Kansas State advances to Sweet 16 after winning an overtime thriller against Kentucky
The Kansas State women’s basketball team is heading to the Sweet 16 for the first time in more than two decades.
K-State won a thrilling overtime game against Kentucky 80-79 on Sunday at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington to survive and advance beyond the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament
Jeff Mittie’s team wildly celebrated the victory. The visiting Wildcats deserved to party after they pulled off one of the biggest wins in school history.
“We’ve been knocking on the door and we just haven’t gotten it done, and I haven’t gotten it done,” Mittie said afterward. “This group has been a special group ... I’m really happy for our fans. I know they wanted this. I know it’s been a long time.”
Temira Poindexter was the hero for No. 5 seed K-State in this one. The senior forward scored a game-high 24 points (all on 3-pointers) and shot her team past No. 4 seed Kentucky with a one swish after the next. She made eight of 15 shots from beyond the arc with the two biggest coming in overtime.
Her go-ahead trey with 56 seconds remaining proved to be a dagger for K-State.
Surprisingly, she missed her first five outside shots of the day. But her teammates kept urging her to shoot until she heated up.
“Them telling me to keep shooting is what lifts me up and gives me confidence,” Poindexter said.
She was far from the only star in this game.
Senior guard Serena Sundell marched her way into the K-State record books by scoring 19 points and sending out 14 assists. She is now leads the program in career assists, and she will get a chance to pad her numbers even more next week as K-State moves on to Spokane, Washington, where it will play the winner of No. 1 seed USC and No. 9 seed Mississippi State on Saturday.
Sundell has been dreaming about that school record for a long time. But it felt like a footnote to her on a day like this.
“I would choose the Sweet 16 every single day over that record,” she said.
Ayoka Lee also gave K-State 16 points and nine rebounds while dealing with foul trouble.
K-State needed all of those contributions and more to get past Kentucky. This was an entertaining and back-and-forth contest that wasn’t decided until UK guard Georgia Amoore missed a jumper as overtime expired. Her shot was close to falling and it bounced around the rim. But it fell harmlessly to the floor and K-State fans roared.
Clara Strack led Kentucky with 22 points and eight rebounds.
That combination made for a wild game that featured 21 lead changes.
“Everybody just witnessed one of the great games in the tournament,” Mittie said. “It’s hard to even go over all the big shots both teams made.”
It looked like K-State might be doomed when it fell behind by five points in overtime, but the Wildcats didn’t flinch. Poindexter made big shots when it mattered most and her team responded, just like it did all afternoon.
“We were just lost in the game,” Sundell said. “We knew they were making big shots, but then we would come down and make big shots. Once you get lost in that offensive rhythm you know they are a good offensive team. We knew they were going to find ways to score. We just had to push it back at them to give ourselves a chance. It wasn’t hard to stay locked in. We were just lost in a big game and a big moment.”
Things ended well for K-State, but the game did not start well for the team in purple. Kentucky raced to a 7-0 lead and Jeff Mittie’s team had to play catch-up for the entire first half.
K-State managed to fight back thanks to a scoring spree from Sundell, but it was still an uphill battle. It wasn’t until Poindexter drained a pair of 3-pointers to spark a 10-0 run late in the second quarter that K-State pulled ahead.
The visiting Wildcats had to be happy to lead 33-31 at halftime after falling behind and only shooting 35% from the field. To that point in the game, Lee had also picked up three fouls. Despite all that going against them, they battled in other areas and found a way to win the first half.
“We all came into the locker room at halftime and thought we were in a really good spot,” Sundell said. “We were getting the looks that we wanted. If we stayed consistent we were going to keep getting those looks and eventually they were going to fall.”
Both teams played at a higher level as the game went on, with K-State finding a way to extend its season.
“That was a great win today,” Mittie said, “and a great win for our program.”
This is the first time K-State has reached the Sweet 16 since 2002.
Now it can focus on trying to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1982.
“I am excited for this group,” Sundell said. “I knew we were capable of getting here. I am proud of this group and we want to keep going as far as we can.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM.