Playing Tougher, Playing Together
Nov 18, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Shortly after 10:15 p.m. Thursday, Kansas State players hugged and paraded around the lip of Bramlage Coliseum high-fiving their fans. Head coach Jeff Mittie took a second to take it all in. The pep band blared "Wildcat Victory" and cheerleaders cheered and the purple stripe across the scoreboard read, "CATS WIN! CATS WIN! CATS WIN!" These were some of the sights, but words can fall short after something so nail-biting, when sweet victory is fresh, and sweat remains wet, and the air runs thick with numbing elation following the biggest regular-season non-conference victory in Manhattan in 39 years.
K-State 84, No. 4 Iowa 83.
These Wildcats, 3-0, did the unthinkable. Nobody gave them a chance. All-American Ayoka Lee hugged her teammates on crutches. She will miss the season due to offseason surgery. The Wildcats persevered without their star. They had three stars against the Hawkeyes — Preseason All-Big 12 Conference guard Serena Sundell, Oklahoma senior transfer Gabby Gregory, and LSU graduate transfer Sarah Shematsi — along with a throng of teammates and a coaching staff that made this night possible. For this is a team. And this is what it's all about.
"It's a special win," Mittie says, his hair wet from a postgame celebration. "It's special to be at home. We're off to a good start. We've got to keep getting better, but they'll remember this game. Gabby Gregory will remember this game when she stepped up and it was tougher, and Serena will remember the fourth quarter in her making plays. Probably more importantly is they'll remember the teammates they did it with, because you don't get these kind of opportunities very often."
K-State last beat a top-5 opponent when it toppled No. 5 Texas A&M, 71-67, on March 2, 2011 in Manhattan. The Wildcats beat No. 4 Iowa State, 69-63, on January 2, 2002 in Ames, Iowa.
However, No. 4 Iowa is the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever taken down in Bramlage Coliseum, and the highest-ranked foe the Wildcats have defeated in Manhattan since a 58-50 win over No. 2 Old Dominion on December 4, 1982 in Ahearn Field House.
No, these things don't happen very often.
"It was a hell of a game," Mittie says. "A hell of a game."
In a matchup expected to feature Player-of-the-Year candidates in Lee and Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the women's basketball world believed Clark, in the absence of Lee, would certainly lead the high-flying Hawkeyes to a non-conference win against a major-conference opponent on the road in November.
The Wildcats had other ideas.
"Neither team is one person. We certainly weren't a one-person team last year, and we certainly aren't this year," Mittie says. "We'd rather play with Lee, just like anybody would rather play, but we have a good solid group that's learning to play together better, tougher together, and answer runs, and they're getting better every day."
Now the rest of women's college basketball must realize that K-State, picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Conference, is gaining the kind of strength and chemistry and grit that, yes, could steer these Wildcats even deeper into March than a year ago.
"You get opportunities during the season to be involved in some great games," Mittie says, "and you hope that you're involved in them, and if you win them they're more special, and they are games across the country that are looked at as some of the best games.
"I think this will go down as one of the better early-season games in the non-con."
Sundell and Gregory scored 24 apiece and Shematsi added a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Sundell grabbed six rebounds and had a team-high five assists. Gregory sank 12-of-14 free throws, including six in the final 2 minutes, 13 seconds of the game.
That included one free throw to tie it at 83-83 with 36 seconds remaining and the final dagger that put the Wildcats ahead 84-83 with four seconds to go.
"I mean, shoot, I was so nervous," Gregory says, so blunt that it causes Mittie to chuckle in the postgame interview room. "Oh my gosh. I'm being honest, yeah, I was nervous. The first free throw to go ahead, I felt like it was an out-of-body experience. My body was numb."
Sundell, who played a game-high 38 minutes, sports a slight shiner below her right eye, which will serve as her reminder that this was no dream. Sundell was amazing. She was physical. She was determined. She had 12 points in the second half, including seven in the fourth quarter. Her 3-point play with 6:27 left in the third quarter gave K-State its first lead of the game, 54-52. Her pair of free throws and layup in a span of 30 seconds in the fourth quarter slashed the Wildcats' seven-point deficit, their largest of the second half, to 76-73 with 5:06 to play.
