In span of seven minutes on Monday night, Kansas State women's basketball coach Deb Patterson saw just about everything she wanted from her young squad.

Sophomore point guard Brittany Chambers ran the offense smoothly, Jalana Childs finished shots in the post and the Wildcats played stiff defense on the Washburn Lady Blues.

Perhaps most importantly, they were able to shake off a slow first half and build a commanding 30-point lead over Washburn in the opening minutes of the second half.

It proved to come at just the right time, as K-State cruised through the second half toward a 91-47 win over Washburn in its final exhibition test before the regular season begins Friday.

"That's the sign of a good basketball team," Patterson said."

Three Wildcats scored in double figures, led by Childs with 17. Chambers added 15 and freshman forward Brianna Kulas had 12.

The convincing win marked the end of a two-game exhibition run to open preseason play. The Wildcats opened exhibition play with a 91-25 win over Fort Hays State on Thursday.

With two strong showings during preseason play, Patterson said her team is anxious to open the regular season on Friday.

"It's time," she said. "I think everybody is anxious and excited about the challenge ahead."

The Wildcats opened the first half with a quick 7-2 run, but struggled to separate from the Blues throughout the remainder of the half.

"It's early in the season," Patterson said. "Again, we are learning and I think we let the tempo of the game dictate our effort and that needs to be inversed. You have to dictate the tempo you want the game played at. I'm not sure our focus was where it needed to be."

Perhaps the brightest spot in the first half for the Wildcats was the play of Kulas. On the heels of 19-point debut against Fort Hays, the forward from Mission, went 5-for-5 with a 3-pointer in the first half Monday night.

"She has a good feel and a good flow," Patterson said. "She is a good scorer. It was great to see her come back in back-to-back performances with quality production offensively."

The Wildcats entered the halftime break leading 39-25.

Washburn opened the second half quickly, though, as junior guard Stevi Schultz drained an open 3-pointer from the right side just 13 seconds into the half. The quick score sliced the K-State lead to just 11.

"That shot was just a good look and good execution on their part," Patterson said.

But it would be the last bit of noise Washburn would make for much of the remainder of the game. The Wildcats responded to the opening bucket with a basket of their own when Chambers drilled a 3-pointer on the other end, sparking a 19-1 run to silence the Blues and swing the momentum back in the Cats' favor.

"We began to play with the intensity and the concepts that I think are going to make us the most successful," Patterson said. "We just brought a higher attention to it."

The run was anchored by Chambers, who netted 10 points. Childs added six.

"I just knew we needed something to get us going," Childs said. "We do not want to be that team that has the story of two halves — we want to play hard the whole game."

The Wildcats kick their season off on Friday when they face Grambling State in the opening game of the Commerce Bank Wildcat Classic, beginning at noon.

"We know we have a lot of potential," sophomore guard Taelor Karr said. "We are really athletic and we just have to keep working hard because we know that we are young and nobody is really paying any attention to us. We are ready to work hard and surprise a lot of people this season."


Photo- The Manhattan Mercury