The K-State women’s basketball team defeated the University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks 70-56.
HALFTIME NUMBERS
K-State led 28-21 at the break, with eight points from senior forward Kaylee Page. Three other Wildcats contributed five points apiece as well. K-State was out-rebounded 26-19 in the first half.
LEADING SCORERS
The Wildcats leading scorer was junior guard Kayla Goth, who had 25 points and 5 assists. She tied a career high.
UTA’s leading scorer was senior center Rebekah Van Dijk, who finished the game with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
ANALYSIS
K-State started off slow, falling behind 14-4 midway through the first quarter. Although K-State’s zone defense was a problem for UTA, they struggled to rebound on the defensive end.
For UTA, Van Dijk gathered five first quarter rebounds. K-State failed to effectively box her out, and she affected play on the defensive end as well, sending back two K-State shots.
“We knew we were facing a center that is number one in the country in double-doubles for a reason,” head coach Jeff Mittie said.
Overall, K-State started slow because they had trouble rebounding on either end of the court and could not find easy baskets. Their ability to get to the free throw line kept the half competitive.
K-State would fight back toward the end of the quarter to make it 14-11 at the break.
Part of the success of the second quarter came in the form of foul trouble for UTA’s Van Dijk, who picked up her second foul early in the quarter. Without her presence inside, K-State was able to feed the post and get some open looks outside.
The Wildcats outscored UTA 16-7 in the second quarter to build their seven-point halftime lead, led by three point shooting from freshman guard Rachel Ranke and Page.
The Wildcats put up six points in rapid succession on three straight steals followed by layups to stretch their third quarter lead to 42-26. Those six points were part of a 10-0 run over 1:46 seconds.
Goth had 18 points in the third quarter alone, powering K-State to a 27-21 advantage for the period. She set the school record for single-quarter scoring with that performance.
“Just being aggressive,” Goth said. “I kind of got in my own head in the first half, which kind of set me back a ways.”
K-State continued to pull away in the fourth quarter with some great defense and rebounding. K-State only gave up 14 points in the last quarter.
