Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, March 24
Seattle, Wash.
9 p.m. (CT)
Kansas State University
19-17,5-13Big 12
48
at
55
Washington
18-14,7-11Pac-12
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F
Kansas St.
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48
Washington
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55
K-State Falls at Washington in WNIT Super 16
Mar 25, 2023 | Women's Basketball
SEATTLE, Washington – K-State held an eight-point lead at halftime on Friday night in the Super 16 of the 2023 Postseason WNIT, but Washington used the energy of its home crowd to secure a 55-48 win at Alaska Airlines Arena.
K-State (19-17) was led by senior Gabby Gregory and sophomore Serena Sundell with a combined 31 points. Gregory carded her 19th 20-point game of the season with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting including a 5-of-9 effort from beyond the arc while playing all 40 minutes.
Sundell tallied 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Washington (18-14), playing in front of 3,245 fans, was paced by the tandem of Dalayah Daniels and Trinity Oliver with 17 points each. The Huskies outscored the Wildcats, 38-23, in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State used a 10-2 run over the final six and a half minutes of the first quarter to build a 14-9 advantage at the end of the frame. The Wildcats held Washington without a field goal for the final 6:36 of the quarter.
- The Huskies pulled to within one, 14-13, early in the second quarter, but the Wildcats stretched the advantage to eight, 25-17, at the half. Gregory staked the Wildcats to their largest lead of the first half with her fourth 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining.
- The Wildcats held the Huskies to one made field goal in their final nine attempts of the second quarter. For the first half, K-State held Washington to 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from the field including an 0-of-10 effort from beyond the arc.
- After K-State increased its lead to 10, 27-17, with its first two free throws of the night with 9:50 to play in the third quarter, Washington went on an 11-0 run to pull in front by one, 28-27, with five minutes to play.
- K-State would go back in front by two, 32-30, on a Gregory jumper with 2:28 remaining in the third. Washington closed the stanza with a 7-0 run to take a 37-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
- The Wildcats shot 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from the field in the third frame, including an 0-of-4 from 3-point range.
- The Wildcats used a quick 6-0 run to jump back into the lead, 38-37, with 9:11 to play. Gregory finished an old-fashioned three-point play to open the frame and was followed by Sarah Shematsi connecting on her second 3-pointer of the night.
- The Huskies answered the K-State rally with a 6-0 burst of their own to take a 43-38 lead with 4:54 remaining.
- K-State would only be able to narrow the game to six in the final two minutes, as Washington went 4-of-6 from the foul line to keep K-State at arm's length.
- The Wildcats finished the night shooting 34.0 percent (17-of-50) from the field, including 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from 3-point range.
- K-State shot just eight free throws on Friday night, after averaging 31 attempts in the first two games of the WNIT. The Wildcats carded an 87.5 percent (7-of-8) effort from the free throw line.
- Washington shot 37.7 percent (20-of-53) and were held to 5.0 percent (1-of-20) from beyond the arc. The Huskies outscored the Wildcats, 30-16, in the paint and 10-2 in second chance points.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State played its 36th game of the season on Friday. The Wildcats have now played the second-most games in a season in program history. The record of 37 was set during the 2012-13 season.
- K-State leads the series with Washington, 2-1. K-State is 1-1 against the Huskies in games played in Seattle.
- The Wildcats are 49-50 all-time against current members of the Pac 12 Conference.
- K-State is 18-6 all-time in the Postseason WNIT. The Wildcats are 0-3 in road games in the WNIT.
- Kansas State owns a 138-104 record in the month of March including an 21-20 mark in the Jeff Mittie era.
TEAM NOTES
- Friday's starting five were Sarah Shematsi, Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn and Gabby Gregory. This was the 22nd time this group started a game together this season (10-12). Sundell has started all 69 games in her K-State career. Jaelyn Glenn started her 65th career game and her 34th this season. Brylee Glenn recorded her 59th career start and the 32nd this season. This was the 78th career start for Gregory and her 32nd at K-State. Shematsi tallied her 32nd career start and her 30th at K-State.
- The Wildcats led at halftime, 25-17. This was the 17th time this season (16-1) K-State led on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 129-17 when leading at halftime.
