Kansas State University Athletics
Monday, March 1
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
8-15,3-13Big 12
79
vs
76
TCU
8-13,3-13Big 12
1
2
3
4
OT 1
F
TCU
14
13
23
14
12
76
Kansas St.
21
16
18
9
15
79
Carr, Lee Push K-State to Overtime Win on Monday Night
Mar 01, 2021 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – The 1,600th game in K-State women's basketball history took an extra five minutes, but Kansas State used a combined 60 points from Christianna Carr and Ayoka Lee to edge TCU with a 79-76 win on Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State (8-15, 3-13 Big 12) has won three straight home games for the second time this season. The Wildcats are now 7-7 this season in Bramlage.
Tied at 64 after 40 minutes, K-State took a four-point lead, 70-66, with 2:57 remaining in the overtime session. Carr made a layup, followed by two free throws from Sydney Goodson.
TCU (8-13, 3-13 Big 12) roared back with six straight points to take a 72-70 lead with 2:14 remaining which included a driving layup and free throw from Lauren Heard. Heard finished the game with 35 points for the Horned Frogs.
K-State found Lee on the next two possessions and she was fouled on each trip. Lee made 3-of-4 free throws to send the Wildcats back in front by one, 73-72. Heard then made two free throws to put the Horned Frogs in front, 74-73, with 1:16 to play.
The Wildcats quickly found Lee, who made a layup to give the Wildcats a 75-74 lead with 1:02 remaining. After each team went scoreless on their next two trips, K-State pulled in an errant TCU shot with 29 seconds left. Lee was fouled and calmly made two free throws with 25 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 77-74 lead.
TCU had an opportunity to tie the game at 77. Michelle Berry drove hard to the basket and drew the attention of the K-State defense. She found a wide-open Tavy Diggs in the right corner in front of the TCU bench. Diggs made the shot and appeared to tie the game with 2.6 seconds left.
During the ensuing K-State timeout, the officials reviewed the shot and determined that Diggs stepped on the line and correcting the call from a three to a two and giving K-State a 77-76 lead. Carr was fouled on the inbounds play and made both free throws to seal the K-State win.
Carr and Lee combined to score 60 points on the night, a school record for most points by two K-State teammates in a single game. Carr registered a career-high 31 points on 8-of-11 shooting including a 4-of-6 performance from beyond the arc and an 11-of-12 effort from the foul line.
Lee notched 29 points, including 27 in the second half and overtime, on 9-of-13 shooting and an 11-of-14 effort at the line. She also added nine rebounds and two steals.
The combined 60 points surpasses the previous record for most combined points by two K-State teammates of 59 set by Brittany Chambers and Mariah White at Iowa State on February 9, 2013.
"We said that at half, it's one thing to have a lead and have four or five players playing good but we did not have a team playing good," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. "We had Chrissy playing well with a good feel, but we did not have a team playing well. That kind of continued in the second half. Now we got Lee involved a lot more and we were able to get her the ball in good spots. So, we were at least able to get a good second player. I will say this, I did think obviously our players recognized that and showed some patience in getting the ball to Lee in the second half. And then Chrissy makes a really good cut on the backside, we find her back there. Goodson finds Lee on a ball reversal, so there were some really good things going on."
Carr started the game with 22 points in the opening half helping the Wildcats to a 37-27 lead at the break. Carr was 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the foul line in the opening 20 minutes. Her 22 first half points included a school record 13 points in the first quarter. The previous record for points in a first quarter was 12 held by Lee against Texas Tech on February 6, 2020.
"Honestly my dad (K-State assistant coach Chris Carr) told me at halftime coming out basically saying, 'it's not going to be Chrissy taking on the whole world, we just got to play within our offense and find the right time and the ball will find me at the right time and take it' and I just take it and make the shot when it's my time," said Carr about her adjustment to the TCU defense in the second half. "Once they figured out how to guard me, they started face guarding me. My biggest thing was just not to force stuff because I didn't want to get into a habit of forcing stuff and losing possessions for our team. The ball found me in the right spots and I just took and made plays tonight."
