Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, February 22
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
16-12,5-10Big 12
63
vs
45
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Kansas
16-10,6-9Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Kansas
15
7
11
12
45
Kansas St.
12
14
18
19
63
K-State Locks Down Jayhawks in Dillons Sunflower Showdown
Feb 22, 2023 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State used a stellar defensive effort to split the season series with Kansas in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown with a 63-45 win on Wednesday night in Bramlage Coliseum. K-State has now won 38 of the last 48 meetings in the series.
K-State (16-12, 5-10 Big 12) held Kansas (16-10, 6-9) to its lowest offensive output of the season with 45 points and a field goal percentage of 31.4 percent. The 45 points were the fewest points K-State has allowed in the series since a 47-43 K-State win on Feb. 12, 2012. This was the fourth time in 20 meetings in the Jeff Mittie era that K-State has surrendered 50 points or less to the Jayhawks.
The Wildcats were led on Wednesday night by sophomore guard Serena Sundell with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 8-of-9 from the foul line. The product of Maryville, Missouri, added seven assists, five rebounds and four steals to her final stat line. Over the last eight games, Sundell has scored 20 or more points four times.
Joining Sundell in double figures was senior guard and 2022-23 Drysdale Award candidate Gabby Gregory with 20 points and four rebounds. Gregory registered her 17th game this season with 20 or more points, which is the most of any player in the Big 12 this season and the third most in a season in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State used a 12-2 run bridging the first and second quarters to build a 19-15 lead with 6:46 remaining in the second frame. Gregory pushed the Wildcats into their first lead of the night with a layup with 8:02 left and then followed with a three-pointer in transition.
- A layup by Serena Sundell with 3:11 left in the first half gave K-State its largest lead of the opening half at 26-17. K-State would hold a 26-22 advantage at the half.
- The Wildcats held the Jayhawks to 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from the field in the second quarter and limited Kansas to just seven points in the frame.
- K-State used a 13-5 run in the latter stages of the third quarter to take a 44-31 lead with 1:15 remaining. Sundell started the run with an old-fashioned 3-point play and was followed by a putback by Heavenly Greer. Emilee Ebert added a fastbreak layup and was followed by a Sundell layup. Gregory then cashed in a jumper and a layup to complete the burst.
- In the fourth quarter, K-State extended its advantage to 21, 54-33, as the Wildcats opened the final frame with a 10-0 run to force a Kansas timeout with 7:21 remaining. Gregory scored six of the 10 points.
- After the Jayhawks narrowed the game to 16, 54-38, an Ebert jumper to beat the shot clock started a 9-2 K-State run give the Wildcats a 63-40 lead with 1:33 to play.
- The Wildcats shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field, including 20.0 percent (5-of-25) from three-point range. The Wildcats outscored the Jayhawks in the paint, 36-20, and held a 19-11 edge in points off turnovers.
- Kansas shot a season-low 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the floor, including 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range. The Jayhawks were forced into 21 turnovers.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with Kansas, 79-50, and has won 16 of the last 20 meetings in the series.
- The Wildcats are 38-16 in games played in Manhattan against the Jayhawks, including an 8-1 record under head coach Jeff Mittie.
- Kansas State owns a 229-196 record in the month of February including a 32-37 mark in the Jeff Mittie era.
- K-State is 13-3 in games played in Bramlage Coliseum this season. Over the last two seasons, the Wildcats are 27-6 in games played in Bramlage. The 27 wins are tied for the second-most home wins over a two-season span in the Mittie era.
TEAM NOTES
- Wednesday's starting five were Sarah Shematsi, Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn and Gabby Gregory. This was the 15th time this group started a game together this season (7-8). Sundell has started all 61 games in her K-State career. Jaelyn Glenn started her 57th career game and her 26th this season. Brylee Glenn recorded her 52nd career start and the 25th this season. This was the 70th career start for Gregory and her 24th at K-State. Shematsi tallied her 24th career start and her 22nd at K-State.
