Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, February 13
Manhattan, Kan.
1 p.m.
Kansas State University
6-12,1-10Big 12
77
vs
66
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Kansas
7-11,3-9Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Kansas
9
9
27
21
66
Kansas St.
23
16
20
18
77
K-State Goes Wire-to-Wire to End Skid
Feb 13, 2021 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State used a strong performance from All-America candidate Ayoka Lee and a big first quarter to cruise to a 77-66 win in the 125th Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.
The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Wildcats, including a five-game home skid. K-State has won 36 of the last 44 meetings in the series with the Jayhawks, including a 14-2 mark in games played in the Jeff Mittie era.
"It's been a miserable three weeks in terms of just trying to help them and trying to play better," said Mittie about the streak. "Some of the losses we've had, have been so close and so gut-wrenching, all those things. So, I've been really proud of the group coming in each day and working hard, trying to do the things to get better."
Lee paced the Wildcats with a game-high 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting, 16 rebounds, seven blocks and three steals. This was Lee's 25th career double-double and her fourth career double-double in four games against Kansas.
"It's exciting," said Lee about becoming the seventh player in school history with 25 or more career double-doubles. "I honestly don't think too much of it, but it's exciting. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by great teammates."
With her seven blocks, Lee achieved a new career-high and became the sixth player in school history to block seven or more shots in a game. She is the first to block at least seven shots in a game since Kali Jones set the school record with nine blocks against Lamar on December 5, 2018.
K-State (6-12, 1-10 Big 12) scored a season-high 23 points in the first quarter, holding a 23-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 10-0 run over the first three minutes to force an early Kansas timeout. Four of the five starters scored, as Laura Macke buried a three to start the game.
Macke almost achieved her first career double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal in 31 minutes.
Cymone Goodrich kept the run going with two free throws. Emilee Ebert added an old-fashioned 3-point play and Lee carded a layup to force the timeout.
Ebert notched her second straight game in double figures, as she tallied a career-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The product of Frankfort, Kansas, also dished out six assists, pulled in five rebounds, pocketed a career-best three steals and blocked two shots in 37 minutes of action. With her two blocks, Ebert set the school record for blocks in a season by a K-State guard with 21.
K-State would extend its advantage to 15-0, as Rachel Ranke became the fifth starter to score in the opening quarter with a 3-pointer and Macke added a 15-foot jumper.
"That was big," said Ebert about the team opening the game with the big run. "We wanted to come out strong right away and we did that. To have that lead and keep our foot on the pedal was the main goal, and that's what we did."
The Wildcats would cap the quarter with an 8-3 run to hold the 14-point lead after the first period.
Ranke joined Lee and Ebert in double figures with a season-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She also finished with a full stat line, adding four rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Kansas (7-11, 3-9 Big 12) finished the first quarter shooting 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from the field with Mia Vuksic accounting for all nine points in the quarter. Vuksic led the Jayhawks with 24 points.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats would build an 18-point lead, 31-13, with 5:53 remaining in the second quarter, as Lee finished a pair of layups.
A jumper from Goodrich and two more layups from Lee sent K-State into the locker room with a 39-18 lead at the half. The 21-point advantage was the largest lead for K-State at any point in a game this season.
The Wildcats held the Jayhawks to 21.2 percent (7-of-33) shooting in the opening half. Aside from Vuksic, who was 4-of-6 from the field in the first half, the remaining players for Kansas shot 11.1 percent (3-of-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Kansas outscored K-State in the third quarter, 27-20, and were able to close to within 10 with 1:02 remaining in the stanza. The Wildcats used a free throw each from Ebert and Goodrich and a layup by Lee with nine seconds left to rebuild the lead to 14, 59-45, at the end of the third.
Goodrich ended the day with a season-high eight points, a career-high six rebounds, six assists and tied her career-best with three steals.
In the early stages of the fourth quarter, K-State returned the lead to 19, 64-45, as Lee finished a layup and then completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with her first free throw of the afternoon at the 7:59 mark of the fourth quarter.
Despite Kansas making three 3-pointers, Ebert kept the Wildcats in front by 14, 68-54, with 4:34 remaining as she finished a pair of layups. Ebert's second layup started an 8-2 run for K-State over a three-minute stretch to rebuild the Wildcat lead to 19, 73-54, with 2:59 remaining and suffocate the Kansas comeback attempt.
