Kansas State women's basketball has struggled quite a bit in the last two weeks, losing three of their last four regular season games and even struggled a bit against UCF in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
The Wildcats came into this game knowing there was one person they had to lock down in order to give them the best chance to beat the Mountaineers, and that was star guard JJ Quinerly, who scored 26 points in their first matchup this season. However, today, the defense wasn't able to get it done against Quinerly, who scored 24 points, including the basket that gave them the lead with about 40 seconds left in the game.
Kansas State wasn't able to hit the big shot they needed in those last 40 seconds and had to foul in order to try and get extra possession, and West Virginia took care of business from the line to capture the 73-69 win over Kansas State.
Kansas State had a big first half, shooing well over 60% from the field, and had a 44-36 lead over the Mountaineers, but in the second half, West Virginia outscored Kansas State 37-26 to get the comeback win. Kansas State's two leading scorers, Serena Sundell and Temira Poindexter, both scored in double digits with 10 and 16 points, but it was Kennedy Taylor who was the star for the Wildcats today.
Taylor scored 21 points off the bench for Kansas State, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor and a near-perfect 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Taylor was unstoppable on the block when fed the ball and defensively was great with two clocks and a steal.
Looking at the stat sheet, Kansas State looks like they should have won this game shooting better than West Virginia from the floor, from three-point range, and had more assists and blocks. However, it was the timing of West Virginia's scores that helped them to get the win to advance to the semifinal of the Big 12 Tournament.
This loss is not necessarily detrimental to Kansas State when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, as the Wildcats already know they will be in, but this could hurt their chances at hosting games in the tournament. The Wildcats were ranked as the overall 15-seed in the early top 16 reveal from the NCAA Women's Tournament. With this loss though, the Wildcats could move out of the top 16, meaning they could have to go on the road in March Madness.
The good news for the Wildcats is that they expect to get star center Ayoka Lee back for the NCAA Tournament after missing time with injuries to both of her feet this season. The Wildcats will await their ranking for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday on March 16 at 8:00 p.m. EST.