MANHATTAN, Kansas (KStateSports.com) – (7/7) K-State took control of the game midway through the first quarter and held back Kansas in the fourth quarter at Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, 69-58, in the 130th Dillons Sunflower Showdown. This was K-State’s 12th straight victory, the longest winning streak for the Wildcats since the 2008-09 team won 14 consecutive games to begin the season.
K-State improved its overall record to 18-1 for the first time under the direction of head coach Jeff Mittie. This is the best start for K-State since opening the 2008-09 season with an 18-1 mark. In its history, K-State has opened a season 18-1 three times.
The Wildcats are 7-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
K-State had three players reach double figures on Saturday and were led by junior guard and All-American candidate Serena Sundell with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks.
Redshirt freshman Zyanna Walker came off the bench to add 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting and a 5-of-6 effort from the foul line, and four rebounds.
Junior guard Brylee Glenn notched 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State (18-1, 7-0 Big 12) used a 13-0 run to take control of the first quarter and build an 18-8 lead at the end of the frame. The Wildcats held Kansas (9-9, 2-5) without a field goal for the final six minutes of the quarter and held the Jayhawks to 18.2 percent (2-of-11) shooting in the opening frame.
– The Wildcats built its advantage to as much as 15, 28-13, with 5:48 remaining on a 3-pointer from Walker.
– Kansas would close to within six, 32-26, at halftime by using an 11-4 run in the final five and a half minutes.
– K-State bumped the advantage up to 12 points, 44-32, as Brylee Glenn started an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer and followed with an old-fashioned three-point play. Walker capped the run with a layup with 4:21 remaining.
– The Jayhawks narrowed the game to three, 53-50, with 6:24 to play in the fourth quarter, knocking down their first of just two 3-pointers on the afternoon. The Wildcats responded with a layup from Sundell and two free throws from Glenn to push the lead to seven, 57-50.
– After Kansas closed to three again, 57-54, Jaelyn Glenn finished a layup on the baseline and Walker buried a 3-pointer to bring the largest crowd of the season of 9,602 to its feet and force a timeout by the Jayhawks with 3:13 to play and K-State leading 62-54.
– The Wildcats would ice the game at the foul line by going 7-of-8 in the final minute and a half.
– K-State shot 40.0 percent (22-of-55) from the field for the day, including 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from 3-point range. The Wildcats equaled their season-high in free throws made, going 18-of-23 (.783).
QUICK FACTS
– K-State leads the series, 80-50. The Wildcats are 39-15 against the Jayhawks in games played in Manhattan. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 20-9 in his career against Kansas, including a 17-4 mark during his time at K-State.
– The Wildcats are 225-237 (.487) in Big 12 games.
– Mittie owns a career record of 636-363 (.637) and is 182-128 (.587) during his 10-seasons at K-State.
– K-State owns a record of 391-154 (.717) during its 36-seasons in Bramlage Coliseum. Mittie is 121-46 (.725) in home games with the Wildcats.
– K-State’s 13-game home court winning streak is the longest home court winning streak in the Mittie era, which started with the final two home wins of the 2022-23 season. This is K-State’s longest home court winning streak since a 14-game home winning streak spanning the end of the 2007-08 season to the end of the 2008-09 season.
– K-State owns a record of 240-88 (.732) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 14-4 (.778) all-time when ranked 7th in the nation.
– With its attendance of 9,602 on Saturday, Kansas State achieved a new season-high for attendance. This was the largest women’s basketball crowd in Bramlage since K-State hosted UConn on Dec. 11, 2016, with a crowd of 12,528. When the crowd is 7,500 or more in Bramlage, K-State is 44-12 (.786).
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards: Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn, Gabby Gregory and forward Gisela Sanchez. This was the first time this starting five has been used this season. This was the 97th collegiate career start and the 51st start at K-State for Gregory, the 88th career start for Sundell, the 84th career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 78th career start for Brylee Glenn and the first career start for Sanchez.
– The Wildcats held a 32-26 lead at halftime on Saturday. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 145-17 (.895) when leading at halftime, including a 16-0 record this season.
– K-State had three players reach double figures in scoring on Saturday. This is the 14th time (13-1) this season in which the Wildcats had three or more players in double figures.
– K-State held its 17th opponent to under 60 points.
