KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Wildcats pounced early and Texas Tech never quite recovered.
Kansas State jumped to an 11-2 lead behind three 3-pointers from three different players Thursday and held off the Lady Raiders 59-51 in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament.
Taelor Karr scored 16 points and Kari Kincaid added 14 to lead Kansas State, which will play undefeated and No. 3 Nebraska in the quarterfinals Friday.
With only seven players suited up—three others dressed in sweats because of injuries—K-State took its time on offense and had a knack for making key plays at the right time.
After a time-out, Texas Tech’s Kierra Mallard stole the inbounds pass and converted a layup to cut the lead to 47-45.But with 1:12 left, Karr buried a deep 3-pointer that gave K-State a 50-45 lead. Then, Kincaid stole a pass and Ashley Sweat converted a layup as the shot clock expired for 52-45 lead.
“I remember looking up and they had cut it to two,” Kincaid said. “I think we all just said enough’s enough. We weren’t going to let them come and take our lead from us.”
Ashlee Roberson led Texas Tech with 13 points while Mallard added 11. Jordan Barncastle, the Texas Tech player whose nose was broken by Baylor star Brittney Griner last week, played 17 minutes but didn’t score.
“Obviously she didn’t look herself today, especially defensively,” Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry said.
Texas Tech shot 60 percent after halftime and Mallard scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. But even with the offense picking up in the second half, the Lady Raiders could never grab the lead.
“It’s disappointing,” Curry said. “I thought that there quick start gave them a lot of confidence. We weren’t able to recover from that.”
After that initial burst, the Wildcats then went nearly five minutes without a field goal, but Tech couldn’t capitalize. Bouncing shots off the rim and carelessly handling the ball, the Lady Raiders shot 31 percent and committed eight turnovers before halftime—turnovers the Wildcats cashed in for 12 points.
Sweat, K-State’s leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, missed all seven of her first-half attempts and scored just five points. But the timely 3-pointers helped and so did Jalana Childs, who scored nine of her 11 points before halftime.
Karr, Kincaid and Brittany Chambers, who scored nine points, also combined for nine of K-State’s last 12 points.
“When you can force Ashley Sweat to go 1-10,” Curry said, “you think you have a chance to win.”
Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said she liked her team’s “gritty mentality.” Awaiting the Wildcats now 29-0 Nebraska, the only undefeated team besides Connecticut in Division I basketball.
Nebraska defeated K-State twice during the regular season, most recently an 82-72 win on March 6.
“No one in the world thinks we can win, except for us,” Kincaid said. “We believe in ourselves. We would shock the world if we beat undefeated Nebraska.”
