The K-State women’s basketball team could not keep up with the then-sixth ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas Saturday night. They lost 76-54
The Wildcats were turned over 25 times in the game. The Longhorns scored 25 points off those turnovers.
K-State went punch for punch with the Longhorns early, using a 12-6 run to close out the first quarter down just two.
Junior guard Kayla Goth scored six of those points and assisted on one of senior forward Kaylee Page’s two three pointers during the run. That run took nearly the last four minutes of the quarter.
Freshman guard Rachel Ranke added ten points to round out the three Wildcats in double figures.
A buzzer-beating jump shot by Texas’ sophomore guard Alecia Sutton gave the Longhorns a 23-21 lead going into the quarter.
K-State struggled to get anything done on offense in the second quarter, scoring only nine points.
Sophomore forward Peyton Williams lead K-State with 13 points on 33 minutes of play. Goth managed 12 points and six assists.
Despite the Wildcats’ cold spell, they only trailed 39-30 at halftime after yet another buzzer-beater from Sutton to end the first half.
If the second quarter was slow, the third was a disaster for the Wildcats. They were outscored 27-14 in the quarter.
After a traditional three-point play from Williams to open the half, Texas went on an offensive rampage. The Longhorns scored 7 points in the time it took K-State to attempt even one shot.
The Longhorn run was punctuated by two turnovers and a missed three-pointer. They would proceed to finish out the half on a 15-5 run after that.
Both teams were relatively quiet in the fourth quarter, scoring just ten apiece.
Senior guard Brooke McCarty lead the Longhorns with 17 points, she was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
Goth became the second player in program history to score 400 or more points and have 150 or more assists in a single season, according to K-State Sports. The first was Megan Mahoney in 2002-2003.
The Wildcats dropped to 13-12 on the season and 5-9 in the conference with four games to play before the Big 12 Tournament.
K-State will face TCU next Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas before hosting Kansas and West Virginia. They will finish up the season in Lubbock, Texas against Texas Tech.
K-State
will likely need to win out and then make a splash in the Big 12 Tournament
Oklahoma City to play its way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble
