No. 20 K-State takes down UCF with ease to advance to Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A reeling Kansas State Wildcats team entered Thursday’s opening game of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament with little to gain and some potential hosting privileges to lose.

Entering Thursday, K-State had lost three of its past four games. The Wildcats, projected as a No. 4 seed and host for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament per ESPN’s latest bracketology, had slid out of the double-bye seeding position in the Big 12 Tournament and forced themselves into a Thursday game.

But K-State avoided a significant upset with an 80-65 victory over the UCF Golden Knights, keeping hopes of opening weekend NCAA Tournament games at Bramlage Coliseum alive.

“I don’t know,” Mittie said when asked whether he thought the Wildcats had done enough to secure a top-16 seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament bracket. “We’re just going to enjoy playing in the tournament here and you never know what’s going to shake out.”

Mittie admitted the absence of star senior center Ayoka Lee -- who has played in just one game since mid-January due to a left foot injury -- makes K-State an interesting evaluation for a coveted hosting position.

“I think honestly we’re a challenge for the committee,” Mittie said. We need to do everything we can to make it easy on them. Obviously, we’re playing without the Preseason (Big 12) Player of the Year. We only lost one game all year with her but this team won a lot of games without her.”

The 5th-seeded K-State squad took an early lead that only briefly was relinquished in the first quarter. A 3-pointer from sophomore guard Taryn Sides that gave the Wildcats a 11-9 lead with 3:51 left in the first quarter gave K-State a lead they held onto for the remainder of the game.

Despite only 2 points and 1 assist in the first half from First Team All-Big 12 senior guard Serena Sundell, the Wildcats led comfortably at the halftime break, 41-30.

Sundell, who is second in the nation in assists, failed to reach her typical output as an offensive creator early on, but was aided by a K-State offense that saw eight players score in the first half.

“It was good for us to see a variety of players play well,” said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie, noting how the group closed the game out. “It takes multiple players making plays and I thought we did that, particularly in the fourth quarter today.”

The Wildcats were particularly effective shooting the ball from beyond the 3-point arc, converting 4 of their 6 attempts from that range in the first half.

In the second half, she showed why she was selected to the league’s First Team, scoring 19 points to finish with a game-high 21 points. She also had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Sundell was 1-for-5 from the floor in the first half and was 8-for-12 shooting in the second half.

“I’m not exactly sure (what changed),” Sundell said of the difference in her contribution offensively in the two halves. “Credit my teammates, credit Coach Mittie for kind of getting on me and telling me to get on my teammates. It’s kind of hard to do when you’re missing shots that I usually make, wide open layups and whatnot.”

A pair of K-State 3-pointers from sophomore guard Taryn Sides and senior guard Jaelyn Green helped K-State grab a 28-15 lead with 7:31 remaining in the second quarter and prompted a UCF timeout.

While the Wildcats shot the ball effectively from deep, UCF’s scoring was non-existent outside the arc. The Golden Knights shot 1-for-8 from 3-point range and didn’t convert from deep until senior guard Kaitlin Peterson made a 3 with 8:07 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we did a good job on the 3-point line,” said Mittie. “They don’t have a high-volume 3-point shooting team but we did have good awareness of certainly Peterson. I thought we found just enough offense from the 3-point line and timely offense.”

Kansas State’s turnover issues helped create offense for UCF throughout the third quarter. A run from the Golden Knights cut the K-State lead to 7 in the third quarter, but UCF was never able to draw closer down the stretch.

With the win over 13th seed UCF, K-State improves to 26-6 and advances to play No. 4 seed West Virginia in the quarterfinals. That game will tip-off at 11 a.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center.

In their lone matchup this season, the Wildcats lost to the Mountaineers 70-57 in Morgantown on Feb. 17.