Finding a Way to Win

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Understand that No. 8 Kansas State needed this. The Wildcats needed it bad. They had suffered a 66-63 loss at Oklahoma. They had fought hard in a 61-54 defeat at No. 12 Texas. Each of their past four games had been decided by fewer than eight points. Yet they were poised. They didn't play rattled. They had been in this moment before. Still, so much could've gone wrong. And this would be a different story. But K-State did what it needed to do in nail-biting fashion to keep its 15-game home winning streak intact at Bramlage Coliseum.

No. 8 K-State 69, Oklahoma State 68.

In the end, when head coach Jeff Mittie absolutely needed a shot, All-America candidate and junior guard Serena Sundell swept across the baseline for a layup with 28 seconds left. Then following an Oklahoma State timeout, the Cowgirls ran down the clock, and Hannah Gusters took a pass 15 feet from the basket, and she looked at the basket, and she thought she could drive to the basket, but Gabby Gregory prevented her from a closer shot attempt. Gusters' shot fell short of the rim, K-State improved to 21-3 overall and 10-2 in the Big 12 Conference, and Oklahoma State fell to 11-12 and 4-8.

"You've got to build," Mittie said. "Any game should build confidence and you should build off of the experience of stepping up when needed. Our character is sound. That locker room has good character. It doesn't mean that they're always going to play with the energy and fight that I think they're capable of. That's a coach's job, to push them to do things that they don't even know they're capable of doing.

"I think we're capable of more. I don't think we've played our best basketball. Hopefully what this does for us is allows us to learn from the stretch of the game when we didn't do the right thing."

Oh yes, the stretch, and in these back-and-forth tussles there always seems to be a stretch. This game had 11 lead changes and Oklahoma State led for 17 minutes, 41 seconds. The Cowgirls outscored the Wildcats, 28-18, in the third quarter. The Cowgirls built a seven-point lead with 6:59 left in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats tied the score at 53-53, then, boom, the Cowgirls led 61-54. Yeah, it was that kind of game.

Mittie called a 30-second timeout.

"I just didn't think our fight was very good and I didn't think our energy was very good, and they had to make a choice," he said. "I didn't think anything we were doing in that stretch — we were on our heels defensively and offensively we weren't very aggressive. I didn't like our body language. I didn't like any of that. That was not an Xs and Os timeout. There weren't any magical plays or things we did defensively. That was a 'we're better than this, our effort is better than this, and our standard is better than this, and we have to play to that,' timeout."

The players took note. They fought. They charged like Secretariat at the Kentucky Derby, galloping closer and closer. Then, finally, Jaelyn Glenn nailed a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 67-66 lead with 2:03 to go. Gusters hit a layup to give the Cowgirls a 68-67 lead. Then came Sundell's heroics. Game over.

"It's hard to find words after a game like that," Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt said. "I'm really proud of my team. I wish so badly for them that they could've gotten this win today. Kansas State is an unbelievable team. Everybody knows that."

The Big 12 remains arguably the best conference in women's college basketball.

"If you dig deeper on Oklahoma State, boy, they've had their heart ripped out," Mittie said. "They've led in four of the last five games in the fourth quarter, and they have a short bench. It does show the depth of the league. It continues to show that home or road, you better show up to play or you can get beat by most teams in this league.

"You better show up and play."

The most arresting moment of the game came when former K-State player and current Oklahoma State player Emilee Ebert went down in a heap with what appeared to be a significant leg injury. Ebert, a fifth-year senior from Frankfort, Kansas, whose played in 128 career games with 61 starts, was swept into the locker room and appeared after the game on crutches, hugging each of the K-State players on the court.

"Just sick to my stomach," Mittie said.

Ebert had played in 10 games for the Cowgirls.

"She wanted to play so badly today," Hoyt said. "I'm hurting because we lost, but I think I'm hurting worse because I know how much that game meant to her. I don't even have words to describe it, but I don't think the injury is good."

The teams fought on. And somebody had to come out on top. At times, K-State found it hard to score. The Wildcats shot 39.7% (27-of-68) from the floor, including 23.1% (6-of-26) from beyond the arc. But the Wildcats committed just six turnovers. Oklahoma State shot 47.3% from the floor (26-of-55), including 52.4% (11-of-21) on 3-pointers, and held a 41-28 advantage on the boards, but also committed 20 turnovers.

Brylee Glenn led K-State with 23 points and three steals, Sundell had 16 points and seven assists, Gregory had 11 points, and Zyanna Walker added 10 points and eight rebounds.

In the end, the Wildcats scored the final basket. And on this day, that's all that mattered.

After taking a seat in his postgame news conference, Mittie took a deep breath.

"Well," he said, finally, "that one was interesting."

He paused.

"I have a lot of thoughts," he said. "I'm not sure I have a lot of answers."

That's OK. The Wildcats' play in the clutch said plenty.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Emilee Ebert

Brylee Glenn

Jaelyn Glenn

Gabby Gregory

Serena Sundell

Zyanna Walker

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