SE: A Performance That Will Never Be Forgotten
Jan 24, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Where were you at, say, 2:53 p.m. on Sunday, January 23, 2022? Jeff Mittie will forever remember exactly where he was on this date. The Kansas State head coach saw All-American candidate Ayoka Lee smash No. 14 Oklahoma behind a NCAA women's Division I record-setting 61 points in a 94-65 victory — a performance that will go into K-State lore alongside those timeworn stories of Michael Beasley, Jordy Nelson, Erik Kynard, and all the greats to ever compete in K-State athletics.
Lee scored her 61st point on a layup with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter. She went to the sideline for good to a standing ovation from the crowd of 4,347 with 2:37 left following her crowning performance at Bramlage Coliseum. She quickly became a trending topic on Twitter. The women's college basketball world, and others, including the Kansas City Chiefs pregame radio show, began buzzing at her historic achievement.
Afterward, the mild-mannered 6-foot-6 junior center from Byron, Minnesota, was somewhat speechless in revisiting her performance. That's expected. "Yokie," as she's called by her coaches, teammates, and fans, is also one of the most humble players to ever wear purple and white.
"It's crazy," said Lee, who added 12 rebounds, 1 steal and 3 blocks in 35 minutes. "Yeah, I mean, coming into this game, it wasn't like, I don't think that anyone thinks, 'We're going to set a record today.' I think it just goes back to our preparation. We just executed so well."
Lee, who shot 23 of 30 from the floor and 15 of 17 from the foul line, topped Brittney Griner's Big 12 Conference record of 50 points on a layup with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. She scored the most points by a Division I player in a single game this season on a turnaround layup that gave her 53 points with 6:49 remaining in the contest for a 78-53 lead.
The fourth player in K-State history with 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 200 blocks, Lee entered the game as the national leader with 424 total points and fourth nationally in averaging 23.6 points per game. She also entered first with 177 made field-goal attempts, and ranked second nationally with 63 blocked shots, third with 3.5 blocks per game, and fourth with 12 double-doubles. She led the Big 12 in shooting 58.0% from the floor.
"Yokie is a quiet leader and it's not in her nature to want to lead, but there's so much more to her than the 61 points and the 12 rebounds, but I sure like that part," Mittie said. "I like that part as well. We don't want to say that we expect it, but when you have a player who plays the same way when things aren't going well, it's not the emotional highs and lows."
Her efforts, coupled by the Wildcats' stifling defense, made for one of the biggest blowout victories in school history against an Associated Press Top 25 opponent.
K-State, 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12 and tied for first in the league standings, recorded its most-lopsided victory against a ranked opponent since also beating No. 19 Oklahoma by 29 points on February 1, 2003 in Norman. K-State had not defeated a ranked foe by a larger margin since topping No. 19 Detroit 70-35 on December 20, 1981 in Ahearn Field House.
Oklahoma, 16-3 and 5-2, entered tied with Iowa State for No. 1 in the Big 12 standings, and rode a four-game winning streak with wins in 13 of its previous 14 contests heading into Manhattan. The Sooners jumped nine spots in the January 17 AP poll, leaping from No. 23 to No. 14, which marked the largest single-week jump in the AP poll in school history.
"You never want to be on this side of a NCAA record, but I thought Ayoka Lee was absolutely phenomenal," said first-year Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk, who served as a K-State graduate assistant coach under Deb Patterson in 2005-06. "We didn't have an answer. They all played very well. They played right to her. We needed to respond, and we just didn't respond. At the same time, we're going to focus on continuing to get better. We've got to. That's where we're at."
Lee became the first player in K-State history to record two 40-point games in a career when she hit a baseline turnaround jump shot with 4:44 left in the third quarter. She outscored the entire Oklahoma team 41-39 for the game until Taylor Robertson's 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the third quarter trimmed K-State's lead to 62-42.