PLAYER NOTES
– Sundell notched her 57th career game with 10 or more points, including her 12th this season. Sundell owns 1,057 career points and passed LeAnn Wilcox (1,049; 1976-80) and Laurie Miller (1,053; 1975-79) for 39th on the K-State career scoring list.
– Sundell’s seven assists improved her career total to 453, which is sixth in school history for career. This was her 54th career game and the 12th this season with five or more assists.
– This was Sundell’s 36th career game and the 10th this season with five or more rebounds.
– Sundell’s three blocked shots marked her 15th career game with two or more blocked shots. Her three blocks equaled her season-high of three. Sundell owns 65 career blocked shots, which is the school record for blocks by a guard. Sundell needs 12 blocks in her career to move on the K-State career top-10 for blocked shots.
– Brylee Glenn tallied her 31st career game with 10 or more points including her fourth this season.
– Walker reached double figures for the ninth time this season.
– Jaelyn Glenn tallied six rebounds on Saturday. This was her 36th career game and her eighth this season with five or more rebounds.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On Ayoka Lee’s ankle injury…
“So she actually took the injury in the Central Florida game. She didn’t know how it occurred, she just knew that she got kicked in a scrum or whatever. You guys have seen it, she takes a beating down there, so it was hard to pinpoint when she actually got the injury. When we came back from there, though, we had Oklahoma and Texas. She practiced and it was sore. She was limited, but [in the] Oklahoma game she played very well. First half was physical, I think she only had three [points] in the first half, but she ended up with a good game. But after the OU game, [she was] really sore and was limited. Then going into the Texas game, [she] plays through it. During the Texas game, you could really see that laboring. So I actually met with the captains after the Texas game. And we took a couple days off, because Gabby got hurt in that game as well. But when we got back on Tuesday, we practiced before we left for Fort Worth. It really wasn’t much better. Maybe it felt a little bit better and the swelling was getting better. Wednesday we obviously had weird circumstances there, and we didn’t play. I don’t think she was gonna play on Wednesday. But early that morning I got the news. So we got final confirmation Thursday night that the MRI showed the fracture, and then we were able to schedule the surgery after conversations. So anyways, that’s where it’s at. We put the release out, but I at least wanted to give you the timeline because she’s a good player, obviously. She was the National Player of the Week on a fractured ankle. The Legend of Yokie [Ayoka Lee] continues.”
On how the team reacted to Ayoka Lee’s injury…
“I think that initially finding out, it was a little bit of a kick in the gut. But at the same time, we played a lot without her in the summer as she was coming back off the knee [injury]. So I think that gave them some confidence. We had the early scrimmage against Illinois that she did not play in that gave our team some confidence. And then we obviously have had stretches in games, like the Cincinnati road game, where she was in foul trouble. We extended the lead, and went on like a 15-1 run. So I think they know that. They know that when she’s out of the game we play differently. But we haven’t had to play that way in a while. So it was a short turnaround to get back to some of those things.”
On how Ayoka Lee’s impact was replaced in this game…
“I liked [Eliza] Maupin’s energy early, you could see right away that she was doing what we needed her to do. I liked that early, on both ends of the floor. I thought [Imani] Lester was a little rough in her minutes early, and she needs to get into a flow a little bit more at both ends of the floor. I think both can really help us, and both have shown good things, but Maupin in particular had a really good look.”
On how the defense has to change without Ayoka Lee…
“We’re not going to be able to just one-on-one defend like we do so much with Lee. We’ll have to get help. I think that’ll be game-by-game of how we do that. I went into this game thinking we would play more double teams, but then [Taiyanna] Jackson’s injury changed that. They got a tough deal on that. So the game really turned into mostly small ball. And so we didn’t have to do a lot of things that I went into the game thinking we might have to do.”
On Brylee Glenn’s increased minutes…
“I thought she got off to a great start. She knocked a couple shots down early. I thought her cuts were really good. You know, she’s a veteran. This game means a lot to her. She’s been in this game. She knows the emotion behind the game and thought she got off to a great start.”