- With its seven 3-pointers made on Friday, K-State made 265 three-pointers this season. This season's three-point field goals made total was a new season-high in the Jeff Mittie era and third-most in school history.
- With its seven made free throws on Friday, K-State finished off its school record for free throws made with 579 on the season.
- With their 11 assists on Friday, K-State has reached the 500-assist mark for a season (516) for the fourth time in the Jeff Mittie era.
PLAYER NOTES
- With their combined total of 31 points on Friday, Gregory (648) and Sundell (501) have combined for 1,149 points this season. They rank fourth for total combined points by a K-State tandem in a season (min. 400 or more points by each player).
- Gregory tallied her 70th career game in double figures for points and her 29th at K-State.
- Gregory ended the night with five 3-pointers. This was her 26th game this season and the 54th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. This was Gregory's 12th career game and her seventh game this season with four or more connections from long range. She finished the season with a total of 84 connections from beyond the arc. Her 84 three-point field goals made are the most by a Wildcat since Kindred Wesemann made 90 in the 2016-17 season.
- Gregory improved her season total for free throws made to 162. She ranks second in school history for free throws made in a season and has set the school record for free throws made by a senior in a season.
- Sundell reached double figures in points for the 26th time this season and the 45th time in her career.
- With her four made free throws on Friday, Sundell made 165 free throws this season. With her total, Sundell has set the school record for free throws made in a season. Sundell's free throws attempted of 206 also set the single season school record.
- With her four assists, Sundell improved her season total to 184 and set the school record for assists in a sophomore season in K-State history. Her total ranks sixth in program history for a single season. She remains in 12th on the K-State career assists list with 360. She has led K-State in assists in 56 of her 69 career games.
- Jaelyn Glenn recorded two steals on Friday night. She has a career-high 91 steals this season, which are the fourth-most steals in a single season in program history. She is the third player in program history to log 90 or more steals in a season. Glenn owns 27 games this season and 38 career games with two or more steals.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the early offense...
"Offensively, we were just finding enough offense. It wasn't as if we were clicking on all cylinders. Now this was going to be a low possession game many ways because they play a lot of games in the low 50s but I thought, you know, Gabby Gregory had a really good look to her. Serena (Sundell), I think was starting to get in the flow of things. Jay (Jaelyn Glenn) was starting to get into the flow of things, particularly with just playing together. Ball movement was getting better as the second quarter wore on. So I thought those things were better. But you know, we hit that stretch in the third where we just couldn't find anything easy. We weren't making good decisions with the ball. And you know, when you lose, we don't have a ton of scoring. So when you lose your third leading scorer, one of your best three-point shooters. We needed somebody to step up and have a big offensive game and we just didn't get enough."
On defensive performance...
"I thought the defense was really good. Certainly well enough to win but for the first shot defense. Now second half, they shot a pretty good percentage, but they got some second chance points to really hurt us. And then what has been our Achilles heel on the road as they got the points that get them over the hump, right. And that is what we have not done a very good job of and we've got to improve there. We've got to grow up and it's both ends. It's rebound when somebody's looking for somebody else to go do it. It's an offensive play that we call and we don't execute it as well as we need to. Those are areas that we've got to grow up going forward."
On the season as a whole...
"They should be proud of the way they played in February and March. I think that they should be proud of the games that they won and the growth that they had, because we certainly could have gone the other way with it. So it shows the character in there. It shows when you get to the kind of the dog days of basketball when you get to that mid-February part you can go one of two ways and we were certainly in a position where it was vulnerable to go the other way. And this team didn't do that. They responded. They got some big wins at home and I'm proud of them for that. And because of that they were able to play some more here in the postseason. So hopefully they can take from that and build off of it and come back next year and make a run like we feel like we're capable of. We feel like we've got an opportunity to have you know, the three back that got injured (Ayoka Lee, Gisela Sanchez, Ja'Mia Harris). Get them back and with the group that had to grow up this year. I think that could be a really good team."
On the growth of the team this season...
"You saw some better things, I think whether it be at the defensive end of being able to correct some things quickly. I saw some things offensively whether we're able to take maybe a bad stretch, but then recovering quickly, another push at somebody. Those are all positive things."