Lee broke her own K-State single-game school record by scoring her 45th point with a turnaround layup in the paint with 1:56 left in the third quarter for a 66-49 lead. She became the first player in Big 12 history to score more than 50 points in a game when she flipped the ball into the hoop with 8:56 left in the game. She reached 55 points on a turnaround jum pshot with 4:41 left.
"She's really good and that's actually crazy," K-State freshman guard Jaelyn Glenn said. "I feel like you kind of get used to it. You play with her for so long that it's like, 'That's just what she does.' Then you sit on it, and you're like, 'Wow, she's good.'"
Freshman guard Serena Sundell had 11 points and 8 assists, and Glenn added 8 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals. Lee (61), Sundell (11) and Glenn (8) became the highest-scoring K-State trio in a single game since at least 1986. Laurie Koehn (33), Kendra Wecker (20) and Megan Mahoney (19) combined for 72 points against Iowa on January 5, 2003.
The only thing more exhausting than keeping up with Lee's points must've been defending her. She seemingly toyed with Oklahoma defenders each trip down the court.
Lee had a school-record 32 first-half points, including a school-record 20 points in the second quarter, with six rebounds and three blocks as the Wildcats took a 51-27 lead at halftime and didn't look back against the mighty Sooners, who looked wholly fallible behind missed shot after missed shot and turnover after turnover — many due to the long arms of Lee, who should garner consideration for National Player of the Year.
Oklahoma, which entered as the top offensive team in the nation, shot just 37.7% (23 of 61) from the floor, including 33.3% (7 of 21) from beyond the arc, and suffered 17 turnovers while being held to their lowest point total of the season.
Here's one way to summarize the first half. Lee scored 32 points and Oklahoma scored 27. She scored 30 of her team's first 42 points then took a seat late in the second quarter to a rousing ovation.
"I need another word for incredible," Baranczyk said. "Outstanding, amazing, spectacular, All-American, yes. All of those things. She was great."
It was the first of many ovations for Lee.
She scored her 39th point by hitting the front end of two free throws while suffering a scratch across her left arm from the fingernails of Oklahoma's Skylar Vann — a scratch that required some tape. She shook her head and said to Vann: "Foul." She proceeded to sink two free throws.
And the rout and records began to mount for Lee and K-State, which led 19-11 after the first quarter, 51-27 at halftime, and 70-51 after three quarters.
"One of the things you learn is if you take the foot off the gas, any team can come back, and we were playing one of the best offensive teams in the nation," Mittie said. "We wanted to keep the foot on the gas and keep feeding (Lee). The only time I thought about taking her out was when it got down to the two-and-a-half mark. I wasn't aware of the record. I didn't look at the scoreboard all day to see how many points she had. I knew she had 32 at half. I knew she was scoring it well in the second half. The first time I looked up she had 58.
"My focus for our team was keeping the foot on the gas, playing well, digging deep, playing defense, and our group did that most of the day."
K-State led by as many as 31 points in the final 3 minutes. After the final buzzer, Lee's teammates lovingly mobbed her during a TV interview on the court. The crowd stuck around to cheer on Lee and her teammates one final time before they jogged into the locker room for a celebration.
"It was a special crowd for a Sunday and especially with the Chiefs in the playoffs," Lee said. "The crowds we've had have been awesome. I just hope it continues to grow."
Although the legend of "Yokie" continues to grow, Mittie emphatically hopes that the nation considers the overall talent and variety of talents by arguably the best player in the history of K-State women's basketball.
"I think it says a lot about the kind of player she is when she's trying to take a charge in a 20-point game late in the game and not taking plays off," Mittie said. "This is a complete player. We focus sometimes on the offensive end, but she was tasked with defending guards today at the 3-point line. Yokie is the same person, good, bad, every day. I've really enjoyed coaching this team in that they're really consistent, good people, want to work hard, and are becoming closer as a team.
"Yokie sets the standard for that."