Kansas State ended the day shooting 46.0 percent (29-of-63) from the field and were 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the free throw line. Kansas was held to a 32.0 percent (24-of-75) effort from the field.
The Wildcats ended the day with a season-high 11 blocks. The 11 blocks are the sixth-most in a game in program history. This was the 11th time in the Mittie era that K-State has blocked 10 or more shots in a game and the second time this season.
K-State also pocketed a season-high 14 steals, as the Jayhawks were forced into 19 turnovers.
K-State will begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday, February 17, as the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma State at 6:30 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…
"Proud of our group for fighting through it. We had a lot of players play extended minutes today, step up into some different roles and have to play extended minutes. I thought they responded well. Obviously the start was a confidence builder for the entire group to be able to get off to a start like that in a rivalry game, in obviously this stretch has been really hard on our team to be confident. So yeah proud of our group. I thought obviously, going back to the start, it's critical just from a confidence, from a trust standpoint. I thought Goodrich played well, I thought Ebert played well in that stretch, Rachel played well in that stretch. Laura Macke did some good things today. So total team effort."
On getting their first conference win...
"Well, yeah. It's been a miserable three weeks in terms of just trying to help them and trying to play better. Some of the losses we've had have been so close and so gut wrenching, all those things. So I've been really proud of the group coming in each day and working hard, trying to do the things to get better. We had players step up today. Jada Moore, first practice coming out of protocol was yesterday. She picks up some fouls but she has a good, productive 15 minutes and is able to at least give us something in resting Ebert. She really rested all four of the players there because we were short on the bench. Yeah, it's a big relief to get a win and just proud of our group for fighting through it and coming away with this one."
On the starters leading the way...
"It was a short bench, obviously with Carr out and Goodrich out, short bench today. So coming in looking at the rotations we just knew there was going to be some extended minutes and you don't know how the game is going to play out. We had some foul trouble that we had to work around but not so bad that it impacted too many of the rotations. But yeah, players had to play through fatigue. That's different when you're a player that maybe plays 20 minutes a game, 16, 18, now you're playing 34-35 like Goodrich did today. I was really proud of her playing through the fatigue and she had some cramping issues but she was able to come back and give us a good lift."
On Jada Moore running the point...
"I thought solid. I think she needed to go get the ball in her first rotation more aggressively. I thought she was a little tentative but I'm going to tell you, one of the hard things for Jada, just in this whole time is she has probably had less practice time than anyone else on our roster because of the circumstances. That's hard for a freshman. So I've been really proud of her for being able to come out of that and just give us what she can. And I thought she played pretty solid today."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On getting the first conference win…
"It's what we've kind of been waiting for. It just feels really good to get one, but it's on to the next now, try to keep the momentum going into the next game."
On how comfortable she was on offense...
"I definitely think they did a good job of crashing down, it kind of made it harder. I think an emphasis was to try to get the ball moving in transition and try to get easy buckets in transition, and to get it in from the top of the key. I think in some areas the guards did really good getting the ball in and getting it in areas where they couldn't get help as fast. I think they did a good job."
On another double-double and so many in her young career...
"It's exciting. I honestly don't think too much of it, but it's exciting. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by great teammates."
EMILEE EBERT, SOPHOMORE GUARD
On a career-high 15 points…
"It feels good. Always feels good to get a win too. We played really well as a team and we were all just in the flow of things. Everything was really fluid. I owe it to my team, for sure."
On the importance of the 15-0 start today…
"That was big. We wanted to come out strong right away and we did that. To have that lead and keep our foot on the pedal was the main goal, and that's what we did."
On filling up the stat sheet in the win…
"Anything I can do to help my team get the win. I thought we played really well overall as a team. It was really great."
The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Wildcats, including a five-game home skid. K-State has won 36 of the last 44 meetings in the series with the Jayhawks, including a 14-2 mark in games played in the Jeff Mittie era.
"It's been a miserable three weeks in terms of just trying to help them and trying to play better," said Mittie about the streak. "Some of the losses we've had, have been so close and so gut-wrenching, all those things. So, I've been really proud of the group coming in each day and working hard, trying to do the things to get better."