UP NEXT
K-State concluded its 55th season of action with a 19-17 record and the 33rd postseason appearance in program history. Earlier this season, the Wildcats became the 19th program in NCAA Division I history to surpass the 1,000-win mark.
K-State (19-17) was led by senior Gabby Gregory and sophomore Serena Sundell with a combined 31 points. Gregory carded her 19th 20-point game of the season with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting including a 5-of-9 effort from beyond the arc while playing all 40 minutes.
Sundell tallied 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Washington (18-14), playing in front of 3,245 fans, was paced by the tandem of Dalayah Daniels and Trinity Oliver with 17 points each. The Huskies outscored the Wildcats, 38-23, in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State used a 10-2 run over the final six and a half minutes of the first quarter to build a 14-9 advantage at the end of the frame. The Wildcats held Washington without a field goal for the final 6:36 of the quarter.
- The Huskies pulled to within one, 14-13, early in the second quarter, but the Wildcats stretched the advantage to eight, 25-17, at the half. Gregory staked the Wildcats to their largest lead of the first half with her fourth 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining.
- The Wildcats held the Huskies to one made field goal in their final nine attempts of the second quarter. For the first half, K-State held Washington to 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from the field including an 0-of-10 effort from beyond the arc.
- After K-State increased its lead to 10, 27-17, with its first two free throws of the night with 9:50 to play in the third quarter, Washington went on an 11-0 run to pull in front by one, 28-27, with five minutes to play.
- K-State would go back in front by two, 32-30, on a Gregory jumper with 2:28 remaining in the third. Washington closed the stanza with a 7-0 run to take a 37-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
- The Wildcats shot 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from the field in the third frame, including an 0-of-4 from 3-point range.
- The Wildcats used a quick 6-0 run to jump back into the lead, 38-37, with 9:11 to play. Gregory finished an old-fashioned three-point play to open the frame and was followed by Sarah Shematsi connecting on her second 3-pointer of the night.
- The Huskies answered the K-State rally with a 6-0 burst of their own to take a 43-38 lead with 4:54 remaining.
- K-State would only be able to narrow the game to six in the final two minutes, as Washington went 4-of-6 from the foul line to keep K-State at arm's length.
- The Wildcats finished the night shooting 34.0 percent (17-of-50) from the field, including 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from 3-point range.
- K-State shot just eight free throws on Friday night, after averaging 31 attempts in the first two games of the WNIT. The Wildcats carded an 87.5 percent (7-of-8) effort from the free throw line.
- Washington shot 37.7 percent (20-of-53) and were held to 5.0 percent (1-of-20) from beyond the arc. The Huskies outscored the Wildcats, 30-16, in the paint and 10-2 in second chance points.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State played its 36th game of the season on Friday. The Wildcats have now played the second-most games in a season in program history. The record of 37 was set during the 2012-13 season.
- K-State leads the series with Washington, 2-1. K-State is 1-1 against the Huskies in games played in Seattle.
- The Wildcats are 49-50 all-time against current members of the Pac 12 Conference.
- K-State is 18-6 all-time in the Postseason WNIT. The Wildcats are 0-3 in road games in the WNIT.
- Kansas State owns a 138-104 record in the month of March including an 21-20 mark in the Jeff Mittie era.
TEAM NOTES
- Friday's starting five were Sarah Shematsi, Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn and Gabby Gregory. This was the 22nd time this group started a game together this season (10-12). Sundell has started all 69 games in her K-State career. Jaelyn Glenn started her 65th career game and her 34th this season. Brylee Glenn recorded her 59th career start and the 32nd this season. This was the 78th career start for Gregory and her 32nd at K-State. Shematsi tallied her 32nd career start and her 30th at K-State.
- The Wildcats led at halftime, 25-17. This was the 17th time this season (16-1) K-State led on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 129-17 when leading at halftime.
- With its seven 3-pointers made on Friday, K-State made 265 three-pointers this season. This season's three-point field goals made total was a new season-high in the Jeff Mittie era and third-most in school history.
- With its seven made free throws on Friday, K-State finished off its school record for free throws made with 579 on the season.
- With their 11 assists on Friday, K-State has reached the 500-assist mark for a season (516) for the fourth time in the Jeff Mittie era.
