Wildcats prevail over Blue Raiders
By Jacob Meikel
A big second half propelled No. 13 Kansas State women’s basketball over Middle Tennessee State 74-48 on Saturday in the second year of the Bill Snyder Classic in St. Joseph.
The Blue Raiders of Conference USA came out of the gates strong, matching the Wildcats stride for stride in the first half. A solid defensive game plan to contain Kansas State’s leading scorer Ayoka Lee had worked to near perfection in the first half. Middle Tennessee held Lee to three points on zero made field goals in the first two quarters, and in the process, held a 26-25 lead heading into the halftime break against the nation’s 13th best team.
“We don’t take bye games,” Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell said. “When we get a chance to get on a neutral floor, we take advantage of that.”
The efforts and success of the first half by Middle Tennessee did not translate in the second half, as Kansas State outscored the Blue Raiders 49-22 in the second half, while also outdoing Middle Tennessee in every statistical category except for fast break points.
Senior Ayoka Lee found much more success than she did in the first half. Lee notched 13 points in the second half and finished with 16. Lee gave credit to MTSU for its physicality in the first half, citing the double teams on Lee’s post touches as a source of success in the early portion of the contest. The adjustments made in the second half had more to do with the efforts of the team as a whole rather than anything Lee had done herself according to the Minnesota native.
“I think we had a little bit more movement, so it was harder for them to get help inside. We were knocking [shots] down, so that also makes it hard. You kind of have to pick what you want to guard. I just thought we played more cohesively,” Lee said.
The Wildcats improved to 11-1 with the victory and will move forward with one more non-conference bout against New Mexico State on Wednesday before the start of Big 12 play on Dec. 22 against Cincinnati.