The Horned Frogs trimmed the Wildcat halftime lead to five, 45-40, in the third quarter. K-State received three layups from Lee to increase the advantage back to nine, 49-40, with 4:04 to play in the stanza.
TCU used an 8-2 run to close to within three, 51-48, but Lee responded with two more layups to push K-State into a 55-48 lead. A layup before the third quarter buzzer by Michelle Berry brought TCU within five, 55-50, entering the fourth quarter.
The Horned Frogs used an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to take a 61-59 lead with 3:41 remaining. Lauren Heard scored seven of the 11 points during the rally.
K-State found Lee, as she finished an old-fashioned 3-point play and then made a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 64-61 lead with 1:54 left in the fourth.
Heard tied the game at 64, as she hit a 3-pointer just as the shot clock was expiring with 45 seconds to play. On the subsequent possession, K-State turned the ball over. TCU took the clock down to under 10 seconds but Heard's attempt missed and Rachel Ranke pulled in the rebound. Emilee Ebert missed K-State's game-winning attempt with two seconds left, sending the game to overtime tied at 64.
The Wildcats shot 37.7 percent from the (23-of-61) but were boosted by a season-high for free throws made and attempted with a 29-of-34 performance (85.3 percent). TCU ended the night shooting 38.0 percent (27-of-71) and aided by a 10-of-33 effort from 3-point range.
K-State will cap its 2020-21 home schedule on Wednesday, as the Wildcats host (20/22) West Virginia at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday's game is Senior Night, as the Wildcats will honor Sydney Goodson and Ashley Ray in a postgame ceremony. To purchase tickets, contact the K-State Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com/tickets.
Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be aired on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Good, hard fought win by our group. You never do everything necessarily like you want to. There's obvious execution issues, things you want better. But I liked our grit, I liked our toughness. I thought our rebounding down the stretch was big. There were possessions there, long shots coming off, I thought we really extended ourselves and rebounded the ball at the end of the game. I thought that was critical. You're fortunate to win a game like that but you also have got to do a lot of things good to win a game like that. Carr got off to a great start, loved her aggressiveness. They locked up a little bit more on her but she still had a really productive second half. Yoki (Ayoka Lee) obviously in the second half, we were able to move the ball quicker which was able to get her, and we had better patience to get her touches down low. She certainly had a great second half as well."
On defending Lauren Heard late in the game...
"Well I thought, I don't know that we ever locked her down but we at least got a couple stops in there. The bank three that she hits in regulation, that obviously, I thought we played good defense on that play. Got it down to the end of the shot clock and sometimes it goes like that. She's a tough kid, I love that kid. She just plays her heart out every game and has been a great player for them for four years. Yeah just a really, really tough gritty winner and does a lot of good things."
On Chrissy Carr and Ayoka Lee's record setting performances...
"We said that at half, it's one thing to have a lead and have four or five players playing good but we did not have a team playing good. We had Chrissy playing well with a good feel, but we did not have a team playing well. That kind of continued in the second half. Now we got Lee involved a lot more and we were able to get her the ball in good spots. So we were at least able to get a good second player. I will say this, I did think obviously our players recognized that and showed some patience in getting the ball to Lee in the second half. And then Chrissy makes a really good cut on the backside, we find her back there. Goodson finds Lee on a ball reversal, so there were some really good things going on."
On the concern over the quick turnaround this week...
"I don't know, yeah I'm concerned about everything. But I think we'll get some rest tomorrow and we'll be alright. I have to make those adjustments as a coach to make sure our team is as rested as they can be and prepared as they can be. It'll be our third game in five days. I thought our group fought through it tonight and I would expect that we'll be ready to play on Wednesday."
CHRISSY CARR, JUNIOR GUARD
On TCU's defense in the second half…
"Honestly my dad told me at halftime coming out basically saying, it's not going to be Chrissy taking on the whole world, we just got to play within our offense and find the right time and the ball will find me at the right time and take it and I just take it and make the shot when it's my time. Once they figured out how to guard me, they started face guarding me. My biggest thing was just not to force stuff because I didn't want to get into a habit of forcing stuff and losing possessions for our team. The ball found me in the right spots and I just took and made plays tonight."
