MANHATTAN, Kan. – Playing in front of a sell-out crowd of 11,010 fans, (12/15) K-State honored its seven seniors before, during and after Saturday’s game against Kansas, as the Wildcats secured a 90-60 win over its Dillon Sunflower Showdown rival at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats have won six straight and 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series in Manhattan.
K-State (25-4, 13-3 Big 12) secured its 51st win in the last two seasons. The 51 victories in the last two seasons are tied for the fourth-most over a two season span and the most since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons (54).
With its 13 wins in Big 12 play this season, K-State has recorded consecutive seasons with 13 or more league victories for the second time in program history and the first time since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
The Wildcats extended its home court winning streak to 17 games. This is tied for the fifth-longest home win streak in program history and tied for the second-longest in Bramlage Coliseum. The 17 straight home wins are tied for the longest home court win streak in the Jeff Mittie era. The 33 home wins over the last two seasons are the most wins in Bramlage over a two-season span in program history.
K-State paid tribute to its senior class of Brylee Glenn, Jaelyn Glenn, Ayoka Lee, Temira Poindexter, Gisela Sanchez, Serena Sundell and Kennedy Taylor in a pregame ceremony and a postgame ceremony. Poindexter led the senior class with 14 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Sanchez and Taylor came off the bench to register 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Taylor led the Wildcats with seven rebounds.
All-America candidate Serena Sundell narrowly missed her eighth double-double of the season as she tallied a school record and a career-high 15 assists while adding nine points, five rebounds and three steals. Sundell’s 15 assists were the third-most in a game nationally this season and the most by a Big 12 player since the 2021-22 season.
Sophomore Taryn Sides led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points including a 5-of-9 effort from long range, while also dishing out six assists and pulling in five rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State expanded upon a five-point lead in the late stages of the first quarter, as Gisela Sanchez registered six straight points to push the Wildcats into a 21-10 lead with 2:24 left. Poindexter and Zyanna Walker added a layup and 3-pointer, respectively to send the Wildcats into the second quarter with a 26-12 lead.
- In the second, the Wildcats used an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 34-15 with 5:12 left in the stanza. Kennedy Taylor recorded six straight points to force Kansas (15-11, 5-10) into using its second timeout of the first half.
- The Jayhawks narrowed the margin to 10, 39-29, with a 9-2 run with 1:33 remaining in the opening half. The Wildcats responded with three-pointers from Jaelyn Glenn and Taryn Sides to close out the half with a 46-31 lead.
- K-State boosted its lead to 21 twice in the third quarter. Poindexter buried her first 3-pointer of the evening with 7:38 to play. Sides knocked down three-pointers on back to back possessions to force a Jayhawk timeout with 3:56 remaining in the frame and K-State leading 61-40. Poindexter added her second 3-pointer before the quarter expired to give the Wildcats a 66-45 lead.
- The Wildcats opened the fourth quarter with three straight 3-pointers, as Sanchez buried two straight and Walker added the third to give the Wildcats a 75-48 lead with 6:59 remaining.
- K-State ended the day shooting 53.1 percent (34-of-64) from the field including 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from beyond the arc. The Wildcats dished out 28 assists on the 34 made field goals.
- With its 28 assists, K-State improved its season total for assists to 640 and set the school record for assists in a season. The previous mark was 631 set in the 2023-24 season.
- The K-State bench registered a 43-26 advantage in scoring. The 43 bench points were a season-high and were the most since Dec. 6, 2023, against McNeese State when the Wildcats scored 47.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with Kansas, 82-51. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 22-10 in his career against Kansas, including a 19-5 mark during his time at K-State. The Wildcats are 40-16 in games played in Manhattan between the schools. In the last 52 meetings in the series, K-State is 41-11 against the Jayhawks.
- The Wildcats are 245-245 (.500) in its history in Big 12 games.