- The Wildcats led at halftime, 26-22. This was the 13th time this season (13-0) K-State led on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 126-16 when leading at halftime.
- With its five 3-pointers made on Wednesday night, K-State has made 212 three-pointers this season. This is the third time in the Jeff Mittie era and the first time since 2017-18 that the Wildcats have made 200 or more three-pointers in a season.
- With its 25 3-point attempts on Wednesday, K-State has increased its season total for 3-point attempts to 728. The 728 attempts ranks third in school history for 3-point attempts in a season.
PLAYER NOTES
- Sundell reached double figures in points for the 19th time this season and the 38th time in her career.
- Sundell moved into third on the K-State sophomore season assists list with 144 this season. Sundell remains 14th on the K-State career assists list with 319. Wednesday was the 17th game this season and the 37th of Sundell's career with five or more assists. She has led K-State in assists in 48 of her 61 career games.
- With five rebounds on Wednesday, Sundell recorded her 16th game of the season and the 23rd of her career with five or more rebounds.
- Sundell carded four steals on Wednesday. This was her 20th career game and her 11th this season with two or more steals. She has six career games with four or more steals.
- Gregory tallied her 65th career game in double figures for points and her 24th at K-State. She has scored in double figures in 10 straight games.
- Wednesday was Gregory's 17th game this season and the 25th of her career with 20 or more points. Gregory leads the Big 12 for games with 20 or more points. With her 17th game with 20 or more points this season, Gregory is third in school history for single-season games with 20 or more points.
- Gregory ended the night with three 3-pointers. This was her 21st game this season and the 49th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. She improved her season total to 68 connections from beyond the arc. She is the first Wildcat to make 60 or more 3-pointers in a season since Rachel Ranke made 71 in the 2018-19 season.
- Brylee Glenn tallied five steals on Wednesday. This was her seventh career game with four or more steals and her sixth this season.
- Eliza Maupin recorded her fifth career game with five or more boards.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On winning against KU…
"I think it's a big one. I'm proud of them for bouncing back. We were not happy with how we played and I'm not happy about being on this roller coaster we're too up and down. But I do think from an overall standpoint, we're continuing to improve. We got effort from a lot of people tonight so I'm really pleased with the way we played tonight."
On shutting down Taiyanna Jackson…
"I thought Sarah (Shematsi) got us off to a great start offensive rebounding. She really did a good job of making it hard for Jackson to catch anything easy. I thought Heavenly (Greer) came in right away, picked right up where Sarah left off. Maupin came in. Those three I thought played as well as they played all year as a unit and critical for us because we out-rebound them. We hold Jackson at bay for most of the night. I just thought those three played extremely well."
On how the team played well even with a lack of scoring…
"Well, that's one thing I think as a coach you want your team to not worry about the result of shooting. Shooting can be fickle. If you're getting good ball movement, if you're sharing the basketball that's what you're looking for. We too often have tied that to our effort sometimes so we're getting better at that. I thought our group battled for I thought 35 minutes. Our defense was excellent. The first five minutes was not what we talked about doing and they hit us with some shots early, but for 35 minutes, I think it was the best we played."
On Jaelyn Glenn and Gabby Gregory's defense role tonight…
"Jae and Gabby had a big responsibility defensively. I do want to bring that up and I thought they both played excellent, but they were always on the backside of where Jackson was in that zone. That's not easy because I'm asking them to get all the way out on the shooter on the other side and then they have to get all the way back in. So I really thought both of them while not having great offensive nights in terms of shooting the ball well, they did so many great things defensively. It really was, from a coaching standpoint, really fun to watch them do what we felt like we needed to do to play well."
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
On the importance of games down the stretch…
"Absolutely. For us, there's implications with every win or every loss at this point. And, give credit to K-State for how well they played tonight. I thought we let our offensive struggles affect our defensive intensity for much of the night."
On the offensive struggles…
"When you shoot as poorly as we did, and then have 20 turnovers that's not a recipe for success."
