MANHATTAN – K-State used a strong performance from All-America candidate Ayoka Lee and a big first quarter to cruise to a 77-66 win in the 125th Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.
The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Wildcats, including a five-game home skid. K-State has won 36 of the last 44 meetings in the series with the Jayhawks, including a 14-2 mark in games played in the Jeff Mittie era.
“It's been a miserable three weeks in terms of just trying to help them and trying to play better,” said Mittie about the streak. “Some of the losses we’ve had, have been so close and so gut-wrenching, all those things. So, I’ve been really proud of the group coming in each day and working hard, trying to do the things to get better.”
Lee paced the Wildcats with a game-high 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting, 16 rebounds, seven blocks and three steals. This was Lee’s 25th career double-double and her fourth career double-double in four games against Kansas.
“It’s exciting,” said Lee about becoming the seventh player in school history with 25 or more career double-doubles. “I honestly don’t think too much of it, but it’s exciting. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by great teammates.”
With her seven blocks, Lee achieved a new career-high and became the sixth player in school history to block seven or more shots in a game. She is the first to block at least seven shots in a game since Kali Jones set the school record with nine blocks against Lamar on Dec. 5, 2018.
K-State (6-12, 1-10 Big 12) scored a season-high 23 points in the first quarter, holding a 23-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 10-0 run over the first three minutes to force an early Kansas timeout. Four of the five starters scored, as Laura Macke buried a three to start the game.
Macke almost achieved her first career double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal in 31 minutes.
Cymone Goodrich kept the run going with two free throws. Emilee Ebert added an old-fashioned 3-point play and Lee carded a layup to force the timeout.
Ebert notched her second straight game in double figures, as she tallied a career-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The product of Frankfort, Kansas, also dished out six assists, pulled in five rebounds, pocketed a career-best three steals and blocked two shots in 37 minutes of action. With her two blocks, Ebert set the school record for blocks in a season by a K-State guard with 21.
K-State would extend its advantage to 15-0, as Rachel Ranke became the fifth starter to score in the opening quarter with a 3-pointer and Macke added a 15-foot jumper.
“That was big,” said Ebert about the team opening the game with the big run. “We wanted to come out strong right away and we did that. To have that lead and keep our foot on the pedal was the main goal, and that’s what we did.”
The Wildcats would cap the quarter with an 8-3 run to hold the 14-point lead after the first period.
Ranke joined Lee and Ebert in double figures with a season-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She also finished with a full stat line, adding four rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Kansas (7-11, 3-9 Big 12) finished the first quarter shooting 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from the field with Mia Vuksic accounting for all nine points in the quarter. Vuksic led the Jayhawks with 24 points.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats would build an 18-point lead, 31-13, with 5:53 remaining in the second quarter, as Lee finished a pair of layups.
A jumper from Goodrich and two more layups from Lee sent K-State into the locker room with a 39-18 lead at the half. The 21-point advantage was the largest lead for K-State at any point in a game this season.
The Wildcats held the Jayhawks to 21.2 percent (7-of-33) shooting in the opening half. Aside from Vuksic, who was 4-of-6 from the field in the first half, the remaining players for Kansas shot 11.1 percent (3-of-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Kansas outscored K-State in the third quarter, 27-20, and were able to close to within 10 with 1:02 remaining in the stanza. The Wildcats used a free throw each from Ebert and Goodrich and a layup by Lee with nine seconds left to rebuild the lead to 14, 59-45, at the end of the third.
Goodrich ended the day with a season-high eight points, a career-high six rebounds, six assists and tied her career-best with three steals.
In the early stages of the fourth quarter, K-State returned the lead to 19, 64-45, as Lee finished a layup and then completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with her first free throw of the afternoon at the 7:59 mark of the fourth quarter.
Despite Kansas making three 3-pointers, Ebert kept the Wildcats in front by 14, 68-54, with 4:34 remaining as she finished a pair of layups. Ebert’s second layup started an 8-2 run for K-State over a three-minute stretch to rebuild the Wildcat lead to 19, 73-54, with 2:59 remaining and suffocate the Kansas comeback attempt.
Kansas State ended the day shooting 46.0 percent (29-of-63) from the field and were 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the free throw line. Kansas was held to a 32.0 percent (24-of-75) effort from the field.
The Wildcats ended the day with a season-high 11 blocks. The 11 blocks are the sixth-most in a game in program history. This was the 11th time in the Mittie era that K-State has blocked 10 or more shots in a game and the second time this season.
K-State also pocketed a season-high 14 steals, as the Jayhawks were forced into 19 turnovers.
K-State will begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday, February 17, as the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday’s game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and will be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
– kstatesports.com –