The four-game winning streak that the K-State women’s basketball team had been riding since Jan. 13 was snapped Saturday against the Big 12-leading Texas Longhorns by a score of 66-51.
The Wildcats will try to get back on the right track tonight while looking to break a streak themselves. K-State will travel down to Waco, Texas, to face the No. 4 Baylor Bears. The Wildcats have lost their last 21 games against the Bears.
Head coach Jeff Mittie’s Wildcats are 14-6 overall and 4-5 in the Big 12. The key for their game against Baylor will be fighting through adversity.
“I thought there was miscommunication on our part that led to miscommunication issues,” Mittie said at Monday’s media availability. “Those things should not happen. Some of that I think was Texas’ pressure defense was not allowing us opportunities to take a deep breath, and we need to get better at those things. … Texas made us uncomfortable and we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and we weren’t the other night.”
K-State will face a strong challenge, especially in terms of being uncomfortable, against one of the league’s top teams.
The Bears enter tonight’s game with a 21-1 overall record and an 8-1 record in Big 12 play, which puts them in second place in the Big 12. Baylor features a loss against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but also a notable 80-67 win at Texas against the very team that just beat K-State by 15 points.
K-State will face a tough challenge on the floor. The Bears are led in scoring by 5-foot-11-inch junior forward Nina Davis, who leads the Bears in scoring with an average of 16.5 points per game.
One way to beat a prolific scorer? Score more points. The best way to do that is to find success in your offense.
“Our main focus today, I believe, is probably going to be executing our plays,” junior guard Kindred Wesemann said before Monday’s practice. “We didn’t do too hot on that against Texas. That’s going to be something that’s critical against Baylor and West Virginia moving forward. But we’re really just worried about Baylor right now.”
This matchup with Baylor is the second game of a brutal four-game stretch for the Wildcats. Including Saturday’s game against Texas, K-State faces four straight opponents who are all ranked or are receiving votes to be ranked.
“We knew this stretch was tough,” Mittie said. “We knew it was against some of the best teams on the road here. I also think this can be a challenging week, but it can also be the week that we improve the most. It is important to take it one step at a time. We’ve got to correct the self-inflicted problems from the other night — that’s my biggest concern. Take care of the things we need to do better and that’ll be our focus today.”
Tipoff between the Bears and Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. inside the Ferrell Center.
