Kansas State women end season with NCAA Tournament loss at North Carolina State
The Kansas State women’s basketball team’s dreams of making a deep run NCAA Tournament came to an end with an 89-57 loss against No. 1 seed North Carolina State on Monday at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack were simply too much for the Wildcats to handle, especially in front of a sellout crowd on their home court.
In many ways, this result was to be expected. NC State is one of the best women’s basketball teams in the country. There is a reason why it earned a top seed in this event and has now won a whopping 31 games this season.
K-State played the Wolfpack earlier this season and lost that game 90-69. The rematch was even more lopsided.
But no one can say the Wildcats didn’t put up a fight.
In the early going, it looked like they might have a shot at pulling off an upset. K-State jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening moments and appeared to catch a break when NC State center Elissa Cunane picked up two quick fouls.
Serena Sundell, who went on to score a team-high 17 points, got things started with a three-pointer in the opening seconds. Then Ayoka Lee hit a layup, Sundell scored in the paint and Lee added on a pair of free throws. At the 6:37 mark of the first quarter, everything was turning up purple.
But hopes of a memorable victory had faded away by halftime.
Lee picked up two fouls of her own and North Carolina State surged ahead with a series of runs and led 43-27 at the break. The Wolfpack kept their foot on the gas in the third quarter and pulled ahead 66-39. As the game went on, they led by as many as 35.
“We got off to a good start, but part of that start was the pace got away from us a little bit,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “We struggled balancing the poise required to play at the end of the shot clock and being able to play effectively the last ten seconds. That was a problem for us. At the defensive end of the floor we needed them to miss a little bit, and they just didn’t miss a whole lot.”
The Wolfpack made 55% of their shots from the field and 47% of their shots from three-point range. The Wildcats could do little on defense to slow them down.
Kayla Jones led all scorers with 18 points, while Raina Perez and Diamond Johnson both had 15. Thirteen NC State players saw action, and all 13 scored.
Lee finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Outside of Sundell and Lee, it was hard for any K-State player to put the ball through the net.
K-State ended its season with an overall record of 20-13.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t play better, but I’m proud of our group for the totality of the season,” Mittie said. “They can leave her disappointed, but certainly they should leave here proud of what they have accomplished.”
Despite this loss, the future could be bright for the Wildcats. All five of K-State’s starters have eligibility remaining.
If they all return, Mittie’s team will be picked to build off this season and finish near the top of the Big 12 standings next year.
“Our group grew a ton this season,” Lee said. “I think the freshmen came in wanting to work right away and I think that really helped set the tone for the rest of us to just kind of have the season that we did. I think this experience is huge. I think there’s nothing like playing in the NCAA Tournament. So I think it’s definitely something to carry with us and build off of.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 4:59 PM.