Defense Carries K-State in First Round, Looks for More of the Same on Monday
Mar 21, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Double-teamed and triple-teamed, steady Ayoka Lee refused to settle. Instead, the Second Team All-American grew stronger. Lee scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her school-record 20th double-double in a season that sees another chapter as No. 9-seed Kansas State outlasted No. 8-seed Washington State, 50-40, in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Lee, who had just two points in the first quarter and four in the second, scored six points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth, as the Wildcats stormed back from a 24-17 halftime deficit to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
K-State, 20-12, meets No. 1-seed North Carolina State, 30-3, in Monday's second-round game. The Wildcats will seek their first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2002. NC State advanced to the second round with a 96-68 win over No. 16 Longwood on Saturday.
Although the Wildcats' fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in eight seasons proved challenging over the first two quarters, they battled and persevered behind Lee and contributions by several players. Freshman Brylee Glenn had 14 points and four rebounds and freshman Serena Sundell and junior Emilee Ebert had five points apiece. K-State outshot Washington State 26.4% (14 of 53) to 25.0% (14 of 56) and forced the Cougars into 18 turnovers.
"They were two really good defensive teams," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie, who improved to 3-3 in NCAA Tournament games with the Wildcats. "We each had something to do with the struggles early in this game and both teams really were sound in that area. I was proud of our group, obviously when we got a lot of players struggling, we just kind of stayed the course. We struggled getting the ball to Lee and she struggled finishing early in this game.
"We dug deep today. That's something that this team has learned is not to tie their defense to their offense and I think we're moving on because of that."
Washington State finished its season 19-11 under former K-State associate head coach Kamie Ethridge, who has guided the Cougars to a 51-64 mark in her four seasons with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. K-State Athletics Hall-of-Fame member Laurie Koehn serves as Ethridge's associate head coach while Deb Patterson, the winningest head coach in K-State history, serves as director of player personnel for the Cougars.
"Just really sad and disappointed in how we played," Ethridge said. "K-State was awesome in the second half and made great adjustments, really (we) just got standing still. Congrats to K-State. Really proud of our team for being here and fighting like they do on a daily basis. I'm disappointed that we didn't do a better job today."
Neither team led by double digits until Glenn's pair of free throws with 56 seconds remaining in the game, which were the final points for either team. K-State held Washington State to just 20.7% (6 of 29) shooting in the second half, including 11.1% (2 of 18) in the fourth quarter. The Cougars missed all 13 of their 3-point attempts in the final two quarters.
Lee shot 5 of 11 from the floor and made 10 of 12 free throws. She joined Brittany Chambers as the only players in K-State history to reach 700 points in a season. Her 15 rebounds tied for the most by a K-State player in a NCAA Tournament game, matching the total by Tammie Romstad on March 13, 1982.
"We all know what a great player Ayoka is, so we all do want to get her the ball," said Glenn, a 2022 Big 12 All-Freshman Team selection. "In the first half, we saw there were two people on her, so we might've shied away from passing the ball into her a little bit. Coming out in the third quarter, we did put a big emphasis on looking at (her) more, and see those small windows, because there were small windows of getting her the ball. We just wanted to be able to do that for her."
NC State under head coach Wes Moore, 220-68 overall, is making its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen last season. The Wolfpack, which finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, has won 11 straight games. K-State suffered a 90-69 loss to the Wolfpack on November 19 in Raleigh.
Monday's contest will feature two of the top centers in women's college basketball as Lee will face fellow Second Team All-American Elissa Cunane, a 6-foot-5 senior who entered the NCAA Tournament averaging 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds with eight double-doubles this season and 33 in her career.
Mittie called K-State's regular-season game against the Wolfpack "a lifetime ago in basketball terms," adding that "we were a young basketball team."
"I thought we came in and competed well, but, boy, we sure couldn't stop them — defensively we couldn't stop them," Mittie continued. "It was a good message to our group going back to Manhattan because we needed to improve, and we needed to do it quickly."
On Monday, the Wildcats have a chance at some sweet redemption.