"I wanted to be aggressive in this game and that was my mindset coming in," Sundell said. "Right away, I saw opportunities, I saw that I had height, and found gaps that were working, and that's what I was going with."
Clark had a game-high 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes for the Hawkeyes, who dropped to 2-1. She shot 6-for-17 from the floor, including 2-for-7 on 3-pointers. She made 13-of-16 free throws. Ever-dangerous Monika Czinano had 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Iowa entered the season with its highest preseason Associated Press ranking (No. 4) since 1994 and its second-highest ranking in program history. Tabbed the Big Ten preseason favorites by coaches and media, Iowa returned all five starters from a year ago that helped the Hawkeyes to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder has led her teams to a 215-41 record at home, including three undefeated seasons at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Except the Hawkeyes weren't at home. And they couldn't escape the Little Apple.
"We're going to get everybody's best shot," Bluder said. "We better get used to it. I don't feel like we had the pressure, but I think they were really excited to play us. We have to understand that we're marked and we are going to have to bring that kind of emotion to every single game."
In the end, with time running out, Czinano drove the lane. The final buzzer sounded. The edges of the glass backboard burst in bright red. And the ball hadn't yet left Czinano's hands as Gregory's body touched hers in the paint. Officials reviewed the play for a couple minutes. K-State players retreated to the bench. And the wait was on.
"I was nervous, but I was pretty confident that (Czinano) didn't get the shot up in time," Sundell says. "I was excited, because I had a feeling we had just won that game, and (Mittie) was telling us what to do once we win — speaking it into existence."
Officials waved off Gregory's foul. Time had already expired. The end.
Players rushed the floor, and then they headed toward the K-State student section, and they high-fived their fans, and then they hugged Lee, and victory was fresh, and sweat still wet, and the air thick with numbing elation. Together, they walked to midcourt.
For this is a team. And this is what it's all about.
Shortly after 10:15 p.m. Thursday, Kansas State players hugged and paraded around the lip of Bramlage Coliseum high-fiving their fans. Head coach Jeff Mittie took a second to take it all in. The pep band blared "Wildcat Victory" and cheerleaders cheered and the purple stripe across the scoreboard read, "CATS WIN! CATS WIN! CATS WIN!" These were some of the sights, but words can fall short after something so nail-biting, when sweet victory is fresh, and sweat remains wet, and the air runs thick with numbing elation following the biggest regular-season non-conference victory in Manhattan in 39 years.
K-State 84, No. 4 Iowa 83.
These Wildcats, 3-0, did the unthinkable. Nobody gave them a chance. All-American Ayoka Lee hugged her teammates on crutches. She will miss the season due to offseason surgery. The Wildcats persevered without their star. They had three stars against the Hawkeyes — Preseason All-Big 12 Conference guard Serena Sundell, Oklahoma senior transfer Gabby Gregory, and LSU graduate transfer Sarah Shematsi — along with a throng of teammates and a coaching staff that made this night possible. For this is a team. And this is what it's all about.
"It's a special win," Mittie says, his hair wet from a postgame celebration. "It's special to be at home. We're off to a good start. We've got to keep getting better, but they'll remember this game. Gabby Gregory will remember this game when she stepped up and it was tougher, and Serena will remember the fourth quarter in her making plays. Probably more importantly is they'll remember the teammates they did it with, because you don't get these kind of opportunities very often."
K-State last beat a top-5 opponent when it toppled No. 5 Texas A&M, 71-67, on March 2, 2011 in Manhattan. The Wildcats beat No. 4 Iowa State, 69-63, on January 2, 2002 in Ames, Iowa.
However, No. 4 Iowa is the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever taken down in Bramlage Coliseum, and the highest-ranked foe the Wildcats have defeated in Manhattan since a 58-50 win over No. 2 Old Dominion on December 4, 1982 in Ahearn Field House.
