K-State falls to West Virginia in second round of Big 12 women’s tournament

Bri Craig grimaced, her elbows and knees on the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

As Craig’s left ankle impaired her, her Kansas State women’s basketball teammates were on the other end of the court, attempting to protect a two-point lead against West Virginia. Playing five against four, they were unsuccessful as Mountaineer guard Tynice Martin made an easy layup.

In what ended as a 74-65 loss for the Wildcats on Saturday in the second round of the Big 12 women’s tournament, that bucket marked the beginning of an 11-2 Mountaineer run that proved to be insurmountable.

“We didn’t have a very deep bench at that time,” K-State coach Jeff Mittie said.

“Certainly, West Virginia is one of the deeper teams in the league and they can run a lot of players at you. So in that time where (Craig) was trying to get the ankle to feel a little bit better, you know, we probably had some fatigue factor in there.”

The Wildcats’ next possession after the injury ended with a turnover and a quick West Virginia layup.

As the K-State defense faltered, the Mountaineers’ got stronger.

“I thought we started playing defense,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “There’s a lot of things in a game that get you going a little bit, but to me, it was our defense got us going.”

Craig, a senior guard, eventually returned to the court, but K-State, 18-12 overall and 8-10 in the Big 12, never returned to the lead.

After the West Virginia run, the Wildcats didn’t get within five points of the Mountaineers as fatigue set in.

The differential was a strange variation from the first half, when neither team led by more than four points.

After West Virginia took a 10-6 lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter, the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run.

The Mountaineers, 24-8 and 12-6, held a one-point lead at the ends of the first two quarters thanks to some sharp last-minute shooting.

Senior guard Jessica Morton’s 3-pointer at the buzzer pushed West Virginia ahead 18-17 after one period, and a layup by sophomore guard Chania Ray with 26 seconds left in the half sent the Wildcats into the locker room behind 33-32.

“I thought this was a great basketball game,” Mittie said. “This thing was very physical, very hotly contested from the start.”

The Mountaineers separated themselves in the third, scoring 21 points. They pushed the Wildcats’ deficit further in the final period, leading by as many as 11.

In her final Big 12 tournament game, K-State senior guard Megan Deines scored a team-leading 22. Junior center Breanna Lewis had 14 points, and junior guard Kindred Wesemann added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Wildcats are forced to wait until 7 p.m. March 14 to learn their NCAA Tournament fate.

Mittie said the Big 12 deserves to have six teams in the field, including his.

“I just told the team, our resume is right there,” Mittie said. “They're going to look at our resume; they're going to see it's over 30 games.

“We have done, I think, some good things this year, so hopefully we're in.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "K-State falls to West Virginia in second round of Big 12 women’s tournament."