.png)
No. 13 K-State the eighth win of the season in another blowout win inside Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats handled the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Tuesday night to continue the undefeated streak at home this season, now 7-0. The slow offensive start for the Wildcats was quickly erased as K-State went on to win, 90-43.
A different buzz was noticeable on Tuesday night in Bramlage. Ayoka Lee was just 13 points away from breaking the all-time scoring leader at Kansas State when the game tipped off and the countdown was on. The All-American center for the Wildcats scored nine in the first half and the countdown shrunk to just four points. With seven minutes left in the third quarter, a classic Lee play, a layup to break the all-time career scoring record.
Wildcat Warm-Up
Opponent Matchup
Eastern Illinois hails from the Ohio Valley Conference and came to Manhattan on back-to-back wins. The Panthers are led on the court by Macy McGlone. McGlone averaged 19 points a game and nine rebounds, just under a double-double. An undersized team compared to K-State will have to try to score from outside the paint.
Tip-Off to Buzzer
Quarter Breakdowns
First Quarter-
A slow start offensively was different from the last two outings from the Wildcats. At the first media timeout, K-State led just 6-2. A sloppy night with several turnovers from trying to find Lee in the paint, finding six turnovers in the first period. Despite the offensive struggles, it was the tough defense from the Wildcats that stretched their lead in the first. Forcing five turnovers and holding the Panthers’ shooting to just 3-12, to lead 20-7.
Second Quarter-
The Wildcat offense seemed to clean up the game in the second quarter. Thanks to a 15-3 run in the second the lead increased out to 35-11. The K-State defense again was stout, holding Eastern Illinois to just over 30 percent from the field. Zyanna Walker led the Cats at the half, scoring 11 to help K-State lead 41-19.
Third Quarter-
K-State came out red hot in the third quarter. Amongst a 17-0 run to start the quarter, and not allowing a basket until under three minutes left, Lee broke the record to become the all-time scoring leader. The Panthers shot just 19 percent from the field while K-State had even 50 percent. The Wildcats had deadeye shooter Taryn Sides found two from beyond the arc to take the score to 65-27.
Fourth Quarter-
The Wildcats finished the game scoring 25, 12 of which coming from 3-point land. In what turned out to be the highest-scoring quarter for both teams; the Panthers still only shot 40 percent compared to the Wildcats’ 55 percent. The majority of the minutes came from the Wildcat bench, with Lee not seeing the court in the final 10 minutes. K-State’s historic night ended in a 90-43 win over the Panthers.
Courtside Conclusions
The night belonged to the Lee, and now the record is hers. Even with the slow offensive start from the Cats they still were able to aid her to the historic night in Bramlage Coliseum. Lee passed Kendra Wecker and now has the rest of the season to make that number almost unfathomable to catch again. Lee shared her thoughts on the historic night.
“It's crazy, I am so grateful,” Lee said. “It takes a lot of games, it takes a lot of passes, it takes a lot of everything, you know, to get to that point. It's crazy. During halftime, Zy [Zyanna Walker] said 'We’re breaking that record.' It was a great reflection of how I cannot do it on my own. None of the records I have I can do on my own. Everybody was pretty locked in.”
K-State Leaders
The slow start did not hold back the Wildcats in the stat book. Walker had her first career double-double and led K-State with 16 points and 10 assists. Four other Wildcats were in double figures, making it two games in a row with five scorers in double digits. On Lee’s historic night, she scored the needed 13 and one more basket to get to 15. Following Lee was Sides with 12 (4-4 from three-point), Jaelyn Glenn and Kennedy Taylor finished with 11. K-State shot 55 percent from the field and from beyond the arc and tallied 41 boards and 27 assists.
Future Focus
A Look Ahead at the K-State Schedule
K-State will close out the three game homestand on Thursday night against USC-Upstate tipping off at 6:30 p.m. After the matchup on Thursday night the Cats take a trip to College Station to take on Texas A&M. Another good test on the road will be good to see how far along this team is. The game against USC-Upstate and every other home game will be live here on Wildcat 91.9 FM.
Comments