Where were you at, say, 2:53 p.m. on Sunday, January 23, 2022? Jeff Mittie will forever remember exactly where he was on this date. The Kansas State head coach saw All-American candidate Ayoka Lee smash No. 14 Oklahoma behind a NCAA women's Division I record-setting 61 points in a 94-65 victory — a performance that will go into K-State lore alongside those timeworn stories of Michael Beasley, Jordy Nelson, Erik Kynard, and all the greats to ever compete in K-State athletics.
Lee scored her 61st point on a layup with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter. She went to the sideline for good to a standing ovation from the crowd of 4,347 with 2:37 left following her crowning performance at Bramlage Coliseum. She quickly became a trending topic on Twitter. The women's college basketball world, and others, including the Kansas City Chiefs pregame radio show, began buzzing at her historic achievement.
Afterward, the mild-mannered 6-foot-6 junior center from Byron, Minnesota, was somewhat speechless in revisiting her performance. That's expected. "Yokie," as she's called by her coaches, teammates, and fans, is also one of the most humble players to ever wear purple and white.
"It's crazy," said Lee, who added 12 rebounds, 1 steal and 3 blocks in 35 minutes. "Yeah, I mean, coming into this game, it wasn't like, I don't think that anyone thinks, 'We're going to set a record today.' I think it just goes back to our preparation. We just executed so well."
Lee, who shot 23 of 30 from the floor and 15 of 17 from the foul line, topped Brittney Griner's Big 12 Conference record of 50 points on a layup with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. She scored the most points by a Division I player in a single game this season on a turnaround layup that gave her 53 points with 6:49 remaining in the contest for a 78-53 lead.
The fourth player in K-State history with 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 200 blocks, Lee entered the game as the national leader with 424 total points and fourth nationally in averaging 23.6 points per game. She also entered first with 177 made field-goal attempts, and ranked second nationally with 63 blocked shots, third with 3.5 blocks per game, and fourth with 12 double-doubles. She led the Big 12 in shooting 58.0% from the floor.
"Yokie is a quiet leader and it's not in her nature to want to lead, but there's so much more to her than the 61 points and the 12 rebounds, but I sure like that part," Mittie said. "I like that part as well. We don't want to say that we expect it, but when you have a player who plays the same way when things aren't going well, it's not the emotional highs and lows."
Her efforts, coupled by the Wildcats' stifling defense, made for one of the biggest blowout victories in school history against an Associated Press Top 25 opponent.
K-State, 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12 and tied for first in the league standings, recorded its most-lopsided victory against a ranked opponent since also beating No. 19 Oklahoma by 29 points on February 1, 2003 in Norman. K-State had not defeated a ranked foe by a larger margin since topping No. 19 Detroit 70-35 on December 20, 1981 in Ahearn Field House.
Oklahoma, 16-3 and 5-2, entered tied with Iowa State for No. 1 in the Big 12 standings, and rode a four-game winning streak with wins in 13 of its previous 14 contests heading into Manhattan. The Sooners jumped nine spots in the January 17 AP poll, leaping from No. 23 to No. 14, which marked the largest single-week jump in the AP poll in school history.
"You never want to be on this side of a NCAA record, but I thought Ayoka Lee was absolutely phenomenal," said first-year Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk, who served as a K-State graduate assistant coach under Deb Patterson in 2005-06. "We didn't have an answer. They all played very well. They played right to her. We needed to respond, and we just didn't respond. At the same time, we're going to focus on continuing to get better. We've got to. That's where we're at."
Lee became the first player in K-State history to record two 40-point games in a career when she hit a baseline turnaround jump shot with 4:44 left in the third quarter. She outscored the entire Oklahoma team 41-39 for the game until Taylor Robertson's 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the third quarter trimmed K-State's lead to 62-42.
Lee broke her own K-State single-game school record by scoring her 45th point with a turnaround layup in the paint with 1:56 left in the third quarter for a 66-49 lead. She became the first player in Big 12 history to score more than 50 points in a game when she flipped the ball into the hoop with 8:56 left in the game. She reached 55 points on a turnaround jum pshot with 4:41 left.
