Heading into this season, Kansas State women's basketball coach Deb Patterson had no problem admitting there were several lingering questions. If one of those was the leadership and growth of her two sophomore guards, well they might have been answered Sunday afternoon.

Taelor Karr and Brittany Chambers sprinted out of the gate from the opening tip against UC Davis, leading K-State to an early 22-5 lead in the opening 10 minutes of the game.

The early run, which was perhaps their best start to a game this season, allowed the Wildcats to cruise to a 61-41 victory and improve to 8-1 on the season in their final nonconference home game of the season.

"I thought offensively we came into the game wano be aggressive with our mentality," Patterson said.

Both Chambers and Karr clearly embodied that mentality in the opening minutes of Sunday's 20-point victory. Karr opened the game with a layup off an Aggie turnover, followed by a layup and back-to-back 3-pointers from Chambers.

"We knew they were going to trap and (play) zone," Chambers said. "I thought we moved the ball quickly and that allowed our guards to get open right away."

Chambers finished the game with 10 points, while Karr netted a game-high 17 points and tied her career-high with 12 rebounds.

Karr made some noise from behind the arc as well, making 3-of-5 from 3-point territory. Meanwhile, her double-double was the first of the season for the Wildcats, and the second of her young career at K-State.

"I feel like both of us have really matured and kind of figured out what we need to do," Karr said . "The game is starting to slowdown for us."

The Chambers-Karr duo combined for 15 of the first 20 Wildcat points in the first half of Sunday's victory.

The hot shooting for Karr on Sunday afternoon, was another sign that after a slow start to the season, she has found her touch. In her last six games, the guard has averaged 13.2 points per game, while shooting 59 percent from the field and 46 percent on 3-pointers.

"I look at our team now, relative to a year ago," Patterson said. "It's easy to overlook the fact that you have three players in the backcourt that are really young. I think they are much transformed."

The Aggies attempted to make a comeback late in the first half with a short 7-2 run with less than 10 minutes remaining. But again, the hot-shooting Karr had an answer.

She strung together back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a layup from Chambers off an Aggies turnover to push the Cats' lead to 38-13 with 4:07 to go in the half.

The strong first-half performance was enough of a cushion to cruise through the second half and on to their eighth victory of the year.

"We have all been working really hard this year," Karr said. "I feel like that is showing. We have a lot of team chemistry and it's just going to get better throughout the season."