Double-teamed and triple-teamed, steady Ayoka Lee refused to settle. Instead, the Second Team All-American grew stronger. Lee scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her school-record 20th double-double in a season that sees another chapter as No. 9-seed Kansas State outlasted No. 8-seed Washington State, 50-40, in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Lee, who had just two points in the first quarter and four in the second, scored six points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth, as the Wildcats stormed back from a 24-17 halftime deficit to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
"It was definitely just a struggle in the first half," said Lee, who is the sixth player in Big 12 Conference history to reach 20 double-doubles in a season. "Things opened up more just as we continued to play together. This was kind of a grind-through-it game, but we kept working hard, and I think that's what helped us."Ayoka Lee cleaned up the glass for the Wildcats!#MarchMadness x @KStateWBB pic.twitter.com/kjZbXM6oON
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 19, 2022
K-State, 20-12, meets No. 1-seed North Carolina State, 30-3, in Monday's second-round game. The Wildcats will seek their first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2002. NC State advanced to the second round with a 96-68 win over No. 16 Longwood on Saturday.
Although the Wildcats' fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in eight seasons proved challenging over the first two quarters, they battled and persevered behind Lee and contributions by several players. Freshman Brylee Glenn had 14 points and four rebounds and freshman Serena Sundell and junior Emilee Ebert had five points apiece. K-State outshot Washington State 26.4% (14 of 53) to 25.0% (14 of 56) and forced the Cougars into 18 turnovers.
"They were two really good defensive teams," said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie, who improved to 3-3 in NCAA Tournament games with the Wildcats. "We each had something to do with the struggles early in this game and both teams really were sound in that area. I was proud of our group, obviously when we got a lot of players struggling, we just kind of stayed the course. We struggled getting the ball to Lee and she struggled finishing early in this game.
"We dug deep today. That's something that this team has learned is not to tie their defense to their offense and I think we're moving on because of that."
Washington State finished its season 19-11 under former K-State associate head coach Kamie Ethridge, who has guided the Cougars to a 51-64 mark in her four seasons with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. K-State Athletics Hall-of-Fame member Laurie Koehn serves as Ethridge's associate head coach while Deb Patterson, the winningest head coach in K-State history, serves as director of player personnel for the Cougars.
"Just really sad and disappointed in how we played," Ethridge said. "K-State was awesome in the second half and made great adjustments, really (we) just got standing still. Congrats to K-State. Really proud of our team for being here and fighting like they do on a daily basis. I'm disappointed that we didn't do a better job today."
Neither team led by double digits until Glenn's pair of free throws with 56 seconds remaining in the game, which were the final points for either team. K-State held Washington State to just 20.7% (6 of 29) shooting in the second half, including 11.1% (2 of 18) in the fourth quarter. The Cougars missed all 13 of their 3-point attempts in the final two quarters.
Lee shot 5 of 11 from the floor and made 10 of 12 free throws. She joined Brittany Chambers as the only players in K-State history to reach 700 points in a season. Her 15 rebounds tied for the most by a K-State player in a NCAA Tournament game, matching the total by Tammie Romstad on March 13, 1982.
"We all know what a great player Ayoka is, so we all do want to get her the ball," said Glenn, a 2022 Big 12 All-Freshman Team selection. "In the first half, we saw there were two people on her, so we might've shied away from passing the ball into her a little bit. Coming out in the third quarter, we did put a big emphasis on looking at (her) more, and see those small windows, because there were small windows of getting her the ball. We just wanted to be able to do that for her."
NC State under head coach Wes Moore, 220-68 overall, is making its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen last season. The Wolfpack, which finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, has won 11 straight games. K-State suffered a 90-69 loss to the Wolfpack on November 19 in Raleigh.
Monday's contest will feature two of the top centers in women's college basketball as Lee will face fellow Second Team All-American Elissa Cunane, a 6-foot-5 senior who entered the NCAA Tournament averaging 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds with eight double-doubles this season and 33 in her career.
Mittie called K-State's regular-season game against the Wolfpack "a lifetime ago in basketball terms," adding that "we were a young basketball team."
"I thought we came in and competed well, but, boy, we sure couldn't stop them — defensively we couldn't stop them," Mittie continued. "It was a good message to our group going back to Manhattan because we needed to improve, and we needed to do it quickly."
On Monday, the Wildcats have a chance at some sweet redemption.
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