No, these things don't happen very often.
"It was a hell of a game," Mittie says. "A hell of a game."
In a matchup expected to feature Player-of-the-Year candidates in Lee and Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the women's basketball world believed Clark, in the absence of Lee, would certainly lead the high-flying Hawkeyes to a non-conference win against a major-conference opponent on the road in November.
The Wildcats had other ideas.
"Neither team is one person. We certainly weren't a one-person team last year, and we certainly aren't this year," Mittie says. "We'd rather play with Lee, just like anybody would rather play, but we have a good solid group that's learning to play together better, tougher together, and answer runs, and they're getting better every day."
Now the rest of women's college basketball must realize that K-State, picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Conference, is gaining the kind of strength and chemistry and grit that, yes, could steer these Wildcats even deeper into March than a year ago.
"You get opportunities during the season to be involved in some great games," Mittie says, "and you hope that you're involved in them, and if you win them they're more special, and they are games across the country that are looked at as some of the best games.
"I think this will go down as one of the better early-season games in the non-con."
Sundell and Gregory scored 24 apiece and Shematsi added a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Sundell grabbed six rebounds and had a team-high five assists. Gregory sank 12-of-14 free throws, including six in the final 2 minutes, 13 seconds of the game.
That included one free throw to tie it at 83-83 with 36 seconds remaining and the final dagger that put the Wildcats ahead 84-83 with four seconds to go.
"I mean, shoot, I was so nervous," Gregory says, so blunt that it causes Mittie to chuckle in the postgame interview room. "Oh my gosh. I'm being honest, yeah, I was nervous. The first free throw to go ahead, I felt like it was an out-of-body experience. My body was numb."
Sundell, who played a game-high 38 minutes, sports a slight shiner below her right eye, which will serve as her reminder that this was no dream. Sundell was amazing. She was physical. She was determined. She had 12 points in the second half, including seven in the fourth quarter. Her 3-point play with 6:27 left in the third quarter gave K-State its first lead of the game, 54-52. Her pair of free throws and layup in a span of 30 seconds in the fourth quarter slashed the Wildcats' seven-point deficit, their largest of the second half, to 76-73 with 5:06 to play.
"I wanted to be aggressive in this game and that was my mindset coming in," Sundell said. "Right away, I saw opportunities, I saw that I had height, and found gaps that were working, and that's what I was going with."
Clark had a game-high 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes for the Hawkeyes, who dropped to 2-1. She shot 6-for-17 from the floor, including 2-for-7 on 3-pointers. She made 13-of-16 free throws. Ever-dangerous Monika Czinano had 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Iowa entered the season with its highest preseason Associated Press ranking (No. 4) since 1994 and its second-highest ranking in program history. Tabbed the Big Ten preseason favorites by coaches and media, Iowa returned all five starters from a year ago that helped the Hawkeyes to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder has led her teams to a 215-41 record at home, including three undefeated seasons at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Except the Hawkeyes weren't at home. And they couldn't escape the Little Apple.
"We're going to get everybody's best shot," Bluder said. "We better get used to it. I don't feel like we had the pressure, but I think they were really excited to play us. We have to understand that we're marked and we are going to have to bring that kind of emotion to every single game."
In the end, with time running out, Czinano drove the lane. The final buzzer sounded. The edges of the glass backboard burst in bright red. And the ball hadn't yet left Czinano's hands as Gregory's body touched hers in the paint. Officials reviewed the play for a couple minutes. K-State players retreated to the bench. And the wait was on.
"I was nervous, but I was pretty confident that (Czinano) didn't get the shot up in time," Sundell says. "I was excited, because I had a feeling we had just won that game, and (Mittie) was telling us what to do once we win — speaking it into existence."
Officials waved off Gregory's foul. Time had already expired. The end.
Players rushed the floor, and then they headed toward the K-State student section, and they high-fived their fans, and then they hugged Lee, and victory was fresh, and sweat still wet, and the air thick with numbing elation. Together, they walked to midcourt.
For this is a team. And this is what it's all about.
Players Mentioned
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