K-State Women's Basketball Advances After Dominant Win Over Fairfield
Kansas State immediately opened up Friday afternoon finding star center Ayoka Lee for the first basket of the game.
That pretty much set the tone for the Wildcats' victory over Fairfield, fueling their blowout victory in Lee's first game in nearly a month. Lee headlined with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while guards Serena Sundell, Jaelyn Glenn, and Taryn Sides got in double figures with 42 combined points on 7-of-13 shooting from 3-point range.
"It felt great, it's been a minute," Lee said about her return. "I think our support staff, athletic training strength coach, just did a great job keeping everything where it needed be while I was out. It's a long time, and it's not fun going through that many rehabs. But they're great, and they did everything that we needed to do and put me through everything I need to go through to make sure I was ready for this."
But even for the offensive showcase, the defensive intensity anchored the Wildcats victory. The Wildcats held Fairfield to single digits in the first and third quarters, outscoring them by 35 points in those two periods.
"We think we're a good team, we were confident coming in," Sundell said. "I think we all knew we were capable. We knew we were gonna have a size advantage, we knew the coaches were gonna do a good job of getting us a good scout and a good game plan."
The Wildcats play No. 4 Kentucky (23-7) on Sunday.
Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.
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