On K-State slowing down Taiyanna Jackson…
"They obviously played zone and just kind of built a tent around her and the tent got tighter and tighter as we missed shots. I thought we missed her when we did have opportunities but credit K-State and their length. I think even when she was open, they did a great job of playing with their hands above their shoulders and messing with timing."
FROM THE FLOOR
SERENA SUNDELL, K-STATE SOPHOMORE GUARD
On how defense turned to offense…
"I think just to get a win in that way and the way we did has been something we've been looking for this whole season and is something we haven't found a lot. Just like these guys have been saying we let our results of shooting the ball kind of go to our effort and let it trickle over into every other aspect of our game but tonight we did a great job. I think our centers like you said kind of gave us a spark of we can get extra shots in different ways."
On if she is hitting her stride in the season…
"I guess I would say that I would like to find more perimeter game too as we go. But I think I'm confident in getting the ball down low right now and knowing where my teammates are going to be. We work on that a lot in practice, me getting the ball down the baseline. I'm confident in my offense right now."
On the importance of the rivalry game…
"Yeah I think like I said, this game just means more and after going there and not winning like you wanted to we definitely wanted to get this one at home and prove that we can compete and beat that team. So yeah, it just means more to our fans, our community and to this university so it feels good to come out and win."
JAELYN GLENN, K-STATE SOPHOMORE GUARD
On her defense…
"I felt like I just saw the whole team just do everything that we talked about and did it as best we could. I feel like we kind of just took KU out of what they wanted to do and that helped us out a lot. And I'm just really proud of our defense because like coach said, sometimes when our shots aren't falling we kind of tend to struggle a bit. I know me personally, I struggled a lot shooting but I didn't let that take me out of our defense and what we wanted to do. So I was just really proud of our whole team just not letting that get to them and we all kept working hard. "
UP NEXT
K-State begins a two-game road trip on Saturday evening, as the Wildcats face West Virginia in Morgantown at 5 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network.
K-State (16-12, 5-10 Big 12) held Kansas (16-10, 6-9) to its lowest offensive output of the season with 45 points and a field goal percentage of 31.4 percent. The 45 points were the fewest points K-State has allowed in the series since a 47-43 K-State win on Feb. 12, 2012. This was the fourth time in 20 meetings in the Jeff Mittie era that K-State has surrendered 50 points or less to the Jayhawks.
The Wildcats were led on Wednesday night by sophomore guard Serena Sundell with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 8-of-9 from the foul line. The product of Maryville, Missouri, added seven assists, five rebounds and four steals to her final stat line. Over the last eight games, Sundell has scored 20 or more points four times.
Joining Sundell in double figures was senior guard and 2022-23 Drysdale Award candidate Gabby Gregory with 20 points and four rebounds. Gregory registered her 17th game this season with 20 or more points, which is the most of any player in the Big 12 this season and the third most in a season in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State used a 12-2 run bridging the first and second quarters to build a 19-15 lead with 6:46 remaining in the second frame. Gregory pushed the Wildcats into their first lead of the night with a layup with 8:02 left and then followed with a three-pointer in transition.
- A layup by Serena Sundell with 3:11 left in the first half gave K-State its largest lead of the opening half at 26-17. K-State would hold a 26-22 advantage at the half.
- The Wildcats held the Jayhawks to 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from the field in the second quarter and limited Kansas to just seven points in the frame.
- K-State used a 13-5 run in the latter stages of the third quarter to take a 44-31 lead with 1:15 remaining. Sundell started the run with an old-fashioned 3-point play and was followed by a putback by Heavenly Greer. Emilee Ebert added a fastbreak layup and was followed by a Sundell layup. Gregory then cashed in a jumper and a layup to complete the burst.
- In the fourth quarter, K-State extended its advantage to 21, 54-33, as the Wildcats opened the final frame with a 10-0 run to force a Kansas timeout with 7:21 remaining. Gregory scored six of the 10 points.