On the impact that the crowd had…
“I mean, it’s the best crowd we’ve had since UConn. Obviously, the capacity has changed, but I thought it was a great crowd. So many times crowds cheer when you make big plays. But this crowd was different. They cheered when we needed to make a big play. And that was a special moment of being in the game, because that’s a knowledgeable crowd. I heard them the one time, when KU had made two or three baskets to get it down to three, and half the crowd stood up. I thought that was the energy we needed, and then [Zyanna] Walker hit the big three, and I think that propelled us forward. So great crowd, great atmosphere. I appreciate it, and I know our players do as well.”
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
Opening Statement…
“First, I want to compliment the K-State student section. I’ve been a head coach for 26 years and I thought that was the best road student section of a game that I’ve ever been a part of, so credit to their students, credit to all involved. I’m sure they worked really hard to make that happen.”
On what was said after the game…
“What I said to our team, I think that if you evaluate our Baylor game, if you evaluate the second half of the Oklahoma State game, and if you evaluate, second, third and fourth quarters of this game, I think that we demonstrated a great deal of character that we can build on moving forward throughout this season.”
On how K-State’s loss of Ayoka Lee affected their preparation…
“We didn’t know until we were already on the way here, so all practices and our preparation had been complete. We tried to focus on the smaller lineups that they had played when she’d been out there in our walkthrough and film session. But honestly the more impactful part for us was probably not having Jackson.”
On losing Taiyanna Jackson…
“She lost several teeth. And unfortunately, you have to get those to try to get them back in as soon as possible or there can be long term nerve damage. A young person’s long term health is much more important than half a basketball game.”
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Junior Guard Serena Sundell
On the team’s preparedness for playing without Ayoka Lee…
“I think Coach said it in the locker room, we didn’t have a whole lot of practice time without her from the minute that we found out that news. So we had a few days of practice and we knew that it was gonna be different but we also knew we have a good team and like you said we played without her last year. I think we were just very trusting in our bench and people who can step up. So it’s just a different game now, but we’re still confident.”
On the crowd…
“Awesome. It was awesome. I think that’s the biggest crowd that I’ve seen at Bramlage since I’ve been here. Even just in our warm-up, our student section was completely full which has not been the case I think ever to be that full early. So we’re excited. It was amazing. K-State is amazing for that. So hopefully, they can be consistent with that. And we want to keep getting wins for them.”
On playing in the Sunflower Showdown…
“When we play KU, it’s just different and you can feel that in the game. I know I had a little bit more pregame nerves than I usually do. I think just the crowd and the atmosphere and knowing how much this game means to this community and our team. It was intense and it’s a rivalry and that stands to be true. So right from the get-go, it was physical but that’s fun basketball.”
K-State Junior Guard Brylee Glenn
On the crowd…
“Yeah, it was really fun. Especially when we got into maybe like little sequences of the games when we weren’t doing so well. The crowd was always there and they were always full of energy, which gave us energy back. It ultimately allowed us to go on a run. So yeah, it was really fun to play in front of that many people.”
On spreading the ball around…
“I think going into this game, we obviously knew that we weren’t going to be with Yoki [Ayoka Lee]. But we also knew that we were going to be able to spread our guards five wide. We knew that the post player was going to be guarding Gisela [Sanchez] so we were going to use that to our advantage and use her in screens and then get her on the three-point line and have the big have to guard out and then that allowed us to be able to drive without worrying about a big shot blocker in the paint. We also knew that we were going to have to be able to drive the ball since Gisela was out on the wing. I think everyone really played their part in distributing the ball even when we came to a standstill and we were very stagnant on offense. We were able to get out of that and continue to move the ball and then find the right open people.”
On what Zyanna Walker brings to the team…
“She definitely brings just like another level of energy to our team because like you said with the mean mug and everything, like her facial reactions, her talking, not a lot of us on this team are going to do that. But she’s going to do that. It just brings another level of energy to our team and it is really cool to see how our personalities kind of all interact, but yeah, she’s a great person to have on the team and a great teammate.”
Kansas Senior Guard Zakiyah Franklin
On bringing the team back in the game and what was working…
“Just being aggressive, attacking and trying to get in the lane and either create my own shot or create for others.”
On playing against a rival and the atmosphere…
“I mean, it’s against K-State. So we were excited for this entire week of preparing for it. So I would just say it’s pretty much just excitement around it.”
UP NEXT
K-State makes a quick road trip to Texas on Monday, as the Wildcats face (12/13) Baylor at 7:30 p.m.
