Breanna Lewis recorded a season-high 22 points and five blocks and K-State women’s basketball avoided back-to-back losses for the first time this season with a 53-47 win over Oral Roberts Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Lady Wildcats (7-1) trailed by as much as 14 points in the contest, including a 10-point halftime deficit, but found their stroke late to put away the Golden Eagles (5-6) and earn their seventh win of the season.
“I think it’s another game where we win where we don’t play as well as we’re capable of,” K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said after the game. “I think that shows that we’re digging in defensively. We’re a work in progress offensively. If we’ll understand that, embrace that and be okay with that, our defense just needs to keep us in games until our offense hits a rhythm.”
After shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from behind the arc in the first half, Oral Roberts started the second half shooting just two for 14.
K-State climbed back in the ballgame with 10-0 run midway in the half, aided by four-consecutive Lewis field goals, including a layup with 6:45 to play to give K-State its first lead of the game.
“It felt better,” Lewis said about the run compared to the first half. “It just came into rhythm, as far as me scoring wise. The guards were getting me the ball and I was scoring, so it felt good to be in rhythm and know I can score when I want to and need to.”
Oral Roberts cut into K-State’s new found lead to make it 50-46 with 0:51 remaining in the game. But again, Lewis provided the offensive output under the basket, completing a hard-earned three-point play to put K-State up six with too little time for a Golden Eagles comeback.
Shaelyn Martin added four points and nine rebounds for the Lady Wildcats. Brianna Craig and Ashia Woods combined for 15 points. As a team, K-State finished shooting 20 for 53 from the field and 12 for 26 from the free-throw line.
“I thought it was pretty good all the way around,” Mittie said of his team’s second-half effort. “It ranks pretty high today, because it was tough to find some answers today. I’ll give Oral Roberts credit, because they’re a tough matchup. They go 6-foot-7, 6-foot-2 and those two know how to play. They’re a smart team and they can be hard to score against.”
Atoe’ Jackson and Jayden Oliver each scored 10 points in the loss for Oral Roberts.
K-State will return to action next Saturday at home against Grambling State. Tipoff for that game is slated for 1 p.m.