On being aggressive and getting to the foul line...
"Our emphasis is definitely to be more aggressive, especially when teams want to press us. That shows they want to be aggressive with us so we want to take it right back at them and get them out of that press if we can. If we are being pressed with that aggressiveness then we are going to try to get them out of it and make them pay while being aggressive. I feel like we did a great job of that, and our team did a great job of being aggressive and not being passive. We are doing a better job in late game situations."
On tonight's performance against TCU...
"I think the one thing this year overall is my game has expanded. After last year, I was really just a three point shooter, and didn't try too much to attack the basket, so this year I wanted to be more aggressive. I had talked to Coach Mittie about it prior to this season, Peyton (Williams) is going to be gone and I had to step up. One thing that I think really changed against TCU is that I'm just a lot more aggressive, and have found a lot of ways to score other than just catching and shooting threes. It's hard when you're a shooter and people know that, they are going to try to stop you. But if your game is one dimensional, they only have to worry about stopping one thing. That's one thing that I was really trying to work on was getting to the free throw line, finding other people shots, and finding my shot as well."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On facing the TCU double team...
"At that point of the game, it was just be smart and go up strong if they pass it in, and if they don't just rebound hard. But just be smart was the main thing."
On scoring 29 points and not leading the team in scoring...
"I think it's great. Chrissy did great. I wanted her to get 40 so I was a little disappointed, but I think it's great and just fun to have those moments with teammates."
On picking up her offense in the second half...
"The timing was better. We did a great job of looking inside from different spots on the floor instead of just waiting until it got to the wings. We did a good job of doing it quickly so they couldn't get help."
K-State (8-15, 3-13 Big 12) has won three straight home games for the second time this season. The Wildcats are now 7-7 this season in Bramlage.
Tied at 64 after 40 minutes, K-State took a four-point lead, 70-66, with 2:57 remaining in the overtime session. Carr made a layup, followed by two free throws from Sydney Goodson.
TCU (8-13, 3-13 Big 12) roared back with six straight points to take a 72-70 lead with 2:14 remaining which included a driving layup and free throw from Lauren Heard. Heard finished the game with 35 points for the Horned Frogs.
K-State found Lee on the next two possessions and she was fouled on each trip. Lee made 3-of-4 free throws to send the Wildcats back in front by one, 73-72. Heard then made two free throws to put the Horned Frogs in front, 74-73, with 1:16 to play.
The Wildcats quickly found Lee, who made a layup to give the Wildcats a 75-74 lead with 1:02 remaining. After each team went scoreless on their next two trips, K-State pulled in an errant TCU shot with 29 seconds left. Lee was fouled and calmly made two free throws with 25 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 77-74 lead.
TCU had an opportunity to tie the game at 77. Michelle Berry drove hard to the basket and drew the attention of the K-State defense. She found a wide-open Tavy Diggs in the right corner in front of the TCU bench. Diggs made the shot and appeared to tie the game with 2.6 seconds left.
During the ensuing K-State timeout, the officials reviewed the shot and determined that Diggs stepped on the line and correcting the call from a three to a two and giving K-State a 77-76 lead. Carr was fouled on the inbounds play and made both free throws to seal the K-State win.
Carr and Lee combined to score 60 points on the night, a school record for most points by two K-State teammates in a single game. Carr registered a career-high 31 points on 8-of-11 shooting including a 4-of-6 performance from beyond the arc and an 11-of-12 effort from the foul line.
Lee notched 29 points, including 27 in the second half and overtime, on 9-of-13 shooting and an 11-of-14 effort at the line. She also added nine rebounds and two steals.
The combined 60 points surpasses the previous record for most combined points by two K-State teammates of 59 set by Brittany Chambers and Mariah White at Iowa State on February 9, 2013.
