COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KStateSports.com) – (13/12) K-State thumped Texas A&M in the first half to cruise to a 89-50 win at Reed Arena on Sunday afternoon. This is the second straight season K-State has started a season with a 10-1 record and the fifth time since 2014-15.
With Sunday’s win, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie become the third Wildcat women’s basketball coach with 200 or more wins with the program joining Deb Patterson (350) and Judy Akers (206). During his time in Manhattan, Mittie has collected a mark of 199-136 (.595).
K-State was led by the backcourt of Taryn Sides, Serena Sundell, Zyanna Walker and Jaelyn Glenn. Sides registered a game-high 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-7 from long range. The sophomore guard added seven rebounds and six assists.
Walker reached a new career-high with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and hauled in five rebounds.
Sundell tallied 16 points and five assists, Glenn notched 12 points and six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State used a 19-4 run and made seven straight field goals to close out the first quarter with a 26-10 lead and shooting 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from the field. After Texas A&M (5-5) closed to within one, Kennedy Taylor started the run with a layup at 4:25 to play. The Wildcats would force an Aggies timeout with 36 seconds left in the frame after Temira Poindexter and Taryn Sides carded back-to-back 3-pointers. Zyanna Walker ended the stanza with a runner to beat the buzzer.
– In the second quarter, K-State built a 22-point advantage twice before settling for a 21-point lead at halftime, 46-25. Sundell and Sides lead the Wildcats in the second quarter with six points each. The Wildcats shot 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from the floor, including 50.0 percent (4-of-8) from 3-point range in the second quarter.
– K-State stamped out any Texas A&M comeback in the first five minutes of the third quarter. The Wildcats recorded a 14-2 run to open the quarter and build a 60-27 lead.
– For the afternoon, K-State shot 50.7 percent (34-of-67) from the field including 40.0 percent (10-of-25) from behind the 3-point line.
– The Wildcats held the Aggies 31.1 percent (19-of-61) from the field and forced 18 turnovers.
QUICK FACTS
– K-State leads the series with Texas A&M, 14-9, including a 6-4 mark in College Station. The Wildcats are 123-146 against current members of the SEC.
– K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 654-371 (.638).
– K-State owns a record of 258-96 (.729) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 20-3 (.870) all-time when ranked 13th in the nation.
– The Wildcats are 248-103 (.707) in games played in the month of December, including an active 11-game winning streak dating back to the start of December 2023. Under Mittie, K-State is 47-18 (.723) in games during the 12th month.
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards: Zyanna Walker, Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell; forward Temira Poindexter and center Ayoka Lee. This was the ninth time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 123rd career start for Lee, the 114th career start for Sundell, the 110th career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 98th career collegiate start and 10th at K-State for Poindexter and the 11th career start for Walker. With her 123rd career start at K-State, Lee moves into a tie for fourth in program history with four other players for career starts.
– K-State improves to 54-3 (.947) when holding foes to 60 points or less.
– The Wildcats held a 46-25 lead at halftime on Sunday. Under Mittie, K-State is 160-19 (.894) when leading at halftime. The Wildcats have led at the half in nine games this season (10-0).
– K-State has scored 20-or more points in a quarter 27 times this season, including three quarters on Sunday. Since the start of the quarter-system in 2015-16, the Wildcats are 142-62 (.696) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter of a game.
– K-State shot 50.0 percent or better in a quarter twice on Sunday (first and third). The Wildcats have 27 quarters this season of 50.0 percent or better shooting.
– Over the last four seasons, K-State is 52-3 (.945) when holding the advantage on the glass.
– K-State improved to 101-8 (.927) when handing out 20 or more assists in a game. The Wildcats have dished out 20 or more assists in nine games this season (9-0).
PLAYER NOTES
– Sides reached double figures for points for the seventh time in the last eight games and for the 10th time in her career.
– Sides connected on five 3-point field goals on Sunday. This was her fourth career game with four or more connections from distance. This marks her 17th career game with two or more connections from long range.
– Sundell notched her 79th career game with 10 or more points. Sundell owns 1,406 career points and remains in 14th on the K-State career scoring list.
– Sundell’s five assists on Sunday improved her career total to 620. This was her 73rd career game with five or more assists.
– Walker recorded her 17th career game, all at K-State, and her sixth this season with 10 or more points.
– With her 12 points on Sunday, Glenn improved her career total to 962 points. She needs 38 points to become the 46th player in program history to score 1,000 or more career points at K-State. This was her 45th career game with 10 or more points.
– Glenn pulled in six rebounds on Sunday. This improves her career total to 520 and moves her into 29th on the K-State career rebounds list.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening statement…
“I’ll just start off by saying sometimes you end up playing really, really well, and it kind of snowballs on the other team. And I think we played really well early and hit them early. And that’s what you’ve got to do on the road. You’ve got to come in and establish what you want early. And I thought for the most part, both ends of the floor, we did that.”
On playing well without Lee…
“You know, I was really proud of them, because there’s really no restrictions with Lee. We just rested her with the margin of who we played on Thursday, but there’s no restrictions. But today, she restricted herself a little bit and picked up the early ones. And that’s not how we want to play, but I do think that’s the difference in this team this year, is that we’re able to score the basketball without her better, and defensively, we’re able to kind of cover up those things better. We don’t want to play a lot of games like that, obviously, but I think we’re deep enough to overcome that.”
On playing well defensively…
“We’ve got a lot of veterans here, and they’re bought in on what we want to do. And I think they’re smart players. So we’re able to take a game plan and you know today, with missing Lee, Kennedy Taylor can come in, Imani Lester can come in, and both are improving players, and they can fill that gap. But I think what I was most pleased about today was we wanted to make them jump shooters, and I think for the most part, we did that. They got to the free throw line a little too much early. We corrected that as the game went on. I think they’re one of the better teams we faced at driving downhill. We forced them to have to shoot some jump shots. I thought we corraled the ball screen action better than we have previously, and that’s an improvement for us.”
On sharing the ball…
“When we moved the ball tonight, we were really hard to guard, and we had open shots. And Sides is one that she has that ability to knock down open shots. And I think our guard play today was excellent, and that was one of the things that coming into this game, we did not play very well against Duke. Duke has some athletes that we did not move the ball like we needed to. I’ve been on our guards pretty hard that the ball needed to move quicker. We needed to dribble less, and I thought you saw that today.”
UP NEXT
Following a break for finals, K-State will return to action on Saturday, December 14. The Wildcats take part in the second annual Bill Snyder Basketball Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri, and will face Middle Tennessee at 5 p.m.
