MANHATTAN, Kan. – (12/10) K-State suffered through a rough first half on both ends of the floor, as (25/rv) Oklahoma State upset the Wildcats, 85-55, on Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
K-State (22-3, 10-2 Big 12) was led by senior Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell. Glenn tallied 13 points and four rebounds, while Sundell carded 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Oklahoma State (19-4, 9-3) was paced by three in double figures with Anna Gret Asi registering 24 points and six assists, while Stailee Heard added 21 points and 11 rebounds. Micah Gray chipped in with 19 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– Oklahoma State (19-4, 9-3) blitzed K-State with a 26-3 run in the first quarter to hold a 31-9 lead after the opening stanza. The Cowgirls shot 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the field including 63.6 (7-of-11) from beyond the arc.
– Since the beginning of the quarter system in 2015-16, this was the largest deficit, 22, in a quarter by the Wildcats surpassing the previous mark of 21.
– The Cowgirls would enter halftime with a 51-20 lead, winning the second quarter, 20-11. This was the largest halftime deficit of the season for the Wildcats and the most points K-State has allowed in a first half this season.
– Oklahoma State used a 15-1 run in the third quarter to build a 70-32 lead entering the final quarter.
– K-State won the fourth quarter, 23-15, by shooting 57.1 percent (8-of-14) and were led by Glenn with eight points.
– K-State ended the afternoon shooting 31.1 percent (19-of-61) including 28.6 percent (8-of-28).
– Oklahoma State shot 47.7 percent (31-of-65) from the field including 45.2 percent (14-of-31) from long distance.
– The Cowgirls outrebounds the Wildcats, 53-31.
QUICK FACTS
– K-State leads the series with Oklahoma State, 43-38. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 15-13 in his career against Oklahoma State. The Wildcats are 14-21 in games played in Stillwater between the schools.
– The Wildcats are 242-244 (.498) in its history in Big 12 games.
– K-State is 5-2 in road games this season. Over the last two seasons, the Wildcats are 11-6 in road games.
– K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 666-373 (.641), including a mark of 212-138 (.606).
– K-State owns a record of 270-98 (.734) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 23-5 (.821) all-time when ranked 12th in the nation. The Wildcats are 1-8 (.111) all-time against teams ranked 25th in the AP poll.
– The Wildcats are 234-202 (.537) in games played in the month of February. Under Mittie, K-State is 37-43 (.463) in games during the second month. K-State has notched a .500 or better record in the month of February 27 times.
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards: Zyanna Walker, Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell; forwards Temira Poindexter and Kennedy Taylor. This was the sixth time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 128th career start for Sundell, the 124th career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 112th career collegiate start and 25th at K-State for Poindexter, the 47th career start and sixth at K-State for Taylor and the 25th career start for Walker. Sundell moves into a tie for fourth in program history for career starts. With her 124th career start, Glenn moves into sole possession of sixth in program history for career starts.
– K-State shot 50.0 percent or better in a quarter in one quarter on Saturday. The Wildcats have 59 quarters this season of 50.0 percent or better shooting, which are the most in program history for a full season.
– K-State has scored 20-or more points in a quarter 51 times this season, including the fourth quarter on Saturday. Since the start of the quarter-system in 2015-16, the Wildcats are 154-63 (.710) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter of a game, including a 22-1 record this season.
PLAYER NOTES
– Glenn reached double figures for 54th time in her career and the 15th time this season. Glenn moved into 35th on the K-State career scoring list with 1,109 points.
– Glenn connected on three 3-pointers on Saturday. This was her 64th career game with two or more 3-pointers made. She improves her career total to 206 three-point field goals made and remains in eighth in school history.
– Sundell owns 1,603 career points and remains in 10th on the K-State career scoring list. Sundell notched her 91st career game with 10 or more points.
– Sundell’s seven assists on Saturday improved her career total to 726. She is the second player in program history with 700 or more assists (Shalee Lehning, 2005-09; 800). This was her 85th career game with five or more assists and her 20th this season. With her 85 career games with five or more assists, Sundell has tied Lehning for the school record for career games with five or more assists.
– Sundell hauled in five rebounds on Saturday. This was her 50th career game with five or more rebounds and her 10th this season.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On what went wrong today…
“How long you got? It was a little bit of everything. We ran into a team that played extremely well, shot the ball extremely well. That’s one of the better shooter performances I’ve seen in the country. (Ana Gret) Asi, she could not miss early, and it seemed like everything we tried didn’t really knock her out of rhythm any and so credit to her, and not just her. I mean, you know, they all got off to a great start right shooting the basketball. So you know when you’re making shots like that, they got tougher defensively. We didn’t handle that stretch very well. We needed to hang in there, and we just didn’t. We needed to hang in there, hang in there, till the game came back to us a little bit, and we just didn’t do it. We got out of sorts. I did not think mentally we were very sharp, and it ends up allowing them to obviously separate from us, and there’s not much coming back from that.”
On if the team was tired with its third game in six days…
“I think this through the season, you’re always going to have some fatigue. That’s the hang in there part, right? It’s a hang in there. Hang in there. Sometimes, as a player, you find your legs a little bit later. But you know, we’re not going to make excuses of fatigue. Everybody in the big 12 has got tough scheduling stretches. This just this just snowballed on us, and we didn’t hang in there like we needed to. There’s going to be games where there’s ebbs and flows, and if you hang in there, that gives you the opportunity to come back, and we didn’t do that well enough today.”
On Oklahoma State’s shooting in the first half…
“I think Oklahoma State’s a really good team. You know, sports is funny? They’re coming off a game of 37 points but that’s not normal for them, right? They’ve scored 125 this year. So that’s sports, and they handled our trap well. They got it out of their well, when they didn’t shoot it, they rebounded it. The extra chances killed us. You know, when we got to stop, then we couldn’t get a rebound. So I mean this thing, you know, Zach asked a minute ago, what went wrong? Well, there’s a lot of things that went wrong in today’s game, but I think they’re a really good team. I thought obviously getting off to a start like that, shooting the ball, they got better and better as the quarter went on.”
FROM THE FLOOR
Serena Sundell, K-State Senior Guard
On the Oklahoma State defense and physicality…
“I mean, everyone in the big 12 is physical. I wouldn’t say they were a lot more physical than what we’ve seen. I think we were just like coach said, kind of not prepared for that, and not going up strong offensively, not expecting the contact. But yeah, and when you’re shooting the ball well, it makes you want to go get stops on defense. We’ve been in that boat, so credit to them.”
UP NEXT
K-State completes a two-game road trip on Wednesday, February 12, as the Wildcats visit Cincinnati for a 5:30 p.m. (CT), tip-off at Fifth Third Arena.
Wednesday’s game will air on ESPN+ and will also be available on the K-State Sports Network and the flagship stations of K-State women’s basketball in Manhattan, Sunny 102.5 and 1350 KMAN.