Lee paced the Wildcats with a game-high 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting, 16 rebounds, seven blocks and three steals. This was Lee's 25th career double-double and her fourth career double-double in four games against Kansas.
"It's exciting," said Lee about becoming the seventh player in school history with 25 or more career double-doubles. "I honestly don't think too much of it, but it's exciting. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by great teammates."
With her seven blocks, Lee achieved a new career-high and became the sixth player in school history to block seven or more shots in a game. She is the first to block at least seven shots in a game since Kali Jones set the school record with nine blocks against Lamar on December 5, 2018.
K-State (6-12, 1-10 Big 12) scored a season-high 23 points in the first quarter, holding a 23-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 10-0 run over the first three minutes to force an early Kansas timeout. Four of the five starters scored, as Laura Macke buried a three to start the game.
Macke almost achieved her first career double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal in 31 minutes.
Cymone Goodrich kept the run going with two free throws. Emilee Ebert added an old-fashioned 3-point play and Lee carded a layup to force the timeout.
Ebert notched her second straight game in double figures, as she tallied a career-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The product of Frankfort, Kansas, also dished out six assists, pulled in five rebounds, pocketed a career-best three steals and blocked two shots in 37 minutes of action. With her two blocks, Ebert set the school record for blocks in a season by a K-State guard with 21.
K-State would extend its advantage to 15-0, as Rachel Ranke became the fifth starter to score in the opening quarter with a 3-pointer and Macke added a 15-foot jumper.
"That was big," said Ebert about the team opening the game with the big run. "We wanted to come out strong right away and we did that. To have that lead and keep our foot on the pedal was the main goal, and that's what we did."
The Wildcats would cap the quarter with an 8-3 run to hold the 14-point lead after the first period.
Ranke joined Lee and Ebert in double figures with a season-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She also finished with a full stat line, adding four rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Kansas (7-11, 3-9 Big 12) finished the first quarter shooting 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from the field with Mia Vuksic accounting for all nine points in the quarter. Vuksic led the Jayhawks with 24 points.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats would build an 18-point lead, 31-13, with 5:53 remaining in the second quarter, as Lee finished a pair of layups.
A jumper from Goodrich and two more layups from Lee sent K-State into the locker room with a 39-18 lead at the half. The 21-point advantage was the largest lead for K-State at any point in a game this season.
The Wildcats held the Jayhawks to 21.2 percent (7-of-33) shooting in the opening half. Aside from Vuksic, who was 4-of-6 from the field in the first half, the remaining players for Kansas shot 11.1 percent (3-of-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Kansas outscored K-State in the third quarter, 27-20, and were able to close to within 10 with 1:02 remaining in the stanza. The Wildcats used a free throw each from Ebert and Goodrich and a layup by Lee with nine seconds left to rebuild the lead to 14, 59-45, at the end of the third.
Goodrich ended the day with a season-high eight points, a career-high six rebounds, six assists and tied her career-best with three steals.
In the early stages of the fourth quarter, K-State returned the lead to 19, 64-45, as Lee finished a layup and then completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with her first free throw of the afternoon at the 7:59 mark of the fourth quarter.
Despite Kansas making three 3-pointers, Ebert kept the Wildcats in front by 14, 68-54, with 4:34 remaining as she finished a pair of layups. Ebert's second layup started an 8-2 run for K-State over a three-minute stretch to rebuild the Wildcat lead to 19, 73-54, with 2:59 remaining and suffocate the Kansas comeback attempt.
Kansas State ended the day shooting 46.0 percent (29-of-63) from the field and were 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the free throw line. Kansas was held to a 32.0 percent (24-of-75) effort from the field.
The Wildcats ended the day with a season-high 11 blocks. The 11 blocks are the sixth-most in a game in program history. This was the 11th time in the Mittie era that K-State has blocked 10 or more shots in a game and the second time this season.
K-State also pocketed a season-high 14 steals, as the Jayhawks were forced into 19 turnovers.
