K-State women’s basketball star Ayoka Lee breaks career scoring record for Wildcats
Ayoka Lee is running out of records to break for the Kansas State women’s basketball team.
The senior center became leading scorer in program history on Tuesday night when she led the Wildcats to a 90-43 victory over Eastern Illinois at Bramlage Coliseum.
Lee scored 15 points and surpassed Kendra Wecker for the career scoring record. She has now scored 2,336 points (and counting) for the Wildcats. She is also the 10th leading scorer in Big 12 history.
She set the record with the kind of basket she has made countless times during her long K-State career. Lee caught an entry pass from Zyanna Walker and easily made a layup against a pair of smaller defenders.
Everyone inside the arena knew she made history and the place erupted. Lee smiled as she jogged up court to play defense, but seemingly everyone else in the crowd of 3,407 was jumping up and down with excitement. K-State coach Jeff Mittie took Lee out of the game a few moments later and she hugged each of her coaches and teammates before she took a seat on the bench.
That basket gave K-State a 48-19 lead in the third quarter. Lee went on to score 15 points.
Lee danced with teammates and posed for pictures with fans when the game was over. Then she sat next to the game ball, which was already in a protective case, as she discussed her accomplishment with media.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “I’m just so grateful. It takes a lot of games, it takes a lot of passes, it takes a lot of everything, you know, to get to that point.”
Passing so many former players that she admired on her way into the record books was meaningful.
“I have so much respect for them and the trail they blazed,” Lee said. “K-State wouldn’t have such a rich history without players like that, so it’s really cool. I also remember Nicole Ohlde telling a story about how, when she was playing, there would be lines of fans outside waiting to get into the game. I think it was during my sophomore or redshirt year when she told that story and I remember thinking, ‘Dang, I want us to get back to that.’
“I wanted K-State to reach that level again. And I think we have, I think we’ve been able to build a program that’s worthy of that kind of support, one that fans are excited to come and watch.”
Lee has been a scoring machine for the Wildcats ever since she played her first game in a purple uniform as a redshirt freshman in 2019.
She has averaged at least 15.7 points per game in all five of her seasons with K-State. Along the way, she had some truly memorable games, such as the time when she exploded for a NCAA record 61 points in a home victory against Oklahoma.
That will always be her most memorable game with the Wildcats. But this performance was special, too. It proved she has longevity.
And she isn’t done. Right now, she holds K-State’s career scoring record by three points. She will get to pad her stats for the rest of the season.
“We should appreciate what all these athletes have done in their era, because the game’s different,” Mittie said. “The game has changed. Kendra Wecker, in my book, is the greatest athlete to come through here and so they’re both terrific players. I think there’s the assumption, because Lee has been here the extra year, that she’s had so many more games, and that just isn’t factual. We lost games during COVID and she certainly lost games with injuries.
“So for her to do it in 122 games, a very similar number as Wecker, is just a tribute to both of them, how great of players they are and both are K State legends and Ayoka still has some ways to go here, but certainly it was a special night to get it done and glad to get it done.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 9:08 PM.