- K-State is 413-156 (.726) in its 37-season history inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 17-0 record this season. This is the 34th season in program history with 10 or more home wins in a season, including the 26th season at Bramlage Coliseum.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 669-374 (.641), including a mark of 215-139 (.607).
- K-State owns a record of 273-99 (.734) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 24-6 (.800) all-time when ranked 12th in the nation.
- Saturday’s attendance of 11,010 is the largest regular-season K-State women’s basketball crowd since Dec. 11, 2016, against Connecticut. This is the 17th-largest K-State women’s basketball crowd in program history and the largest since the capacity of Bramlage Coliseum has been adjusted to 11,010.
- When the crowd is 7,500 or more in Bramlage, K-State is 48-13 (.787) including a mark of 19-6 (.760) when the attendance in Bramlage is 10,000 or more.
TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards: Zyanna Walker, Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell; forwards Temira Poindexter and Kennedy Taylor. This was the 18th time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 133rd career start for Lee, the 132nd career start for Sundell, the 128th career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 116th career collegiate start and 29th at K-State for Poindexter, the 51st career start and 10th at K-State for Taylor and the 29th career start for Walker. Lee improves on her school record for career starts. Lee remains in third in program history for career games played. Sundell moves into sole possession of second in program history for career starts. With her 128th career start, Glenn moves into a tie for fifth in program history for career starts.
- The Wildcats held a 46-31 lead at halftime on Saturday. Under Mittie, K-State is 173-19 (.901) when leading at halftime. The Wildcats have led at the half in 23 games this season (23-0).
- K-State shot 50.0 percent or better in a quarter in three quarters (first, second and third quarters) on Saturday. The Wildcats have 70 quarters this season of 50.0 percent or better shooting, which are the most in program history for a full season.
- K-State has scored 20-or more points in a quarter 61 times this season, including all four quarters on Saturday. Since the start of the quarter-system in 2015-16, the Wildcats are 157-63 (.714) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter of a game, including a 25-1 record this season.
- K-State improved to 112-8 (.933) when handing out 20 or more assists in a game. The Wildcats have dished out 20 or more assists in 20 games this season (20-0).
- The bench point total of 43 marked the 17th time K-State has scored 20 or more bench points. K-State has held the upperhand in bench points in 17 games this season (17-2).
PLAYER NOTES
- Sundell’s 15 assists on Saturday improved her career total to 760. She ranks eighth in Big 12 history for career assists and needs five assists to move into seventh. Sundell improved upon her own school record with her 88th career game with five or more assists. This was her eighth game this season and the 12th of her career with 10 or more assists. Her assist total this season of 211 makes her the third player in program history with a 200-assist season (Shalee Lehning and Kayle Goth) and ranks fourth for a season. She needs 19 assists to set the school record for a season.
- Sundell (211) and Walker (110) have combined for 321 assists this season, which is second in program history for combined assists by a K-State duo for a season (min. 100 assists by each player).
- Sundell owns 1,650 career points and remains in 10th on the K-State career scoring list. She needs 21 points to move into eighth on the K-State career list.
- Sundell hauled in five rebounds on Saturday. She owns a career total of 550 rebounds and remains in 26th in program history. This was her 53rd career game with five or more rebounds.
- Poindexter reached double figures for the 19th time this season and the 99th in her career. Poindexter improved her career point total to 1,929 (369 at K-State; 1,560 at Tulsa).
- Poindexter tallied two 3-pointers on Saturday. This was her 75th game of her career with two or more connections.
- Sides registered her 17th career game with 10 or more points.
- Sides carded five connections from beyond the arc. This was her eighth career game with four or more connections from long range and her 28th with two or more.
- Sides tallied six assists on Saturday afternoon. This was her seventh game this season and the 15th of her career with five or more assists.
- Walker reached double figures in points for 22nd time in her career and her 11th time this season.
- Walker pulled in six rebounds on Saturday. This was her 20th career game with five or more rebounds.