- After the Jayhawks narrowed the game to 16, 54-38, an Ebert jumper to beat the shot clock started a 9-2 K-State run give the Wildcats a 63-40 lead with 1:33 to play.
- The Wildcats shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field, including 20.0 percent (5-of-25) from three-point range. The Wildcats outscored the Jayhawks in the paint, 36-20, and held a 19-11 edge in points off turnovers.
- Kansas shot a season-low 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the floor, including 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range. The Jayhawks were forced into 21 turnovers.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with Kansas, 79-50, and has won 16 of the last 20 meetings in the series.
- The Wildcats are 38-16 in games played in Manhattan against the Jayhawks, including an 8-1 record under head coach Jeff Mittie.
- Kansas State owns a 229-196 record in the month of February including a 32-37 mark in the Jeff Mittie era.
- K-State is 13-3 in games played in Bramlage Coliseum this season. Over the last two seasons, the Wildcats are 27-6 in games played in Bramlage. The 27 wins are tied for the second-most home wins over a two-season span in the Mittie era.
TEAM NOTES
- Wednesday's starting five were Sarah Shematsi, Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn and Gabby Gregory. This was the 15th time this group started a game together this season (7-8). Sundell has started all 61 games in her K-State career. Jaelyn Glenn started her 57th career game and her 26th this season. Brylee Glenn recorded her 52nd career start and the 25th this season. This was the 70th career start for Gregory and her 24th at K-State. Shematsi tallied her 24th career start and her 22nd at K-State.
- The Wildcats led at halftime, 26-22. This was the 13th time this season (13-0) K-State led on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 126-16 when leading at halftime.
- With its five 3-pointers made on Wednesday night, K-State has made 212 three-pointers this season. This is the third time in the Jeff Mittie era and the first time since 2017-18 that the Wildcats have made 200 or more three-pointers in a season.
- With its 25 3-point attempts on Wednesday, K-State has increased its season total for 3-point attempts to 728. The 728 attempts ranks third in school history for 3-point attempts in a season.
PLAYER NOTES
- Sundell reached double figures in points for the 19th time this season and the 38th time in her career.
- Sundell moved into third on the K-State sophomore season assists list with 144 this season. Sundell remains 14th on the K-State career assists list with 319. Wednesday was the 17th game this season and the 37th of Sundell's career with five or more assists. She has led K-State in assists in 48 of her 61 career games.
- With five rebounds on Wednesday, Sundell recorded her 16th game of the season and the 23rd of her career with five or more rebounds.
- Sundell carded four steals on Wednesday. This was her 20th career game and her 11th this season with two or more steals. She has six career games with four or more steals.
- Gregory tallied her 65th career game in double figures for points and her 24th at K-State. She has scored in double figures in 10 straight games.
- Wednesday was Gregory's 17th game this season and the 25th of her career with 20 or more points. Gregory leads the Big 12 for games with 20 or more points. With her 17th game with 20 or more points this season, Gregory is third in school history for single-season games with 20 or more points.
- Gregory ended the night with three 3-pointers. This was her 21st game this season and the 49th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. She improved her season total to 68 connections from beyond the arc. She is the first Wildcat to make 60 or more 3-pointers in a season since Rachel Ranke made 71 in the 2018-19 season.
- Brylee Glenn tallied five steals on Wednesday. This was her seventh career game with four or more steals and her sixth this season.
- Eliza Maupin recorded her fifth career game with five or more boards.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On winning against KU…
"I think it's a big one. I'm proud of them for bouncing back. We were not happy with how we played and I'm not happy about being on this roller coaster we're too up and down. But I do think from an overall standpoint, we're continuing to improve. We got effort from a lot of people tonight so I'm really pleased with the way we played tonight."
On shutting down Taiyanna Jackson…
"I thought Sarah (Shematsi) got us off to a great start offensive rebounding. She really did a good job of making it hard for Jackson to catch anything easy. I thought Heavenly (Greer) came in right away, picked right up where Sarah left off. Maupin came in. Those three I thought played as well as they played all year as a unit and critical for us because we out-rebound them. We hold Jackson at bay for most of the night. I just thought those three played extremely well."
