The Kansas State women’s basketball team played the TCU Horned Frogs in Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday night. The Wildcats were defeated 68-63.
Sophomore forward Peyton Williams got the scoring going in the first half for the Wildcats. She recorded seven of K-State’s first nine points, including a three-point shot, her seventh of the season.
Williams and freshman guard Rachel Ranke combined for K-State’s first 14 points of the evening.
“My teammates had a lot of trust in me,” Ranke said. “We were moving the ball as a team, and I thought that was critical for this game.”
Ranke finished the first quarter with 10 points and the Wildcats took a 20-15 lead into the break.
TCU used a big second quarter from junior forward Amy Okonkwo to close the gap going into the locker room at halftime. The teams were tied at 34.
TCU came out of the break on a 13-4 run behind a press defense and some hot shooting from senior forward Sydney Coleman.
The Frogs’ press gave K-State trouble moving the ball up the court, but did not net TCU many extra possessions. It did fluster the K-State offense and cause them to struggle once they finally did get set up in their offense.
“We cannot do that if we are not in condition,” TCU coach Raegan Pebly said. “Lauren Heard and [Coleman] helping us extend our defense that way was really beneficial.”
TCU stormed out to a 58-47 lead by the end of the third quarter. A three-point basket from Okonkwo off an inbound pass pushed TCU’s lead to double digits right before the end of the quarter.
Okonkwo led all scorers with 22 points and shot 3-3 from three-point range.
“The strategy was not to give her the left hand or the three; we were not very successful with that,” head coach Jeff Mittie said.
A layup by junior forward Kali Jones and a big three-point shot from senior guard Shaelyn Martin cut the TCU lead to six points with just over four minutes to play.
Junior guard Kayla Goth went into takeover mode in the last four minutes. She recorded four big points and a huge steal down the stretch.
Goth lead the Wildcats with 17 points and 11 assists. She played all 40 minutes despite appearing to sustain a couple minor injuries late in the game.
A steal and score by Martin cut the TCU lead to 65-63 with a minute remaining, but solid free throw shooting, a missed Goth baseline jumper and a stolen inbound pass sealed the game.
TCU shot 48 percent from the field in the second half. They also shot a blistering 44 percent from outside the arc.
K-State’s next action will be in Lawrence as they take on Kansas on Sunday at 4 p.m.