"We said that at half, it's one thing to have a lead and have four or five players playing good but we did not have a team playing good," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. "We had Chrissy playing well with a good feel, but we did not have a team playing well. That kind of continued in the second half. Now we got Lee involved a lot more and we were able to get her the ball in good spots. So, we were at least able to get a good second player. I will say this, I did think obviously our players recognized that and showed some patience in getting the ball to Lee in the second half. And then Chrissy makes a really good cut on the backside, we find her back there. Goodson finds Lee on a ball reversal, so there were some really good things going on."
Carr started the game with 22 points in the opening half helping the Wildcats to a 37-27 lead at the break. Carr was 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the foul line in the opening 20 minutes. Her 22 first half points included a school record 13 points in the first quarter. The previous record for points in a first quarter was 12 held by Lee against Texas Tech on February 6, 2020.
"Honestly my dad (K-State assistant coach Chris Carr) told me at halftime coming out basically saying, 'it's not going to be Chrissy taking on the whole world, we just got to play within our offense and find the right time and the ball will find me at the right time and take it' and I just take it and make the shot when it's my time," said Carr about her adjustment to the TCU defense in the second half. "Once they figured out how to guard me, they started face guarding me. My biggest thing was just not to force stuff because I didn't want to get into a habit of forcing stuff and losing possessions for our team. The ball found me in the right spots and I just took and made plays tonight."
The Horned Frogs trimmed the Wildcat halftime lead to five, 45-40, in the third quarter. K-State received three layups from Lee to increase the advantage back to nine, 49-40, with 4:04 to play in the stanza.
TCU used an 8-2 run to close to within three, 51-48, but Lee responded with two more layups to push K-State into a 55-48 lead. A layup before the third quarter buzzer by Michelle Berry brought TCU within five, 55-50, entering the fourth quarter.
The Horned Frogs used an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to take a 61-59 lead with 3:41 remaining. Lauren Heard scored seven of the 11 points during the rally.
K-State found Lee, as she finished an old-fashioned 3-point play and then made a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 64-61 lead with 1:54 left in the fourth.
Heard tied the game at 64, as she hit a 3-pointer just as the shot clock was expiring with 45 seconds to play. On the subsequent possession, K-State turned the ball over. TCU took the clock down to under 10 seconds but Heard's attempt missed and Rachel Ranke pulled in the rebound. Emilee Ebert missed K-State's game-winning attempt with two seconds left, sending the game to overtime tied at 64.
The Wildcats shot 37.7 percent from the (23-of-61) but were boosted by a season-high for free throws made and attempted with a 29-of-34 performance (85.3 percent). TCU ended the night shooting 38.0 percent (27-of-71) and aided by a 10-of-33 effort from 3-point range.
K-State will cap its 2020-21 home schedule on Wednesday, as the Wildcats host (20/22) West Virginia at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday's game is Senior Night, as the Wildcats will honor Sydney Goodson and Ashley Ray in a postgame ceremony. To purchase tickets, contact the K-State Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com/tickets.
Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be aired on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Good, hard fought win by our group. You never do everything necessarily like you want to. There's obvious execution issues, things you want better. But I liked our grit, I liked our toughness. I thought our rebounding down the stretch was big. There were possessions there, long shots coming off, I thought we really extended ourselves and rebounded the ball at the end of the game. I thought that was critical. You're fortunate to win a game like that but you also have got to do a lot of things good to win a game like that. Carr got off to a great start, loved her aggressiveness. They locked up a little bit more on her but she still had a really productive second half. Yoki (Ayoka Lee) obviously in the second half, we were able to move the ball quicker which was able to get her, and we had better patience to get her touches down low. She certainly had a great second half as well."
On defending Lauren Heard late in the game...
"Well I thought, I don't know that we ever locked her down but we at least got a couple stops in there. The bank three that she hits in regulation, that obviously, I thought we played good defense on that play. Got it down to the end of the shot clock and sometimes it goes like that. She's a tough kid, I love that kid. She just plays her heart out every game and has been a great player for them for four years. Yeah just a really, really tough gritty winner and does a lot of good things."
On Chrissy Carr and Ayoka Lee's record setting performances...
