The Kansas State Wildcats claimed their first Sweet 16 berth since 2002 with an 80-79 overtime win over the Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday in Lexington, Ky.
Kansas State (28-7), the No. 5 seed, will move on to face either No. 1 USC or No. 9 Mississippi State in the Spokane Regional next week in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
Down the stretch it was Temira Poindexter who filled up the basket for Kansas State in overtime. A 3-pointer with 1:38 left tied the game at 77-77.
Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore answered with a jumper with 1:11 left in the game, giving her team a two-point lead.
After Kentucky took a timeout, Kansas State drew up another play for Poindexter. She drained another 3-pointer with 56 seconds left to push the team to a one-point lead.
Down the stretch, Kansas State kept Kentucky off the scoreboard. K-State’s Jaelyn Glenn stole a pass with 55 seconds left. Serena Sundell had a shot blocked, but Glenn picked up the offensive rebound and passed to Ayoka Lee, who missed a layup with 35 seconds left as Kentucky’s Klara Strack blocked it.
Kentucky came down the other end and got the ball to Amoore, who missed a jumper with 21 seconds left. Kentucky got the offensive rebound and got the ball to Amoore again, who missed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left. A Dazia Lawrence offensive rebound gave Amelia Hassett a chance at a 3-pointer with nine seconds left, but she missed.
That wasn’t it. Teonni Key grabbed that miss for Kentucky and got the ball to Amoore for one more shot. She missed the jumper as time expired and Kansas State claimed the victory.
Poindexter made eight field goals — all 3-pointers — as she led Kansas State with 24 points. Sundell had a double-double with 19 points and 14 assists, the latter allowing her to become the program’s all-time career leader in the category.
Lee, who only played 28 minutes, had 16 points and nine rebounds. Kennedy Taylor gave K-State 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Strack had 22 points for Kentucky. Key had 13 points and 15 rebounds. Amoore had 18 points and six assists.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
