SE: A Night They’ll Remember Forever
Dec 10, 2021 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Frtichen
There are times that teammates remember. Michael Bishop and Darnell McDonald still talk about the pass that beat Nebraska, Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly talk about the "he's-in-shape" 3-pointer at the end against Xavier, and Laurie Koehn and Kendra Wecker never tire from remembering that breakthrough win at No. 4 Iowa State that got the Fabulous Freshman rolling 20 years ago.
Well, one day, Kansas State freshmen Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell, who have known each other since the sixth grade, will think back on December 8, 2021, and remember the time they went on the road and beat Omaha 87-56 while helping the Wildcats drain 16 3-pointers, which tied for the most 3-pointers made in a single game in school history.
"It was definitely a fun game to play in," Sundell says.
"I didn't think we hit 16 3-pointers," Glenn says. "It felt like nine."
NINE?
K-State, 8-2, simply had one of those nights that teams dream about. So far, this season, only Utah (19), Iowa State (18) and Michigan State (17) have made more 3-pointers in a game than the Wildcats did Wednesday night at Baxter Arena, in Omaha, Nebraska. K-State made 16 of 32 (50%) 3-point attempts. Not many teams this season have shot 50% when sinking 16 3-pointers. That just doesn't happen.
Then it did. At Omaha.
One after one, the basketballs ripped the nets. K-State made 11 of 18 3-pointers in the first half. It was the most 3-pointers by K-State in a first half since 2001 — back when Koehn, Wecker and Megan Mahoney played in the second game of their standout careers.
"It was an incredible start," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie says. "Our players really passed the ball well."
During the game, six different K-State players got in on the action. Jaelyn Glenn made 4 of 7 3-pointers, Sundell made 3 of 4, Rebekah Dallinger made 3 of 9, Brylee Glenn made 2 of 5, Laura Macke made 2 of 3, and Jada Moore made 2 of 2. Moore's second straight 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter tied the school record.
That's when Mittie overheard a piece of important news. Understand that a crowd of just 311, yes, 311 people, were in the arena, so Mittie couldn't help but hear K-State radio commentator Brian Smoller, who sat just feet away and announced over the radio broadcast that the Wildcats had tied the school record.
"When you're ahead by the amount we were, our team was just having some fun," Mittie says, "so they were having some fun with it."
"Everyone on the bench was like, 'We need a 3! We need a 3!'" Glenn says.
Didn't happen. The Wildcats misfired on their final two 3-point attempts. But they still tied the school record of 16 3-pointers originally set against Oklahoma State on January 23, 2013.
It was the most 3-pointers made by K-State under Mittie, one of the winningest active coaches in Division I basketball. He has coached in 921 career games, including 232 games in Manhattan.
"We'd been preaching in practice that the better we pass it the better we'll shoot it," Mittie says. "I liked our aggressiveness, our sharing of the ball. We made a lot of right decisions but also delivered the pass where it needed to be, and our shooters were ready to shoot."
Of course, we've gone 500 words without mentioning the major factor for K-State, the 6-foot-6 Ayoka Lee, the 2022 All-American candidate, who had a game-high 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks while the 3-point barrage was going on. Glenn had a career high 16 points and a career-best 4 of 7 effort from beyond the arc. Sundell had 12 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Macke came off the bench to record 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
K-State shot 47.6% (30 of 63) from the floor and had 24 assists on their 30 made field goals and committed just 10 turnovers.
There's something really cool about the 3-point shooting, though, and perhaps it's best called the Yokie Effect.
"It makes you super excited," Glenn says. "I'm always interested to see what defenses are going to do because most games they're going to have two or three people on Yokie. If you have two defenders on Yokie, it's super big knowing she can kick it out and one of us is going to hit a shot.
"That's going to be tough to guard if we continue to play like this."
K-State finishes its road portion of its non-conference schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday at South Dakota State in Brookings, South Dakota. Then the Wildcats host Oregon and UIC before opening the Big 12 Conference season against Baylor on January 2.
"We're realizing that we have a pretty big threat from the 3-point line when we're sharing the ball," Sundell says. "Teams are going to have to prepare. It's going to be fun going into Big 12 play to see the different looks, but we're going to have different offensive threats no matter what they throw at us."
Now, it's conceivable that K-State could have five players with at least 20 3-pointers in 2021-22 for just the third time in school history. Sundell has 19 3-pointers, Jaelyn Glenn 14, Dallinger 13, Brylee Glenn 7, and Moore 5. Three of them — Sundell and the Glenn sisters — are freshmen.
Yet Mittie seeks better consistency. The Wildcats rank seventh in the Big 12 in field-goal shooting percentage (.429), eighth in 3-point shooting percentage (.291) and fifth in 3-pointers (64).
"We're still too inconsistent," Mittie says. "We've really been feast or famine. We've had big nights and we've had bad nights. You need to level off somewhere in between. If we put in the work, continue to focus on improved passing, locating the right people, and if players are 'shot ready,' we're going to shoot the ball a lot better.
"Certainly, you hope the confidence level you get from a night like (Omaha) carries forward, and you hope it's a step in the right direction."
He pauses.
"You'd like to say, 'That's the spot where we really, really started to get consistent shooting.'"
There's no telling, really, when everything will click consistently. No idea how the rest of this promising season might play out in January, February, and March.
But there are times that teammates remember. Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, and the rest of the Wildcats will always smile fondly when talking about their incredible, record-tying Wednesday night.
