The Wildcats’ perfect start to the season ended at the hands of the third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners Wednesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma used a late second half-run to defeat K-State 64-48.
With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 1-1 in conference play as Oklahoma moved to 2-0 and 14-2 overall.
Heading into the matchup, the Wildcats were one of four undefeated teams in the nation. The defeat also snapped a Big 12-leading seven-game road winning streak for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats (14-1, 1-1) took a one-point lead to the halftime break as they led 24-23.
“The first half was as good as we could have drawn up,” said associate head coach Kamie Ethridge.
K-State struggled offensively in the second half as the Sooners mounted a late run prior to the two-minute mark, and ultimately pulled away from the Wildcats. Head coach Deb Patterson called two timeouts during the run to try to contain the Sooner push, but the Wildcats failed to make a run of their own.
“We just weren’t an aggressive team tonight,” Ethridge said
Ethridge attributed the Wildcats’ struggles to their failure to be aggressive on the offensive side of the ball.
“We have to put the ball in the basket and we didn’t have enough players doing that tonight,” Ethridge said. “We weren’t an aggressive team tonight.”
Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris led all scorers with 19 points and added 12 rebounds, as well as being a vital part of the Sooners’ late push. Paris extended her impressive streak to 107 consecutive games registering a double-double.
K-State’s defense, which had previously gave up an average of 48 points per game, struggled to contain Paris and her sister Ashley, who combined for 31 points for the Sooners.
“There was no doubt that we couldn’t guard them,” Ethridge said.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was Marlies Gipson with 14 points and Ashley Sweat with 13.
The Wildcats return to Bramlage Coliseum Saturday afternoon to take on Iowa State and will look to bounce back in league play. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
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