Holding Oklahoma to a conference-low 66 points should have been enough. Kindred Wesemann’s 21 point should have been enough.
Should’ve. Could’ve. Not Saturday.
After three-straight conference wins, the K-State women’s basketball team suffered a 66-58 defeat to Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center Saturday to drop to 14-8, 4-7 on the season.
The Wildcats led temporarily 52-51 with 5:39 to play in the game after Bri Craig hit a 3-pointer. Oklahoma responded with an 8-2 run capped off with a trey of its own from Peyton Little to put the game out of reach despite K-State’s quality defensive effort.
“Give Oklahoma credit, they made some big shots down the stretch,” K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said after the game. “It was a pretty solid basketball game all the way around. Both teams had their runs. They made that last one of the game and that turned out to be the decisive run.”
From the onset, the Wildcats were out of sync offensively with uncharacteristic turnovers that put them in an early hole. However, sophomore Breanna Lewis helped keep the Wildcats within striking distance with another impressive outing blocking shots. Lewis ended the game with five blocks total and is now at 75 blocks on the season, putting her second all-time in K-State history for most blocks in a season.
Despite K-State struggling with turnovers and a lack of fluidity in the half court, Oklahoma was only able to go up four points. That allowed Wesemann and company to fight back to take a 21-20 lead with 4:22 in the half.
Wesemann ended the contest with 21 points total, just four points short of her career high 25 that came against Texas earlier in the week.
Little quickly regained the lead for Oklahoma, but Haley Texada’s layup at the buzzer cut K-State’s deficit down to two points, 27-25.
Early in the second half, K-State once again dealt with turnovers and, this time, a little added adversity. Senior Ashia Woods picked up her third foul of the contest, as did Lewis. Despite the foul issues for Lewis, she finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and five blocks — one of the few bright spots for coach Jeff Mittie.
“I thought she played solid all day long. Five blocks is huge. She does a great job in the paint for us blocks a lot of plays,” Mittie said.
K-State pushed for a late rally, but Little’s 19 points proved too much in the end, as the Wildcats snapped their three-game winning streak.
The Wildcats are back in action Wednesday against TCU. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Bramlage Coliseum.