- Jaelyn Glenn tallied four steals on Sunday. She improved her career steal total to 251 and remains in sole possession of fifth in program history for career steals. She needs 10 steals to move into fourth. This was her 73rd career game with two or more steals. Glenn is the second Wildcat in program history to register 575 or more career rebounds and 250 or more career steals (Carlisa Thomas; 1983-87).
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On Senior Night…
“Senior night's a little different than what it's been, you're seeing that across the country. Some people are doing it earlier in the year. You don't want to get too reflective. There's so much work to do, right? We have so much basketball ahead of us. But what I'll just continue to say is, I've said this numerous times, this group has been really good to coach. They have continued to raise the standard in what's expected in the locker room, on the practice floor and the expectations for the program. I said this way back, probably summer, maybe or early fall, that because of the way college athletics is to have a group that return, we returned so much. You just don't know how rare that's going to be, and the landscape continues to change. So you know, I'm just going to enjoy coaching this group and whatever changes in the college landscape, this will be a special group regardless.”
On the team's performance…
“Pretty happy. We struggled defending the three some today, but overall, the things that we wanted to do in terms of getting the pace up and we wanted to use that energy to create our own offense. I thought we did very well. The crowd was awesome. Just to see the updates across social media that X amount of tickets left. Our crowds have been, I think, good all year. They've gotten progressively better. It was a good crowd today. We need a big crowd on Monday. We've got a huge game on Monday. It's a quick turnaround. We're familiar with this turnaround. We've had a couple of these."
On Ayoka Lee playing 5 minutes…
"It was more sore than we liked before the game, so we knew that we weren't going to go long. Matt Walters asked me right before the game, and I said, five to ten minutes. So that's where we were planning on. But it was sore at halftime, hopefully tomorrow is better, and we're making that progress."
On Serena Sundell breaking the single-game assist record…
“I had no idea until they announced it. I asked how many she had, and they said 15. I knew she had a bunch at half, but I really didn't pay attention. Serena [Sundell] just makes a lot of right plays, and when we're shooting the ball well Serena's got enough vision to see everybody. She's not a point guard that only gets assists one way. You know, sometimes point guards only get assists off the bounce, and so they're limited to maybe a pitch and catch on that side of the floor. She's as likely to get it out of a post up and a skip, a back door, a post Entry, lob. I mean, she gets it every way you can get an assist. And obviously she was able to spread those around today.”
On the offensive performance recently…
“So I think we're a better team when we have this kind of balance. It says the ball is moving. It's not sticking on one side of the floor. When we struggle, the ball tends to stick. When we go back and watching film, we dribble it too much, we hesitate, and that would be the consistency thing when we've really struggled to score. So we just got to keep encouraging them to move the basketball. Some of that is player movement. We've got to continue to get good player movement.”
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
On Zoe Canfield’s performance tonight…
“I mean, I’m really proud of Zoe. I think, you know she stepped in, and not only did she make shots, but most importantly I thought she tried to play to the scouting report. I thought, even if she got cross-matched on some switches that were not favorable for her, she still fought the matchup. She provided us with a spark to be quite honest, on both ends of the floor. I know it's frustrating for her to have a performance like that, and then not come in and win.”
On the upcoming Big 12 Tournament…
“I think with our youth and lack of depth, it's just continuing to try to play to your assignment and do your job. We had too many instances today, where we're off script. You get one player off script, and now our four are scrambling around trying to cover for them, because somebody went and did something that nobody's expecting. That's youthfulness, and it's lack of experience, and that's where we need to see improvement.”
On expectations in the first half…
“I thought we continued to fight. We just gave up way too many points in the paint. You know, our post defense was sub-par, and we got buried way too deep.”
On the significance of the seniors’ last postseason….
“Yeah, we've got some important seniors that have been part of NCAA Tournament appearances and a WNIT championship. So there's a lot, I think, for them to be proud of in terms of what they've contributed to the progress of our program.”
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Senior Guard Serena Sundell
On her school record 15-assist night…
“Yeah, honestly, I didn't do anything different going into it. The game felt really slow so I'm very happy about that but 15 assists that's pretty cool.’
