MANHATTAN – K-State held an early lead over (8/8) Baylor on Sunday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum, but the Lady Bears connected five times from beyond the arc in the second quarter to avoid the upset with a 64-52 win over the Wildcats.
“I thought it was pretty good,” said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie about his team’s defensive effort holding Baylor to 21 points below their season average. “(Dijonai) Carrington hurt us in the first half with the threes. They bring a better shooting lineup coming off the bench. They went to that pretty early and then started the second half with it. Overall, I thought our defense was really good.”
K-State (5-11, 0-9 Big 12) held an 11-7 lead with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter, as Ayoka Lee scored six of the 11 points to begin the contest. The Lady Bears ended the quarter with a 9-0 run to build a 16-11 advantage.
Lee would end the day with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting, five rebounds, one block and one steal. This was her 14th career 20-point game and her fifth this season.
Baylor (14-2, 9-1 Big 12) would knock down 5-of-7 from 3-point range in the second quarter to hold a 37-26 lead at halftime. Of the five 3-pointers, Dijonai Carrington and Moon Ursin connected on two each. Four of the five came immediately after a K-State basket.
The Lady Bears led by eight, 29-21, with 3:27 to play in the stanza but Sydney Goodson buried a 3-pointer to bring the Wildcats within five, 29-24, with 2:58 to play. It would be the closest K-State would come to pulling the upset, as Baylor ended the first half with an 8-2 run for the 11-point lead.
The Lady Bears won the third quarter, 15-12, to increase their lead to 52-38. Baylor shot 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from the field in the third stanza, while K-State was held to a 28.6 percent effort (4-of-14).
K-State was able to trim the deficit to 10 on five different occasions and outscore Baylor in the fourth quarter, 14-12, but the Wildcats could not maneuver the game into single-digits.
Joining Lee in double digits was redshirt junior guard Rachel Ranke with 12 points and team-highs of seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ranke was 3-of-8 from beyond the arc and ranks seventh in program history with 203 career connections from 3-point range.
K-State ended the afternoon shooting 42.6 percent (20-of-47) from the field but were held to a 26.7 percent effort (4-of-15) from beyond the arc. The Wildcats dished out 17 assists on the 20 made field goals, but had 21 turnovers. Defensively, K-State blocked four shots to extend their streak to 55 consecutive games with at least one block and pocketed a season-high 10 steals.
Baylor cashed in a 49.0 percent (24-of-49) from the floor and a 38.9 percent (7-of-18) performance from 3-point range. The Lady Bears held a 27-26 edge on the glass and were forced into 17 turnovers.
K-State returns to the state of Texas on Wednesday, as the Wildcats face TCU at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday’s game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be carried on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
– kstatesports.com –