For the 11th straight season, the K-State women’s basketball team (7-0) has knocked off a ranked team after beating No. 23 Auburn (6-2) 71-66 as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. It was a highly competitive game with three ties and eight lead changes throughout the course of the ballgame. The Wildcats trailed by as much as 10 in the first half and five in the second half, but pulled out the win at home.
Offense
The Wildcats came out of the gate shaky, only hitting half of their shots in the first quarter and going 1-5 behind the arc.
That changed in the second quarter though as K-State outscored Auburn 21-11 to go into the half leading 34-32.
Auburn went with a full-court press right out of the gate, which caused some problems for the Wildcats as they turned the ball over six times, allowing Auburn to convert that into nine points.
In the second half, Auburn jumped out to a quick lead but a 10-0 run in the third quarter kept K-State afloat.
The Wildcats found themselves in one final hole, down five with five minutes to play in the game. K-State closed out the game on a 11-4 run, downing the Tigers for their first marquee win of the season.
The Wildcats had three players score in double figures, including senior guard Kindred Wesemann (16), senior center Breanna Lewis (13), who was a rebound shy of her second double-double of the season, and freshman forward Peyton Williams (11).
Junior guard Shaelyn Martin also had an all around good night scoring nine points to go with nine rebounds and 7 assists.
Defense
After getting out-rebounded 12-4 in the first quarter, including getting blanked 9-0 in offensive rebounds, K-State made a huge recovery by the end, winning the rebounding battle 39-26 and only allowing four Auburn offensive rebounds.
While two of Auburn’s top scorers got their points, including a game-high 22 for forward Katie Frerking, Auburn’s leading scorer Brandy Montgomery was subdued. The senior guard came in averaging more than 16 points per game and was held to 11, including just two points in the second half.
Player of the Game
Wesemann led the Wildcats in scoring Thursday night with 16 points and in minutes with 38. In a night where K-State shot a less than average 31.6 percent from behind the arc, Wesemann knocked down four of the Wildcats’ six total 3-pointers throughout the duration of the game.
Quote of the Game
“This was not a coaches’ game tonight. This was a players’ game. I think the players were awesome. This was a practice preparation game. (The coaches) didn’t call any plays. There wasn’t a whole lot other than saying ‘stay in your fundamentals’ … I’m so proud of our players for not needing us coaches very often.”
— K-State head coach Jeff Mittie
Up Next
The Wildcats hit the road to take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Sunday.
