 with a layup and 22 seconds to play. The Sooners were unable to score on their possession and K-State had a chance with 10 seconds remaining.
Ebert found Lee, but a swarm of Sooners crashed into the sophomore center and knocked the ball free as Lee attempted her game-winning shot. A foul on K-State was then called on the ensuing scramble. Oklahoma converted the pair of free throws for the win.
The Wildcats held Oklahoma without a made field goal for the final 4:34 of the contest, with all five of their points coming from the free throw line.
The Wildcats were led on Sunday afternoon by the trio of Lee, Christianna Carr and Rachel Ranke. Lee finished the game with her fifth double-double of the season and the 24th of her career, carding her career-high 37 points while pulling in a K-State season-high 18 rebounds.
Her 15 field goals made tied the school record for field goals made in a conference game, tying the mark held by Diana Miller against Oklahoma on January 20, 1990. Overall, her 15 made field goals are tied for the fourth-most in school history.
She is the fifth player in school history to register a double-double with 30 or more points and 15 or more rebounds. In her three career meetings with Oklahoma, Lee is averaging 28.0 points on 67.9 percent shooting and 17.0 rebounds.
Carr notched her 12th double figure scoring game this season with 17 points which included a 4-of-11 effort from 3-point range. She also added three rebounds and three assists.
The 54 combined points by Lee and Carr are tied for the sixth-most combined points in a single-game by two teammates in school history.
Ranke came off the bench to add 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. She also hauled in six rebounds and dished out four assists. In her last three games against Oklahoma, Ranke is 17-of-32 (.531) from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma (6-7, 3-5 Big 12) saw four of its six active players score 15 or more points, led by Gabby Gregory with 19 points and Madi Williams with 18 points.
K-State shot a season-high 50.0 percent (27-of-54) from the field and tied their season-high with nine connections from 3-point range. The Wildcats handed out a season-high 24 assists and held a 41-27 advantage on the boards.
The Sooners cooled off in the second half and finished at 42.9 percent (27-of-63) shooting. Oklahoma was held to a 10-of-31 (.326) performance in the second half.
K-State will begin the month of February with a road trip to Lubbock, Texas, to face Texas Tech on Wednesday, February 3, at 6 p.m. Wednesday's game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and will be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
WHAT THEY SAID
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Obviously another one that comes down to the wire. We played from behind for most of today. We had trouble executing. I thought Oklahoma was playing extremely well, particularly their secondary scorers. They were really scoring the ball well, shooting the ball well, so that gave us problems early in trying to figure out who we could match up. They're a tough matchup, because they really spread you, and that puts us in a tough spot trying to find a player for Lee to defend. I thought their secondary players played really well and we struggled for a good portion of this game. We made some plays down the stretch to give us a chance, and at the end I think you guys all saw the play. That's an unfortunate play at the end."
On the current frustration level...
"I am tired of situations where it would appear that the people who have decisions to make on the floor decide not to make a decision, which is in turn making a decision. Yeah, I'm a little tired of that. So yes, it's frustrating to answer your question."
On the message to the team late in the game...
"It's a challenge right now to get us, I think we're competing at times but sense of urgency today wasn't very good and assignment wasn't very good. We had a lot of mistakes today. Those were the things that were frustrating. What was really frustrating to me was that I couldn't get players to move the ball to the right player. That was whipping them all day long. It takes us a good portion of the first 10-15 minutes of the game to figure out that Lee is pretty good and that she's got an advantage down there. It was a pickup game for us today early in this game, and that's not very good for us. You're talking specifically in the last five minutes, I challenged them to get three stops in a row, do what we had talked about, get the ball to the wing. If they brought help, get it to the other side of the floor quickly, play both sides of the floor and if we'll do that, we'll get good shots."
On the defense today...
"They come off a game where they hit 15 threes the other day. They got 11 today. We cool them off a little bit towards the end. The start was problematic with eight in the first half. It was a problem for us."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On if this was one of her better performances …
"Yeah I think it took us a little bit to get going with the game plan. I think we struggled to execute it early on but I think once we got going, yeah it was good."
On staying out of foul trouble early in the game...
"Yeah I definitely think it helped me as the game went on, especially in the end just being able to give a foul when we had to and not having to put it on my teammates."
CHRISTIANNA CARR, JUNIOR GUARD
On Coach Mittie's message to the team in the final media timeout…
"I think that our emphasis was to play hard. He was kind of upset that we didn't get as many deflections in our 2-3 zone as he expected. And then also we needed to move the ball quicker, we were turning the ball over too much so he wasn't too happy about that. Yeah I feel like going into that timeout he just had to remind us to pick up the pace and not turn the ball over."
On the final play…
"The first option was to get the ball inside to Yoki (Ayoka Lee) right away. The second option was to skip it to me and then I was supposed to either look inside, well either shoot the three or look inside because we knew that they were going to be helping down on Yoki on the back side and so putting me on the opposite side forces them to either have Yoki over the top or they have to crash down on my side which opened up a three for me. I thought Emilee (Ebert) made the right play, we threw the ball inside to Yoki, she just didn't get the call."
On if she got into a rhythm from the 3-point line…
"Yeah, I mean, everytime you hit a couple in a row I feel like I'm kind of getting into a rhythm. Honestly what was on my mind was just taking and making the shot that they give me, trying not to force it. Sometimes I get caught in my head about forcing shots instead of letting it come to me and I find it a lot easier when it does come to me. So I think those two threes kind of just came to me and I trust that my teammates were going to continue to find me and they did."
Team Stats
OU
KState
FG%
.429
.500
3FG%
.407
.409
FT%
.882
.750
RB
27
41
TO
5
15
STL
12
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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