K-State women pull off major upset against No. 4 Iowa and star player Caitlin Clark
A women’s basketball game between Kansas State and Iowa seemed to lose much of its luster when Ayoka Lee was ruled out for the season with a knee injury over the summer. But the Wildcats made it a memorable contest anyway.
The Wildcats upset the No. 4 Hawkeyes, 84-83, on Thursday at Bramlage Coliseum even without their star player.
Despite trailing by seven midway through the fourth quarter, K-State rallied late with a 15-7 run that left Iowa and women’s college basketball phenom Caitlin Clark stunned.
Clark, by the way, was as good as advertised in this one. The All-American sharpshooter finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
This was the fifth time the Wildcats have defeated a top-five team and their first top-five victory since 2002.
Gabby Gregory was the hero for K-State. She made 12 of 14 shots from the free-throw line on her way to 24 points. She also made several clutch shots from the foul line in the closing minutes to ice the game.
None were bigger than the shot she made with 3.7 seconds remaining. After being fouled in the post, she calmly made a go-ahead free throw that ultimately was too much for the Hawkeyes to overcome.
“Gabby, at the end, really willed us to the free-throw line,” K-State coach Jeff Mittie said, “and was playing so tough and aggressive.”
“Honestly, no matter how many points we were down I never felt like we were out of the game at all,” added Gregory. “I never felt like there was a big gap or anything. Every moment of the game it felt like we were right there right in it. So not a big deal at all. I didn’t even realize we were down.”
Iowa got the ball to Clark on its final possession, but she suffered an ankle injury on the play and was unable to get off a shot. Instead, she passed to a teammate and the Hawkeyes missed a heavily contested shot at the buzzer.
The Wildcats celebrated one of the biggest wins of the Mittie era.
“It was a hell of a game, hell of a game,” Mittie said. “I thought, really, for 40 minutes. We trailed, obviously, a good portion of that, but never felt like we weren’t right there, never felt like we weren’t right there to make a push and never felt like we weren’t battling.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 8:09 AM.