Kansas State women — without Ayoka Lee — lose first Big 12 basketball game of the season
Kansas State’s long winning streak is over.
The Wildcats suffered their first loss in nearly two months when they dropped a road game 63-53 against the Colorado women’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon at CU Events Center in Boulder.
K-State dropped to 19-2 with the loss. It is no longer in sole possession of first place at 7-1 in league play.
The Wildcats entered the weekend on a 14-game winning streak dating back to late November.
A setback like this was bound to happen eventually. It didn’t come as a huge surprise, because the Wildcats played without Ayoka Lee.
The star center is out indefinitely with a fracture in her foot.
How did the Wildcats play without her? Not bad, at first. K-State led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter and seemed comfortable with the new lineups that Jeff Mittie put on the floor. But Colorado surged ahead 35-31 at halftime and never looked back.
“We’ve played without Lee before,” Mittie said. “Last year we played without her eight games. So this is not new to us. Certainly, I think the disappointing thing was that one of the things we wanted to do, and one of the things I think Colorado does very well, is their cutting action is very effective. I did not think we did a good job against that, that cutting action. So they won those kind of plays. Ultimately, I think that’s why they won the game.”
Serena Sundell led K-State with 13 points, and Kennedy Taylor had 12.
The Buffaloes, who eliminated the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament last season, were led by Frida Formann with 14 points.
K-State will look to bounce back in its next game, against Iowa State on Thursday inside Bramlage Coliseum.
For now, though, the Wildcats are trying to move on from just their second loss.
“It doesn’t feel very good right now,” Mittie said. “I didn’t feel like, in terms of offense, we had much flow today. So we’ll just take that from it. We’re going to face a lot of these games, and we’ve got to have a better flow, and our guard play has got to be more consistent.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2025 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Kansas State women — without Ayoka Lee — lose first Big 12 basketball game of the season."