Doing What Winners Do
Feb 22, 2024 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State, like the great teams do, can make the un-beautiful look beautiful on the basketball court. The Wildcats have won all different kinds of ways so far during what can be called a charmed season, and nine of their last 10 games have been decided by single digits. While their pregame hype video reveals glitz and glamour and sequins and tiaras, the Wildcats have spent this season rolling up their sleeves and doling out punch after punch while absorbing hit after hit. You don't know exactly how it's going to end, but you know it's going to end.
On Wednesday, and for the 17th consecutive time, the Wildcats walked away with victory at Bramlage Coliseum following a claw-and-scratch overtime thriller that revealed their meddle and anointed, as if she wasn't already, All-American candidate Ayoka Lee as queen of the court after the senior center put together a memorable performance coming off an injury. Early on, the game wasn't pretty, but it played into the Wildcats' hands. Eventually, they served up the knockout blow to break a second-place tie in the Big 12 Conference standings.
No. 10 K-State 73, No. 22 West Virginia 64.
"Gabby Gregory said before the game that we needed to get that spark back," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. "I think this did it. I think this got the spark back. I think this got the attitude and toughness that we need."
That attitude and toughness showed itself across the court. One by one players made plays — a Taryn Sides 3-pointer, a Serena Sundell 3-pointer, an Eliza Maupin blocked shot, and heck, 11 times in the game the defense forced three consecutive stops, a season high, causing the famous Gap Goat to appear.
But nothing proved as potent as 6-foot-6 Lee, who had 34 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in just 25 minutes after missing Saturday's 60-58 win over UCF while recovering from a right ankle sprain. Lee made 12-of-17 field-goal attempts and 10-of-14 free throws and she was fouled 11 times.
She now has 2,071 points, 1,051 rebounds and 293 blocks in her All-American career, which has been plagued by injury this Big 12 season.
"I don't think there's a more impactful player in the league for their program," Mittie said. "You don't need my quotes. All you need to do is just watch the game. How much does she mean to me? You don't need me to tell you. Just watch the game. It's pretty easy to see, right?"
It wasn't until the final 2 minutes, 59 seconds in overtime that the Wildcats were able to slowly pull away from the Mountaineers. That's when the Wildcats broke a 62-62 tie and scored 11 consecutive points for their largest lead of the game at 73-62 with 14 seconds remaining. Lee scored nine of the Wildcats' 15 points in the overtime period.
"Coach Mittie said a few weeks ago that all these close-game situations are teaching us how to win games," Lee said, "and how to have poise and how to continue to fight when it's a close game."
Fittingly, Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" filled the air as the teams took the stage for the extra period of play — after Jordan Harrison hit a mind-numbing, spinning layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime — and yes, it was a crazy game, a crazy train, and nobody was ready to get off.
"They got the look in the eye where they weren't going to lose," Mittie said. "They felt it. They felt like they had the momentum. It was a dejected huddle for about 30 seconds going into overtime. I was really proud of them because they came out of there with their eyes forward. You could see it when we got off to a good start in overtime. You could sense it."
K-State, 23-4 overall and 12-3 in the Big 12, scrapped and fought and shot its way past West Virginia, 22-4 and 11-4, which came off a 70-66 win over No. 23 and Big 12-leading Oklahoma. The Mountaineers, who rank third the nation in forcing 24.2 turnovers per game, forced the Wildcats into 23 turnovers, including 10 in the first quarter.
"That's a really, really good basketball team," West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. "They presented some problems for a lot of teams. That was a really good women's basketball game, two really good teams going toe-to-toe and back and forth. Runs, stops, great environment. It was loud, and I didn't have a voice. It's fun to be a part of the environment. There are no moral victories or anything for us.
"Lee's a problem. She's an All-American for a reason and she's one of the best post players in the country."
Lee didn't act alone. Sundell had 11 points and three assists in 32 minutes, missing several minutes in the second half after suffering an ankle injury following a made 3-pointer. Brylee Glenn had eight points and 10 rebounds.
"The energy we brought at the end of the game, it didn't feel like anybody was tired," Glenn said. "Everybody was ready to play. We had good energy. I was confident the whole time. Going into overtime isn't ideal, and it was kind of a drag, but everybody had high energy and it gave us confidence to go out and get it done."
K-State outshot West Virginia 47.2% to 35.2% and owned a 45-33 advantage on the glass. The Wildcats outscored the Mountaineers 42-22 inside the paint. Surprisingly, the Wildcats attempted just seven 3-pointers (they made four) the entire game.
It was just as Mittie drew up.
"This was as good of a committed game as we've had to what we talked about doing," Mittie said. "We only shoot seven 3s in a 45-minute game. We wanted to go inside the entire game. We didn't say we weren't taking 3s, but what we said was we couldn't just look once, we had to go more than one time inside. In the past, we probably might've taken some half-guarded ones, but this was the most committed I've seen us in a long time."
That commitment and toughness produced a thing of beauty on Wednesday. Now the Wildcats prepare to visit Kansas in Lawrence on Sunday before the Wildcats observe Senior Night against Iowa State on February 28. The Wildcats wrap up the regular season at Texas Tech on March 2.
K-State, picked as the No. 13 overall seed in ESPN's Top 16 Reveal, is in a spot some teams can only dream about. So, what does Lee want the nation to know about K-State?
"On any given night, our goal is to play to our standard, and to give everyone our best shot," Lee said, "because we know they want to give us their best shot."
In the end, the Wildcats absorbed hit after hit in another close game, and in the end, they delivered the knockout blow, and in the end, with that stone-cold look in their eyes, they did what winners do.
