The Kansas State women’s basketball team won their seventh-straight game against the Kansas Jayhawks, beating them 61-54 in Lawrence Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats entered the game with a 20-8 overall record this season, compared to the Jayhawks’ 8-19, and were fresh off a win versus No. 16 Oklahoma.
It was a closer game than many would have expected.
Senior center Breanna Lewis carried the Wildcats with 21 points, 14 of which came in the first three quarters. Senior guard Kindred Wesemann had a very quiet night, especially in the first three quarters, only recording a pair of free throws at the end of the first half.
She got hot late though, recording her only two baskets and six of her eight free throws all in the fourth quarter, which gave her 10 in the final frame.
The Wildcats jumped to an early 4-0 lead, but down 4-3, the Jayhawks responded with a 6-0 run of their own to take the lead. At the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats trailed 12-16.
They started the second quarter fast, turning a four-point deficit into a six-point lead with just under four minutes left because of a 10-0 run. That put them up 24-16. Neither team went on a significant run in the last four minutes, which allowed the Wildcats to take a 28-25 lead into halftime.
The Jayhawks weren’t done, though. They outscored the Wildcats 15-10 in the third-quarter to take a 40-38 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth, however, free throws came into play, and not just the percentages made, but the actual number made. Kansas outshot K-State 86 percent to 67 percent from the line, however despite making nearly all of their free throws, they shot very few of them, shooting 6-7.
The Wildcats may have missed a higher percentage of theirs, but because they went to the free-throw line more, they actually got more points from it despite technically shooting worse there, 18-27 from the line.
The Wildcats started the fourth quarter on a 10-1 run, interrupted only by a free throw made by Jayhawk leading scorer Caelynn ManningAllen, who like Lewis had 21 points, but fouled out late in the game.
In the end, the Wildcats overcame a slow start and pulled out the win. Now, they head home for a couple of days before taking on the No. 6 Texas Longhorns to close out their regular season at 7 p.m. Monday in Bramlage Coliseum.
