Dec 18, 2020

🏀 K-State Women begin Big 12 Action on Friday at Iowa State

Posted Dec 18, 2020 12:00 PM

MANHATTAN, Kan.—K-State will begin its 2020-21 Big 12 schedule on Friday night, as the Wildcats ladies travel to Iowa State for a 6 p.m., tip-off. This is the earliest start to a league season for K-State in program history. 

Watch    Listen Live    Live Stats    K-State Game Notes

• Friday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, as BJ Schaben (play-by-play) and Kelly Hanfelt (analyst) will have the call.
• The Wildcats are led this season by sophomore Ayoka Lee, junior Christianna Carr and redshirt junior Rachel Ranke
• Lee, a candidate for all four of the national player of the year awards, leads K-State in scoring (17.8 ppg), field goal percentage (.611), and rebounds (8.2 rpg). She is averaging 1.8 blocks.
• Carr is second on the team and ranks 13th in the Big 12 in scoring with 13.4 points per game while shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point range. She is also averaging 4.9 rebounds per game.
• Ranke continues her climb towards 1,000 career points, as she is averaging 8.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She needs 136 points to become the 43rd player in program history with 1,000 or more career points.

Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. Familiar Big 12 Opener
• The Wildcats and Cyclones will meet in K-State's league opener for the fourth time in the last six years, as the teams opened the 2014-15 and 2018-19 Big 12 seasons in Ames and the 2015-16 season in Manhattan.
2. Elite D
• K-State leads the Big 12 and ranks 18th in the nation in scoring defense (54.0 dppg). The Wildcats rank third in the league and 31st in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.338).
3. Lee Fastest to 100 Career Blocks
• Ayoka Lee reached 100 career blocks in 34 career games, which is the fastest a Wildcat has reached the 100 career block mark in school history.
4. Ranke from Distance
• Redshirt junior guard Rachel Ranke connected on a pair of 3-pointers against Kansas City. With the two made 3-point field goals, Ranke passed Claire Coggins (2003-07; 185) for seventh in school history for career 3-point field goals made with 186.
5. Ebert Emerging
• Sophomore guard Emilee Ebert registered a career-high 12 points against Kansas City. Ebert leads K-State in assists (20; 2.9 apg) and total blocks (11; 1.6 bpg). She is the only player in the Big 12 to rank among the top-11 in both assists per game and blocks per game.

Number to Know
57
• K-State pulled in a season-high 57 rebounds against Kansas City.  
• The 57 rebounds were the third-most in the Jeff Mittie era.
• The Wildcats rank fourth in the Big 12 in rebounds per game (43.0) and rank fourth in the nation for total rebounds (301).

Last Time Out
Kansas State 74, Kansas City 57 (December 14, 2020; Manhattan, Kan.)
• K-State scored a season-high 74 points as the Wildcats secured its third straight win.
• K-State was led by Ayoka Lee, who recorded her 20th career double-double with 31 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks.
• Emilee Ebert also added a career-high 12 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
• The Wildcats outrebounded the Roos, 57-33.

At a Glance: Iowa State
• Iowa State (4-3, 1-0 Big 12) won its second straight with a 67-61 win at Northern Iowa on Tuesday night. The Cyclones kicked off their Big 12 schedule earlier this season, as they downed TCU, 91-68, in Fort Worth on December 2.
• On the sideline, Iowa State is guided by 26th-year head coach Bill Fennelly. In his time with the Cyclones, Fennelly has achieved a record of 527-276 (.656).
• On the floor, the Cyclones are led by junior guard Ashley Joens and senior center Kristin Scott.
• Joens, a native of Iowa City, Iowa, leads the Big 12 in scoring at 27.3 points per game and is fifth in the league in rebounding at 9.3. 
• Scott ranks third on the team in scoring at 11.1 and is second in rebounding at 6.0. In Iowa State's win at Northern Iowa, Scott registered a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds and added two steals and two blocks..

K-State's 12th Month Record
• In the 53rd year of women's basketball at K-State, the Wildcats own a record of 230-98 (.701) in the month of December.
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 29-13 (.690) in the month of December.
• K-State has had a .500 or better record in the month of December 45 times in its history, including a current streak of 25 consecutive seasons.

20-Pt Quarters For the Wildcats
• Since the inception of the quarter system in the 2015-16 season, K-State owns an overall record of 75-37 (.670) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game.
• Since the 2015-16 season, K-State has registered 174 quarters with 20 or more points with a high of 43 in the 2017-18 season. In the 2019-20 season, K-State had 37 quarters with 20 or more points scored.