On how the team played well even with a lack of scoring…
"Well, that's one thing I think as a coach you want your team to not worry about the result of shooting. Shooting can be fickle. If you're getting good ball movement, if you're sharing the basketball that's what you're looking for. We too often have tied that to our effort sometimes so we're getting better at that. I thought our group battled for I thought 35 minutes. Our defense was excellent. The first five minutes was not what we talked about doing and they hit us with some shots early, but for 35 minutes, I think it was the best we played."
On Jaelyn Glenn and Gabby Gregory's defense role tonight…
"Jae and Gabby had a big responsibility defensively. I do want to bring that up and I thought they both played excellent, but they were always on the backside of where Jackson was in that zone. That's not easy because I'm asking them to get all the way out on the shooter on the other side and then they have to get all the way back in. So I really thought both of them while not having great offensive nights in terms of shooting the ball well, they did so many great things defensively. It really was, from a coaching standpoint, really fun to watch them do what we felt like we needed to do to play well."
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
On the importance of games down the stretch…
"Absolutely. For us, there's implications with every win or every loss at this point. And, give credit to K-State for how well they played tonight. I thought we let our offensive struggles affect our defensive intensity for much of the night."
On the offensive struggles…
"When you shoot as poorly as we did, and then have 20 turnovers that's not a recipe for success."
On K-State slowing down Taiyanna Jackson…
"They obviously played zone and just kind of built a tent around her and the tent got tighter and tighter as we missed shots. I thought we missed her when we did have opportunities but credit K-State and their length. I think even when she was open, they did a great job of playing with their hands above their shoulders and messing with timing."
FROM THE FLOOR
SERENA SUNDELL, K-STATE SOPHOMORE GUARD
On how defense turned to offense…
"I think just to get a win in that way and the way we did has been something we've been looking for this whole season and is something we haven't found a lot. Just like these guys have been saying we let our results of shooting the ball kind of go to our effort and let it trickle over into every other aspect of our game but tonight we did a great job. I think our centers like you said kind of gave us a spark of we can get extra shots in different ways."
On if she is hitting her stride in the season…
"I guess I would say that I would like to find more perimeter game too as we go. But I think I'm confident in getting the ball down low right now and knowing where my teammates are going to be. We work on that a lot in practice, me getting the ball down the baseline. I'm confident in my offense right now."
On the importance of the rivalry game…
"Yeah I think like I said, this game just means more and after going there and not winning like you wanted to we definitely wanted to get this one at home and prove that we can compete and beat that team. So yeah, it just means more to our fans, our community and to this university so it feels good to come out and win."
JAELYN GLENN, K-STATE SOPHOMORE GUARD
On her defense…
"I felt like I just saw the whole team just do everything that we talked about and did it as best we could. I feel like we kind of just took KU out of what they wanted to do and that helped us out a lot. And I'm just really proud of our defense because like coach said, sometimes when our shots aren't falling we kind of tend to struggle a bit. I know me personally, I struggled a lot shooting but I didn't let that take me out of our defense and what we wanted to do. So I was just really proud of our whole team just not letting that get to them and we all kept working hard. "
UP NEXT
K-State begins a two-game road trip on Saturday evening, as the Wildcats face West Virginia in Morgantown at 5 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network.
Team Stats
KU
KState
FG%
.314
.393
3FG%
.217
.200
FT%
.500
.769
RB
36
40
TO
21
15
STL
9
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballK-State WBB | Postgame Press Conference vs USC (NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen)
Saturday, March 29
K-State WBB | Postgame Highlights vs USC (NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen)
Saturday, March 29
K-State WBB | Player Press Conference (NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen - USC Preview)
Friday, March 28
K-State WBB | Jeff Mittie Press Conference (NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen - USC Preview)
Friday, March 28