They won.
Kansas State, like the great teams do, can make the un-beautiful look beautiful on the basketball court. The Wildcats have won all different kinds of ways so far during what can be called a charmed season, and nine of their last 10 games have been decided by single digits. While their pregame hype video reveals glitz and glamour and sequins and tiaras, the Wildcats have spent this season rolling up their sleeves and doling out punch after punch while absorbing hit after hit. You don't know exactly how it's going to end, but you know it's going to end.
On Wednesday, and for the 17th consecutive time, the Wildcats walked away with victory at Bramlage Coliseum following a claw-and-scratch overtime thriller that revealed their meddle and anointed, as if she wasn't already, All-American candidate Ayoka Lee as queen of the court after the senior center put together a memorable performance coming off an injury. Early on, the game wasn't pretty, but it played into the Wildcats' hands. Eventually, they served up the knockout blow to break a second-place tie in the Big 12 Conference standings.
No. 10 K-State 73, No. 22 West Virginia 64.
"Gabby Gregory said before the game that we needed to get that spark back," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. "I think this did it. I think this got the spark back. I think this got the attitude and toughness that we need."
That attitude and toughness showed itself across the court. One by one players made plays — a Taryn Sides 3-pointer, a Serena Sundell 3-pointer, an Eliza Maupin blocked shot, and heck, 11 times in the game the defense forced three consecutive stops, a season high, causing the famous Gap Goat to appear.
But nothing proved as potent as 6-foot-6 Lee, who had 34 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in just 25 minutes after missing Saturday's 60-58 win over UCF while recovering from a right ankle sprain. Lee made 12-of-17 field-goal attempts and 10-of-14 free throws and she was fouled 11 times.
She now has 2,071 points, 1,051 rebounds and 293 blocks in her All-American career, which has been plagued by injury this Big 12 season.
"I don't think there's a more impactful player in the league for their program," Mittie said. "You don't need my quotes. All you need to do is just watch the game. How much does she mean to me? You don't need me to tell you. Just watch the game. It's pretty easy to see, right?"
It wasn't until the final 2 minutes, 59 seconds in overtime that the Wildcats were able to slowly pull away from the Mountaineers. That's when the Wildcats broke a 62-62 tie and scored 11 consecutive points for their largest lead of the game at 73-62 with 14 seconds remaining. Lee scored nine of the Wildcats' 15 points in the overtime period.
"Coach Mittie said a few weeks ago that all these close-game situations are teaching us how to win games," Lee said, "and how to have poise and how to continue to fight when it's a close game."
Fittingly, Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" filled the air as the teams took the stage for the extra period of play — after Jordan Harrison hit a mind-numbing, spinning layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime — and yes, it was a crazy game, a crazy train, and nobody was ready to get off.
"They got the look in the eye where they weren't going to lose," Mittie said. "They felt it. They felt like they had the momentum. It was a dejected huddle for about 30 seconds going into overtime. I was really proud of them because they came out of there with their eyes forward. You could see it when we got off to a good start in overtime. You could sense it."
K-State, 23-4 overall and 12-3 in the Big 12, scrapped and fought and shot its way past West Virginia, 22-4 and 11-4, which came off a 70-66 win over No. 23 and Big 12-leading Oklahoma. The Mountaineers, who rank third the nation in forcing 24.2 turnovers per game, forced the Wildcats into 23 turnovers, including 10 in the first quarter.
"That's a really, really good basketball team," West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. "They presented some problems for a lot of teams. That was a really good women's basketball game, two really good teams going toe-to-toe and back and forth. Runs, stops, great environment. It was loud, and I didn't have a voice. It's fun to be a part of the environment. There are no moral victories or anything for us.
"Lee's a problem. She's an All-American for a reason and she's one of the best post players in the country."
Lee didn't act alone. Sundell had 11 points and three assists in 32 minutes, missing several minutes in the second half after suffering an ankle injury following a made 3-pointer. Brylee Glenn had eight points and 10 rebounds.
"The energy we brought at the end of the game, it didn't feel like anybody was tired," Glenn said. "Everybody was ready to play. We had good energy. I was confident the whole time. Going into overtime isn't ideal, and it was kind of a drag, but everybody had high energy and it gave us confidence to go out and get it done."
K-State outshot West Virginia 47.2% to 35.2% and owned a 45-33 advantage on the glass. The Wildcats outscored the Mountaineers 42-22 inside the paint. Surprisingly, the Wildcats attempted just seven 3-pointers (they made four) the entire game.
It was just as Mittie drew up.
"This was as good of a committed game as we've had to what we talked about doing," Mittie said. "We only shoot seven 3s in a 45-minute game. We wanted to go inside the entire game. We didn't say we weren't taking 3s, but what we said was we couldn't just look once, we had to go more than one time inside. In the past, we probably might've taken some half-guarded ones, but this was the most committed I've seen us in a long time."
That commitment and toughness produced a thing of beauty on Wednesday. Now the Wildcats prepare to visit Kansas in Lawrence on Sunday before the Wildcats observe Senior Night against Iowa State on February 28. The Wildcats wrap up the regular season at Texas Tech on March 2.
K-State, picked as the No. 13 overall seed in ESPN's Top 16 Reveal, is in a spot some teams can only dream about. So, what does Lee want the nation to know about K-State?
"On any given night, our goal is to play to our standard, and to give everyone our best shot," Lee said, "because we know they want to give us their best shot."
In the end, the Wildcats absorbed hit after hit in another close game, and in the end, they delivered the knockout blow, and in the end, with that stone-cold look in their eyes, they did what winners do.
They won.
Players Mentioned
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