K-State Women upset South Dakota State

MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State led the entire game on Thursday night, including a 20-point advantage in the third quarter, as the Wildcats upset (22/21) South Dakota State, 62-53, at Bramlage Coliseum.

The win was K-State's first win over an Associated Press top-25 opponent since winning at 15th-ranked Texas on February 17, 2019. It was K-State's first win over an AP ranked non-conference opponent since defeating 20th-ranked Drake on March 18, 2017, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time this season, the Wildcats saw three players reach double figures as Ayoka Lee returned to register a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds.

Lee was joined in double figures by Christianna Carr with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks. Rachel Ranke rounded out the double figure scorers for the Wildcats with 10 points and three assists.

K-State (3-2) shot 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from the field in the first quarter to stake themselves to a 20-7 lead at the end of the frame. The Wildcats used a 14-1 run to end the quarter, as Lee ended the quarter with a pair of layups. Lee registered eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter.

The Wildcats would increase its lead to 17, 26-9, with 8:58 remaining in the second quarter. Ranke buried a 3-pointer after Emilee Ebert rebounded her own missed free throw and Taylor Lauterbach finished a layup to push the lead to 17.

Sydney Goodson and Carr hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for the Wildcats to push the K-State lead to 18, 34-16, with 3:26 to play. Lee pulled in an offensive rebound and completed the play with a layup to give the Wildcats a 36-18 lead at the half.

The Wildcats shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the field in the opening half and handed out 12 assists. K-State's defense was also strong, holding the Jackrabbits to a 27.3 percent (6-of-22) effort from the floor.

South Dakota State (3-1) used an 8-0 run to pull within 12, 38-26, and force a K-State timeout with 7:54 to play in the third quarter.

After the timeout, K-State stopped the run and outscored the Jackrabbits by five over the next four minutes to improve its lead to 46-30 with 2:01 remaining.

In the fourth quarter, two baskets from Lee and a layup from Laura Macke gave the Wildcats a 57-42 advantage with 7:06 remaining. Macke came off the bench to register eight points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

South Dakota State was able to close to within nine, 57-48, but Goodson's third 3-pointer with 4:38 remaining put the lead back into double digits. Goodson finished the evening with nine points and five rebounds.

K-State finished the night with a 43.4 percent (23-of-53) shooting performance. South Dakota State shot 38.9 percent (21-of-54) but the effort was boosted by a 66.7 percent effort in the third quarter. The Wildcats ended the night with 18 assists.

The Wildcats outrebounded the Jackrabbits, 45-29, and turned 14 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points.

K-State returns to action on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., as the Wildcats host Omaha. Saturday's game will be limited to 15% capacity. A limited number of single-game tickets are available by calling (800) 221-CATS or online at kstatesports.com,

Saturday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.


What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, K-STATE HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Obviously a good bounce back game for us. South Dakota State is a heck of a team. I thought our group came out ready right away and had good prep. (I was) disappointed in the game the other night that we didn't play better, but certainly getting (Ayoka) Lee back and (Jada) Moore back were obviously good things for us. I felt like Lee really established the low block right away, and I thought Moore came in and really gave us some hustle plays, some extra chances, and did a really nice job. Overall, one of the things I'm most pleased about is I think 10 of our first 11 field goals came off of assists. I thought we moved the ball a lot better. We obviously felt like we had some size advantages down low and felt like we needed to put them at a decision of how they were going to defend that. They brought some extra help which allowed us to move the ball better, but our players made a lot of the right plays."

On getting Lee and Moore back for tonight's game...
"Well it's huge. You're talking about one of the best players in the country. You're talking about a player coming off of a special year last year for her as a freshman. It's hard to play. You saw South Dakota State have to play without Myah Selland because of foul trouble. That's hard to play. It's hard to find offense, and you certainly saw us in the previous game struggle to find offense. The game is a lot easier, and I think that our players were excited to have both her and Moore back. Moore has really practiced well and has really given us some energy. You can kind of see that energy when she comes into the game. She makes a lot of extra plays out there, so I think our group was excited at shootaround when they got word that both were going to be ready to go."  

On what Jada Moore brings to the team...
"Well, she's fearless for one. She has come in from day one and just competed. She's got a fearless attitude to her. She brings that athleticism at the point, so she's a change-up. She can get to the rim some. She's got a nose for the ball. That's the one thing we noticed in practice right away -- she's always around the ball. Whether it be offensive rebounding, whether it be defensively, she's got a nose for the ball. I'm excited to have her back as well. I think it gives us some options."

On Macke's performance...
"I'm glad you brought her up, because I thought she had a fantastic game. We needed to make the switch with her guarding Selland some to take that pressure off of Yokie because Yokie picked up that third foul. It was nice to be able to do that. She had some really nice cuts in that stretch when they were double and triple teaming Ayoka, so yeah, I thought she had a really nice game." 

AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On if she was 100% healthy tonight…
"I felt pretty good. Just because we have a big stretch of games coming we didn't really know what it was going to feel like. So I started off, yeah it was limited. We had a quick rotation. But it felt really good, so yeah. 

On if the team has more confidence when she is on the floor…
"Yeah I think just having me and Syd and Chrissy and just the normal starting lineup back is definitely a game changer for our confidence. And I also think that coming off our loss a couple of days ago, we just wanted to go out there and play hard."

On the run to start the game…
"Well we knew we had to hit first. We knew we had to go in there aggressive and protect our floor and just play our game. We wanted to stick to our game plan and not worry about what they are going to do. And we knew it started on defense so we knew we had to be talking and do what we scouted. Do what we said we were going to do."

CHRISSY CARR, JUNIOR GUARD
On if this performance is what they expected…
"Yeah we, after the loss, it was a couple days ago, feels like a long time ago. It was a quick turn around. We definitely were stressing we've got to get more energy from our guard play. We've got to start playing together. We've gotta get excited about the little things like I talked about two days ago and I just felt like we did that today. Our guards came to play. We were ready to move the ball. Our emphasis today was to share the basketball today and I feel like we did a great job of that. I think we had 18 assists and that's a great number to have. That's what we're shooting for."

On Jada Moore…
"Energy. I love playing with her because she just has energy. She talks a lot. She's all over the place on defense. She moves her feet well, she moves really quick. I like playing with someone like that because it gives me energy in times I feel like I don't have any."


AARON JOHNSTON, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE HEAD COACH
"Really tough start for us. One, we didn't make shots, two, it was just all jump shots, so nothing really confidently pulling to the basket or making plays that can get you feeling a little bit better. I think Kansas State did a nice job defensively. Really physical, played a lot of man-to-man and just got us out of rhythm early and obviously foul trouble was a part of it, but before that foul trouble, I thought we were just a little bit uncomfortable offensively, so that's a credit to their defense. I never really thought we were out of the game. I felt like we were missing some shots, but I feel like we were really out of rhythm. Other than the first couple of minutes in the first half, I thought we settled in defensively much better, but then the second half was such a good start, I really felt good about where we were at––thinking we could make a good push––but during the end of that third quarter, I thought we just gave up too many easy baskets and now they were back to a double digit lead and (we) just never got over that hump, so second half was much better, certainly offensively. We played with a little bit more poise and composure, but we were just too up and down defensively. That first half was too big of a hole to dig ourselves out of."