"She's really good and that's actually crazy," K-State freshman guard Jaelyn Glenn said. "I feel like you kind of get used to it. You play with her for so long that it's like, 'That's just what she does.' Then you sit on it, and you're like, 'Wow, she's good.'"
Freshman guard Serena Sundell had 11 points and 8 assists, and Glenn added 8 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals. Lee (61), Sundell (11) and Glenn (8) became the highest-scoring K-State trio in a single game since at least 1986. Laurie Koehn (33), Kendra Wecker (20) and Megan Mahoney (19) combined for 72 points against Iowa on January 5, 2003.
The only thing more exhausting than keeping up with Lee's points must've been defending her. She seemingly toyed with Oklahoma defenders each trip down the court.
Lee had a school-record 32 first-half points, including a school-record 20 points in the second quarter, with six rebounds and three blocks as the Wildcats took a 51-27 lead at halftime and didn't look back against the mighty Sooners, who looked wholly fallible behind missed shot after missed shot and turnover after turnover — many due to the long arms of Lee, who should garner consideration for National Player of the Year.
Oklahoma, which entered as the top offensive team in the nation, shot just 37.7% (23 of 61) from the floor, including 33.3% (7 of 21) from beyond the arc, and suffered 17 turnovers while being held to their lowest point total of the season.
Here's one way to summarize the first half. Lee scored 32 points and Oklahoma scored 27. She scored 30 of her team's first 42 points then took a seat late in the second quarter to a rousing ovation.
"I need another word for incredible," Baranczyk said. "Outstanding, amazing, spectacular, All-American, yes. All of those things. She was great."
It was the first of many ovations for Lee.
She scored her 39th point by hitting the front end of two free throws while suffering a scratch across her left arm from the fingernails of Oklahoma's Skylar Vann — a scratch that required some tape. She shook her head and said to Vann: "Foul." She proceeded to sink two free throws.
And the rout and records began to mount for Lee and K-State, which led 19-11 after the first quarter, 51-27 at halftime, and 70-51 after three quarters.
"One of the things you learn is if you take the foot off the gas, any team can come back, and we were playing one of the best offensive teams in the nation," Mittie said. "We wanted to keep the foot on the gas and keep feeding (Lee). The only time I thought about taking her out was when it got down to the two-and-a-half mark. I wasn't aware of the record. I didn't look at the scoreboard all day to see how many points she had. I knew she had 32 at half. I knew she was scoring it well in the second half. The first time I looked up she had 58.
"My focus for our team was keeping the foot on the gas, playing well, digging deep, playing defense, and our group did that most of the day."
K-State led by as many as 31 points in the final 3 minutes. After the final buzzer, Lee's teammates lovingly mobbed her during a TV interview on the court. The crowd stuck around to cheer on Lee and her teammates one final time before they jogged into the locker room for a celebration.
"It was a special crowd for a Sunday and especially with the Chiefs in the playoffs," Lee said. "The crowds we've had have been awesome. I just hope it continues to grow."
Although the legend of "Yokie" continues to grow, Mittie emphatically hopes that the nation considers the overall talent and variety of talents by arguably the best player in the history of K-State women's basketball.
"I think it says a lot about the kind of player she is when she's trying to take a charge in a 20-point game late in the game and not taking plays off," Mittie said. "This is a complete player. We focus sometimes on the offensive end, but she was tasked with defending guards today at the 3-point line. Yokie is the same person, good, bad, every day. I've really enjoyed coaching this team in that they're really consistent, good people, want to work hard, and are becoming closer as a team.
"Yokie sets the standard for that."
The moment when Ayoka Lee exited the court after dropping her record 61 points 👏 #ThatsaW pic.twitter.com/BiAEuOWPXi
— ESPN (@espn) January 23, 2022
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