The Kansas State women’s basketball team fulfilled a promise to senior guard Kayla Goth on Sunday when they traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to play No. 17 Arizona State.
Goth grew up in nearby DeForest, Wisconsin, just a two-hour drive from the campus of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, the host for the Wildcats’ game, which resulted in a 65-51 loss to the Sun Devils.
When she came to K-State, the Wildcats promised Goth they would play a game close to DeForest before she finished her time in Manhattan.
Arizona State also had a handful of players from the Midwest, making trips back to the region to play in front of friends and family.
Goth led all scorers with 19 points in her trip home. She also contributed three rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots. She played 40 minutes.
Early in the first quarter, K-State led the Sun Devils by four, after Goth dropped her seventh point of the quarter. The Sun Devils battled back to take a 21-17 lead into the break.
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K-State would see its last lead of the game with 5:35 to play in the second quarter after Goth knocked down a jump-shot.
The Sun Devils took a 29-26 lead into the halftime locker room. They never trailed in the second half.
An and-one layup from junior forward Peyton Williams tied the game early in the third quarter. The Wildcats went blow-for-blow with Arizona State before ceding an 8-0 run to the Sun Devils.
Williams finished the game with a double-double (17 points and 12 rebounds) in 39 minutes of play.
A Sun Devil jumper at the buzzer sent the Wildcats into the last quarter down seven points, 48-41.
The Wildcats had one last run in them to try to make a late comeback; a Goth jump-shot in the paint cut the Sun Devil lead to three points with just over nine minutes to go.
The Sun Devils pushed their lead to 14 with just under two minutes left while the Wildcats tried to foul their way back into the contest.
Besides Goth and Williams, no Wildcat had more than ten points. The most was freshman guard Christianna Carr, who had seven.
K-State fell to 7-3 with the loss. The team’s next action will be back in Manhattan to host Central Arkansas at 7 p.m. Thursday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 3.