"We said that at half, it's one thing to have a lead and have four or five players playing good but we did not have a team playing good. We had Chrissy playing well with a good feel, but we did not have a team playing well. That kind of continued in the second half. Now we got Lee involved a lot more and we were able to get her the ball in good spots. So we were at least able to get a good second player. I will say this, I did think obviously our players recognized that and showed some patience in getting the ball to Lee in the second half. And then Chrissy makes a really good cut on the backside, we find her back there. Goodson finds Lee on a ball reversal, so there were some really good things going on."
On the concern over the quick turnaround this week...
"I don't know, yeah I'm concerned about everything. But I think we'll get some rest tomorrow and we'll be alright. I have to make those adjustments as a coach to make sure our team is as rested as they can be and prepared as they can be. It'll be our third game in five days. I thought our group fought through it tonight and I would expect that we'll be ready to play on Wednesday."
CHRISSY CARR, JUNIOR GUARD
On TCU's defense in the second half…
"Honestly my dad told me at halftime coming out basically saying, it's not going to be Chrissy taking on the whole world, we just got to play within our offense and find the right time and the ball will find me at the right time and take it and I just take it and make the shot when it's my time. Once they figured out how to guard me, they started face guarding me. My biggest thing was just not to force stuff because I didn't want to get into a habit of forcing stuff and losing possessions for our team. The ball found me in the right spots and I just took and made plays tonight."
On being aggressive and getting to the foul line...
"Our emphasis is definitely to be more aggressive, especially when teams want to press us. That shows they want to be aggressive with us so we want to take it right back at them and get them out of that press if we can. If we are being pressed with that aggressiveness then we are going to try to get them out of it and make them pay while being aggressive. I feel like we did a great job of that, and our team did a great job of being aggressive and not being passive. We are doing a better job in late game situations."
On tonight's performance against TCU...
"I think the one thing this year overall is my game has expanded. After last year, I was really just a three point shooter, and didn't try too much to attack the basket, so this year I wanted to be more aggressive. I had talked to Coach Mittie about it prior to this season, Peyton (Williams) is going to be gone and I had to step up. One thing that I think really changed against TCU is that I'm just a lot more aggressive, and have found a lot of ways to score other than just catching and shooting threes. It's hard when you're a shooter and people know that, they are going to try to stop you. But if your game is one dimensional, they only have to worry about stopping one thing. That's one thing that I was really trying to work on was getting to the free throw line, finding other people shots, and finding my shot as well."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On facing the TCU double team...
"At that point of the game, it was just be smart and go up strong if they pass it in, and if they don't just rebound hard. But just be smart was the main thing."
On scoring 29 points and not leading the team in scoring...
"I think it's great. Chrissy did great. I wanted her to get 40 so I was a little disappointed, but I think it's great and just fun to have those moments with teammates."
On picking up her offense in the second half...
"The timing was better. We did a great job of looking inside from different spots on the floor instead of just waiting until it got to the wings. We did a good job of doing it quickly so they couldn't get help."
Cats Win!
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) March 2, 2021
K-State gets it done in OT! Carr scored a career-high 31. Lee added 29. #KStateWBB x Honor The Journey pic.twitter.com/EiOZ7qtIRw
Double ↔️ Trouble
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) March 2, 2021
Ayoka Lee & Chrissy Carr's combined 60 points tonight is a new program record, eclipsing the previous high of 59 set by Brittany Chambers & Mariah White in 2013. #KStateWBB pic.twitter.com/BDbRJcYCZh
Chrissy gets buckets
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) March 2, 2021
Career-high 3️⃣1️⃣ pts tonight vs TCU #KStateWBB x @chrissycarr4 pic.twitter.com/CfGGG56P7B
Yokie puts the 'Cats on top #KStateWBB 75
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) March 2, 2021
TCU 74 | OT - 29.3 pic.twitter.com/rHsGxeLOv2
Team Stats
TCU
KState
FG%
.380
.377
3FG%
.303
.211
FT%
.800
.853
RB
40
45
TO
11
13
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
31
FGM
8
3FGM
4
FTM
11
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
4
FGM
0
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballK-State WBB | Feeding the Band
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