K-State will begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday, February 17, as the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma State at 6:30 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…
"Proud of our group for fighting through it. We had a lot of players play extended minutes today, step up into some different roles and have to play extended minutes. I thought they responded well. Obviously the start was a confidence builder for the entire group to be able to get off to a start like that in a rivalry game, in obviously this stretch has been really hard on our team to be confident. So yeah proud of our group. I thought obviously, going back to the start, it's critical just from a confidence, from a trust standpoint. I thought Goodrich played well, I thought Ebert played well in that stretch, Rachel played well in that stretch. Laura Macke did some good things today. So total team effort."
On getting their first conference win...
"Well, yeah. It's been a miserable three weeks in terms of just trying to help them and trying to play better. Some of the losses we've had have been so close and so gut wrenching, all those things. So I've been really proud of the group coming in each day and working hard, trying to do the things to get better. We had players step up today. Jada Moore, first practice coming out of protocol was yesterday. She picks up some fouls but she has a good, productive 15 minutes and is able to at least give us something in resting Ebert. She really rested all four of the players there because we were short on the bench. Yeah, it's a big relief to get a win and just proud of our group for fighting through it and coming away with this one."
On the starters leading the way...
"It was a short bench, obviously with Carr out and Goodrich out, short bench today. So coming in looking at the rotations we just knew there was going to be some extended minutes and you don't know how the game is going to play out. We had some foul trouble that we had to work around but not so bad that it impacted too many of the rotations. But yeah, players had to play through fatigue. That's different when you're a player that maybe plays 20 minutes a game, 16, 18, now you're playing 34-35 like Goodrich did today. I was really proud of her playing through the fatigue and she had some cramping issues but she was able to come back and give us a good lift."
On Jada Moore running the point...
"I thought solid. I think she needed to go get the ball in her first rotation more aggressively. I thought she was a little tentative but I'm going to tell you, one of the hard things for Jada, just in this whole time is she has probably had less practice time than anyone else on our roster because of the circumstances. That's hard for a freshman. So I've been really proud of her for being able to come out of that and just give us what she can. And I thought she played pretty solid today."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On getting the first conference win…
"It's what we've kind of been waiting for. It just feels really good to get one, but it's on to the next now, try to keep the momentum going into the next game."
On how comfortable she was on offense...
"I definitely think they did a good job of crashing down, it kind of made it harder. I think an emphasis was to try to get the ball moving in transition and try to get easy buckets in transition, and to get it in from the top of the key. I think in some areas the guards did really good getting the ball in and getting it in areas where they couldn't get help as fast. I think they did a good job."
On another double-double and so many in her young career...
"It's exciting. I honestly don't think too much of it, but it's exciting. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by great teammates."
EMILEE EBERT, SOPHOMORE GUARD
On a career-high 15 points…
"It feels good. Always feels good to get a win too. We played really well as a team and we were all just in the flow of things. Everything was really fluid. I owe it to my team, for sure."
On the importance of the 15-0 start today…
"That was big. We wanted to come out strong right away and we did that. To have that lead and keep our foot on the pedal was the main goal, and that's what we did."
On filling up the stat sheet in the win…
"Anything I can do to help my team get the win. I thought we played really well overall as a team. It was really great."
Cats Win!
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 13, 2021
Lee (28), Ranke (17), & Ebert (15) reach double figures. K-State held Kansas to 32 percent shooting. The Cats travel to Oklahoma State on Wednesday. #KStateWBB x Honor The Journey pic.twitter.com/iiVE0qWs5g
9️⃣7️⃣5️⃣ Wins in program history #KStateWBB x @Big12Conference pic.twitter.com/FYflgDHoVG
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 13, 2021
Offense ➡️ Defense
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 13, 2021
Frankfort ➡️ Manhattan @emileeebert6 and #KStateWBB up 23-9 after 1Q. pic.twitter.com/p5uEsq9LOj
Controlling the paint all day long!
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 13, 2021
Lee has 23 points & 11 boards. K-State has a 38 points in the paint. #KStateWBB 68
Kansas 54
4:34 | 4Q pic.twitter.com/IOnru33ZZ9
Team Stats
KU
KState
FG%
.320
.460
3FG%
.382
.286
FT%
.714
.625
RB
41
46
TO
19
16
STL
12
14
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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