PLAYER NOTES
- With their combined total of 31 points on Friday, Gregory (648) and Sundell (501) have combined for 1,149 points this season. They rank fourth for total combined points by a K-State tandem in a season (min. 400 or more points by each player).
- Gregory tallied her 70th career game in double figures for points and her 29th at K-State.
- Gregory ended the night with five 3-pointers. This was her 26th game this season and the 54th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. This was Gregory's 12th career game and her seventh game this season with four or more connections from long range. She finished the season with a total of 84 connections from beyond the arc. Her 84 three-point field goals made are the most by a Wildcat since Kindred Wesemann made 90 in the 2016-17 season.
- Gregory improved her season total for free throws made to 162. She ranks second in school history for free throws made in a season and has set the school record for free throws made by a senior in a season.
- Sundell reached double figures in points for the 26th time this season and the 45th time in her career.
- With her four made free throws on Friday, Sundell made 165 free throws this season. With her total, Sundell has set the school record for free throws made in a season. Sundell's free throws attempted of 206 also set the single season school record.
- With her four assists, Sundell improved her season total to 184 and set the school record for assists in a sophomore season in K-State history. Her total ranks sixth in program history for a single season. She remains in 12th on the K-State career assists list with 360. She has led K-State in assists in 56 of her 69 career games.
- Jaelyn Glenn recorded two steals on Friday night. She has a career-high 91 steals this season, which are the fourth-most steals in a single season in program history. She is the third player in program history to log 90 or more steals in a season. Glenn owns 27 games this season and 38 career games with two or more steals.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the early offense...
"Offensively, we were just finding enough offense. It wasn't as if we were clicking on all cylinders. Now this was going to be a low possession game many ways because they play a lot of games in the low 50s but I thought, you know, Gabby Gregory had a really good look to her. Serena (Sundell), I think was starting to get in the flow of things. Jay (Jaelyn Glenn) was starting to get into the flow of things, particularly with just playing together. Ball movement was getting better as the second quarter wore on. So I thought those things were better. But you know, we hit that stretch in the third where we just couldn't find anything easy. We weren't making good decisions with the ball. And you know, when you lose, we don't have a ton of scoring. So when you lose your third leading scorer, one of your best three-point shooters. We needed somebody to step up and have a big offensive game and we just didn't get enough."
On defensive performance...
"I thought the defense was really good. Certainly well enough to win but for the first shot defense. Now second half, they shot a pretty good percentage, but they got some second chance points to really hurt us. And then what has been our Achilles heel on the road as they got the points that get them over the hump, right. And that is what we have not done a very good job of and we've got to improve there. We've got to grow up and it's both ends. It's rebound when somebody's looking for somebody else to go do it. It's an offensive play that we call and we don't execute it as well as we need to. Those are areas that we've got to grow up going forward."
On the season as a whole...
"They should be proud of the way they played in February and March. I think that they should be proud of the games that they won and the growth that they had, because we certainly could have gone the other way with it. So it shows the character in there. It shows when you get to the kind of the dog days of basketball when you get to that mid-February part you can go one of two ways and we were certainly in a position where it was vulnerable to go the other way. And this team didn't do that. They responded. They got some big wins at home and I'm proud of them for that. And because of that they were able to play some more here in the postseason. So hopefully they can take from that and build off of it and come back next year and make a run like we feel like we're capable of. We feel like we've got an opportunity to have you know, the three back that got injured (Ayoka Lee, Gisela Sanchez, Ja'Mia Harris). Get them back and with the group that had to grow up this year. I think that could be a really good team."
On the growth of the team this season...
"You saw some better things, I think whether it be at the defensive end of being able to correct some things quickly. I saw some things offensively whether we're able to take maybe a bad stretch, but then recovering quickly, another push at somebody. Those are all positive things."
UP NEXT
K-State concluded its 55th season of action with a 19-17 record and the 33rd postseason appearance in program history. Earlier this season, the Wildcats became the 19th program in NCAA Division I history to surpass the 1,000-win mark.
Team Stats
KState
UW
FG%
.340
.377
3FG%
.318
.050
FT%
.875
.700
RB
29
35
TO
17
13
STL
6
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
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