It could perhaps be considered the best outing of the 2015-2016 season so far for the K-State women’s basketball team. The lids came off of the basket and the Wildcats found themselves hitting shots from start to finish.
K-State dominated Florida Atlantic in all 40 minutes of Sunday’s game and earned their eighth win convincingly, 102-53.
“I thought it was a really good performance by us,” said head coach Jeff Mittie of his team’s impressive win. “I thought we played really well, played together, moved the ball better than we have. For the most part we took good shots.”
The Wildcats got started off on the right note in the first quarter shooting 66.7% from the floor, hitting 12 of 18 attempted shots. The first quarter included two 9-0 runs from K-State and 10 first quarter points from junior center Breanna Lewis helping the Wildcats gain early separation from the Owls. Lewis ended the game with 14 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. K-State held a 28-11 advantage after the first quarter.
K-State picked up the second quarter right where the first quarter left off in the offensive production. The Wildcats were once again successful from the floor shooting 60% on 9 of 15 shots. A 14-0 run strung together by K-State would be a crushing blow to any chance that Florida Atlantic had to win this game as the Wildcats ended the quarter with a 54-25 lead. And that was just the first half.
“One of the things as a coach is when they’re playing that well, you just stay out of their way. It’s a fun game to watch because you don’t want to interrupt them. When they need us is when they’re struggling” Mittie said. “…today they didn’t really need us. They needed us to stay out of their way and let them play.”
Junior guard Kindred Wesemann got the second half going quickly. She buried two, three-pointers early in the third quarter in route to scoring a team-leading 19 points. She also contributed 6 assists. The Wildcats continued to crank out the strong shooting even after the halftime break. K-State held a 76-43 lead after only three quarters of play. Before today, K-State had only reached the 76-point mark twice this season in complete games, but never in three quarters alone.
With the game all but finished, K-State could have just coasted their way to an easy victory. The Wildcats benched their starters, but the reserves didn’t take their foot off of the pedal when they got their chance. Much in part to an 11-0 run to close out the game, they outscored the Owls 24-10 and reached the “century mark” with 102 points.
“I felt like everyone came in with a bunch of energy and the bench didn’t let up,” Wesemann said. “That was our biggest thing whenever we subbed people in and out, was keeping the energy going.”
K-State will have a break before they face Sam Houston State on Saturday at 7:00. Although the six-day break provides a chance for the Wildcats to fall off of the path some, coach Mittie is not worried about that for his team.
“We just came off of the same kind of break. I think our group has needed the practice time because they’ve needed to change some habits” Mittie said. “…so no, I’m not worried.”