There are times that teammates remember. Michael Bishop and Darnell McDonald still talk about the pass that beat Nebraska, Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly talk about the "he's-in-shape" 3-pointer at the end against Xavier, and Laurie Koehn and Kendra Wecker never tire from remembering that breakthrough win at No. 4 Iowa State that got the Fabulous Freshman rolling 20 years ago.
Well, one day, Kansas State freshmen Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell, who have known each other since the sixth grade, will think back on December 8, 2021, and remember the time they went on the road and beat Omaha 87-56 while helping the Wildcats drain 16 3-pointers, which tied for the most 3-pointers made in a single game in school history.
"It was definitely a fun game to play in," Sundell says.
"I didn't think we hit 16 3-pointers," Glenn says. "It felt like nine."
NINE?
K-State, 8-2, simply had one of those nights that teams dream about. So far, this season, only Utah (19), Iowa State (18) and Michigan State (17) have made more 3-pointers in a game than the Wildcats did Wednesday night at Baxter Arena, in Omaha, Nebraska. K-State made 16 of 32 (50%) 3-point attempts. Not many teams this season have shot 50% when sinking 16 3-pointers. That just doesn't happen.
Then it did. At Omaha.
One after one, the basketballs ripped the nets. K-State made 11 of 18 3-pointers in the first half. It was the most 3-pointers by K-State in a first half since 2001 — back when Koehn, Wecker and Megan Mahoney played in the second game of their standout careers.
"It was an incredible start," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie says. "Our players really passed the ball well."
During the game, six different K-State players got in on the action. Jaelyn Glenn made 4 of 7 3-pointers, Sundell made 3 of 4, Rebekah Dallinger made 3 of 9, Brylee Glenn made 2 of 5, Laura Macke made 2 of 3, and Jada Moore made 2 of 2. Moore's second straight 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter tied the school record.
That's when Mittie overheard a piece of important news. Understand that a crowd of just 311, yes, 311 people, were in the arena, so Mittie couldn't help but hear K-State radio commentator Brian Smoller, who sat just feet away and announced over the radio broadcast that the Wildcats had tied the school record.
"When you're ahead by the amount we were, our team was just having some fun," Mittie says, "so they were having some fun with it."
"Everyone on the bench was like, 'We need a 3! We need a 3!'" Glenn says.
Didn't happen. The Wildcats misfired on their final two 3-point attempts. But they still tied the school record of 16 3-pointers originally set against Oklahoma State on January 23, 2013.
It was the most 3-pointers made by K-State under Mittie, one of the winningest active coaches in Division I basketball. He has coached in 921 career games, including 232 games in Manhattan.
"We'd been preaching in practice that the better we pass it the better we'll shoot it," Mittie says. "I liked our aggressiveness, our sharing of the ball. We made a lot of right decisions but also delivered the pass where it needed to be, and our shooters were ready to shoot."
Of course, we've gone 500 words without mentioning the major factor for K-State, the 6-foot-6 Ayoka Lee, the 2022 All-American candidate, who had a game-high 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks while the 3-point barrage was going on. Glenn had a career high 16 points and a career-best 4 of 7 effort from beyond the arc. Sundell had 12 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Macke came off the bench to record 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
K-State shot 47.6% (30 of 63) from the floor and had 24 assists on their 30 made field goals and committed just 10 turnovers.
There's something really cool about the 3-point shooting, though, and perhaps it's best called the Yokie Effect.
"It makes you super excited," Glenn says. "I'm always interested to see what defenses are going to do because most games they're going to have two or three people on Yokie. If you have two defenders on Yokie, it's super big knowing she can kick it out and one of us is going to hit a shot.
"That's going to be tough to guard if we continue to play like this."
K-State finishes its road portion of its non-conference schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday at South Dakota State in Brookings, South Dakota. Then the Wildcats host Oregon and UIC before opening the Big 12 Conference season against Baylor on January 2.
"We're realizing that we have a pretty big threat from the 3-point line when we're sharing the ball," Sundell says. "Teams are going to have to prepare. It's going to be fun going into Big 12 play to see the different looks, but we're going to have different offensive threats no matter what they throw at us."
Now, it's conceivable that K-State could have five players with at least 20 3-pointers in 2021-22 for just the third time in school history. Sundell has 19 3-pointers, Jaelyn Glenn 14, Dallinger 13, Brylee Glenn 7, and Moore 5. Three of them — Sundell and the Glenn sisters — are freshmen.
Yet Mittie seeks better consistency. The Wildcats rank seventh in the Big 12 in field-goal shooting percentage (.429), eighth in 3-point shooting percentage (.291) and fifth in 3-pointers (64).
"We're still too inconsistent," Mittie says. "We've really been feast or famine. We've had big nights and we've had bad nights. You need to level off somewhere in between. If we put in the work, continue to focus on improved passing, locating the right people, and if players are 'shot ready,' we're going to shoot the ball a lot better.
"Certainly, you hope the confidence level you get from a night like (Omaha) carries forward, and you hope it's a step in the right direction."
He pauses.
"You'd like to say, 'That's the spot where we really, really started to get consistent shooting.'"
There's no telling, really, when everything will click consistently. No idea how the rest of this promising season might play out in January, February, and March.
But there are times that teammates remember. Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, and the rest of the Wildcats will always smile fondly when talking about their incredible, record-tying Wednesday night.
Play for the standard #KStateWBB x #BeKStateGr8 pic.twitter.com/UoldYXsz7X
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) December 9, 2021
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