Sharing is Caring
• K-State has opened the 2020-21 season with 104 assists on 145 made field goals which is an assist percentage of 71.7. The Wildcats rank 16th in the nation for total assists.
• The Wildcats had a season-high 21 assists against Southern on November 29. 
• The Wildcats are 68-2 when handing out 20 or more assists over the last 14 years.
• K-State tallied a season-high assist percentage of 85.7 percent with 12 assists on 14 made field goals at Central Arkansas on December 5.
• Kansas State registered a 2019-20 season-high with 30 assists against UIW on December 3. The 30 assists were the most in the Jeff Mittie era, the most since K-State handed out 30 assists against Grambling on December 4, 2009 and tied for the fifth-highest single-game total in program history.
• In the 2019-20 season, K-State averaged 15.6 assists and an assist percentage of 60.8. K-State ranked 39th in the nation and third in the Big 12 for assists per game.
• Since assists became an officially tracked stat in 1981-82, Kansas State has registered an assisted shot rate of 60.0 percent or higher at the end of a season 20 times in its history.

Ebert in the Flow
• Sophomore guard Emilee Ebert has worked herself into the starting lineup in just her second season.
• Ebert has started all seven games and is averaging 28.3 minutes per game. She is averaging 4.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and leads the Wildcats with 2.9 assists per game and 1.6 blocks.
• She has 11 total blocks and ranks 23rd in the nation in the category. Ebert has three games this season with two or more blocks including a career-high four against Southern on November 29.
• Ebert is the only player in the Big 12 to rank among the top-11 in assists per game and blocks per game.
• The product of Frankfort, Kansas, has established new career season-highs for rebounds (30), assists (20), blocks (11), steals (5) and free throws made and attempted (8-of-10; .800).
• Last season, Ebert averaged 1.5 points in 8.3 minutes per game in 24 games played.

Lee Efficient from the Field
• Ayoka Lee continues to put the ball in the hoop at a high rate and is among the top-five on the K-State career field goal percentage list.
• In her career, Lee has a field goal percentage of .574 (205-of-362) and ranks third in program history for career field goal percentage.
• This season, Lee is shooting 33-of-54 (.611) from the field.
• Against Kansas City, Lee was 12-of-16 (.750) from the floor. The 12 made field goals set a new career-high. This was her 26th career game with five or more made field goals.
• Lee has 22 career games with a field goal percentage of .500 or better.
• In the 2019-20 season, Lee shot .568 (184-of-324) from the field and ranked second in the Big 12 and 20th in the nation. Among freshmen in the nation, Lee ranked fifth for field goal percentage.
• Among centers in the nation, Lee ranked fourth for field goals made (184) and fifth for field goal percentage.
• In Big 12 games, Lee led the league in field goal percentage .578 (119-of-206).
• Lee's field goal percentage in the 2019-20 season ranked as the second-highest in a freshman season in program history (min. 150 field goal attempts).
• Lee was 10-of-10 from the field against UIW on December 3, 2019, and tied the school record set by Priscilla Gary on December 31, 1982, against Cal State Fullerton. Her perfect field goal percentage set the Bramlage Coliseum record for field goal percentage in a game by a K-State player.
• Lee was the ninth player in the history of the Big 12 to finish a game perfect from the field with 10 or more attempts.
• With her effort against UIW, Lee posted the top single-game field goal percentage with a minimum of 10 field goal attempts in the nation last season and was one of six players to finish a game perfect from the floor with at least 10 attempts in the 2019-20 season.

Lee Sets Double-Double Mark
• Ayoka Lee was a double-double machine at the start of her K-State career in 2019-20 and has continued into the 2020-21 season.
• Lee recorded her first double-double in grand fashion with 31 points and 14 rebounds against Kansas City on December 14. Lee is the 11th player in program history to register a double-double with 30 or more points and 10 or more rebounds.
• In her career, Lee owns 20 double-doubles and is the ninth player in program history with 20 or more career double-doubles. 
• In the 2019-20 season, the center from Byron, Minnesota, averaged a double-double in her first season with 15.7 points on a .568 field goal percentage, 11.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. She was one of six players in the Big 12 to average a double-double in the 2019-20 season.
• For the season, the 2020 Big 12 Freshman of the Year recipient set the school record for double-doubles in a season with 19 and ranked tied for 8th in Big 12 history for double-doubles in a single season.
• With her 19 double-doubles, Lee tied for first in the Big 12 for double-doubles. She tied for first in the nation among all freshmen for double-doubles in the 2019-20 season and tied for sixth among all players nationally. Among centers in the nation, Lee ranked tied for second for double-doubles.
• Lee achieved a rare single-game milestone, as she became the first player in program history with 20 or more points and 20 or more rebounds in the same game, achieving the feat against Oklahoma on January 25, 2020 (23 points, 20 rebounds).
• Lee set a school record with six straight double-doubles from February 8 to February 29. She is just the third player to card two or more double-double streaks of four or more games in a career.