The women’s basketball team put on a dominating performance in an 84-40 win over Illinois-Chicago Monday night in Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats’ 2-3 zone held the Flames to just 10 points in the first quarter. After five quick points, Kansas State went on a 13-0 run to take a 15-point lead over five and a half minutes of play.
K-State also managed to block 11 of UIC’s shots. That is owed partially to the significant height advantage the Wildcats held in the game.
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UIC’s tallest player was 6-foot-1 — K-State has four players that reach the same height and five players taller than that.
“Obviously we had a size advantage at most every position,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “I felt like we utilized the size defensively better.”
In the third quarter, K-State doubled up on UIC, and in the fourth they held them to just six points. UIC’s 40 total points was ten fewer than the 50 that they scored against Kansas Sunday or Fort Wayne the week before.
“I liked the way we started the third quarter,” Mittie said. “We answered, [Ayoka Lee] got inside, we got inside the zone, we got the lob to her a couple times. Those were easy buckets.”
The Wildcats forced 16 turnovers and scored 24 points off of those turnovers. They also scored 17 points on fast breaks. They assisted on a total of 21 of 28 field goals made.
“I really liked the late stretch,” Mittie said. “I really liked the unselfish play.”
Freshman forward Ayoka Lee led the way on defense. She had nine defensive rebounds. She also had 13 points on 4-9 shooting.
“Going into this game, one big thing for me was staying out of foul trouble, which included, when they did drive, staying straight up and blocking shots,” Lee said. “I think being smart about that helped me alter shots so we could get those boards.”
Boards was another area of domination by the Wildcats — they out rebounded the Flames 59-28.
K-State had three players other players score in double figures Sophomore guard Christianna Carr led the team with 20 points, junior guard Rachel Ranke had 14 and sophomore forward Laura Macke had 11.
“I thought [Macke] was good. [Macke] had some transition buckets, got out and ran, active on the glass,” Mittie said.
They did all of that without senior forward Peyton Williams, who did not dress out because of a pre-scheduled rest due to her double-duty with the volleyball team.
The Wildcats have a week off before hosting Oral Roberts next Monday in Bramlage Coliseum with tip-off at 6:30 p.m.