On the impact of the crowd…
“Yeah, I mean, we're so lucky here. We have the best fans, and they sold out Bramlage on Senior Night for the Sunflower Showdown, such an important game for us. It's just huge. I've had an absolute blast during my four years at K-State, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I've had the best experience, surrounded by this community and the people here. I think it all showed tonight, this is just a special place.”
On what it takes to be such a good passer…
“The first thing that comes to mind is patience. As a freshman, I was not seeing the court as I did tonight, so just continuing tonight, I felt like I was trusting in my teammates to hit shots and then just being able to learn from your mistakes and from your turnovers, because I've had plenty of those too, but gotta try to have it balance out. “
On bouncing back from a tough loss on Monday…
“West Virginia is a good team, and it's a tough place to play, so we just wanted to learn from it. Hopefully, we'll see them again. But we knew we had a big one coming up with Senior Night, and as tickets started selling fast, we knew we'd have a great crowd. So tonight, we were just playing for each other and for Kansas State.”
On her mindset as a scorer and playmaker…
“I think our mindset has been the same as we kind of want to get the ball out and score quickly. I think some teams are just better at transition D than others. But yeah, nothing in particular.”
On any family appearing for Senior Night…
“Yeah, I know Gisela, her parents finally made it in from Spain, so they were at our practice yesterday, and they were taking pictures of Bram and it's always just cool to see people who have never been here, come experience it for the first time. I think it just gives you a sense of gratitude that we get to do this. It's nothing new to us, but just to see how, like, I don't know, in awe they were of just everything that we have going on was super special. And I'm so happy for G that she got her parents here and that she was able to do the whole ceremony tonight.”
K-State Senior Guard Temira Poindexter
On the added intensity of the rivalry game…
“Yeah, I definitely knew how big these games were. Coming in, I understood it was going to be a big game with a big crowd. They definitely made that clear, so I’m glad we managed to sweep.”
On the impact that the crowd had…
“Oh, it was so much fun. I haven't played in front of anything like this before. Credit to the fans and everyone who came out, especially those who stayed after seeing it. It really shows how much they care about us.”
On the emotions from senior night…
“It was a lot of emotions, seeing all of the seniors crying, even the underclassmen. It just shows how much this team cares for one another. And yeah, I just love my teammates, and I'm glad and I'm blessed that I got the opportunity to come here.”
On how important Monday’s game is…
“Yeah, we’ve got to come back tomorrow, locked in. We know it won’t be easy, they’re at the top of the conference. We have to be ready. This game was fun, but we’ve got to put it behind us and focus on the next one.”
On what K-State means to her…
“Oh, it means a lot. Honestly, I wish I had gotten here earlier, maybe a year ago, but it happened how it happened. K-State means everything to me in this one year. I love the team, the fans, and Coach. I’m grateful for the opportunity he gave me to come here, and I’m just so thankful for everything that made it possible.”
Kansas Freshman Guard Zoe Canfield
On putting up a season-high of 12 points tonight….
“It was definitely a cool moment to get that opportunity and to you know, produce but it was obviously not the outcome we wanted. I just wanted to do everything I could to help the team.”
On what it means to play in the Sunflower Showdown as a native Kansan…
“It's really cool. It's like chills every time I come out of the tunnel. You know, you just want to get those wins so badly.”
On preparing for the postseason…
“I think we're a really tight knit group, and we work hard. I think we have the potential to make a good run here for the end of the season.”
On facilitating with teammates for three-pointers…
“Yeah, I think three-point shooting is big, but I wouldn't have been able to make those shots without great passes from my teammates and getting the defense to collapse. So I think everything kind of just goes hand in hand.”
UP NEXT
K-State ends its regular season home schedule on Monday night, as the Wildcats host (19/22) Baylor at 6 p.m. For tickets, visit kstatesports.com/tickets or call (800) 221-CATS.