It was the kind of stuff usually reserved for Hollywood, as the K-State women with just six healthy players at the end of the game, knocked off #12 Oklahoma State 76-70 in overtime on Wednesday night at Bramlage Coliseum. The Cats drained a school record 16 three-pointers in 41 attempts, including six for Brittany Chambers, who scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Haley Texada added 15 points and seven rebounds. Mariah White had impressive stat line of 11 points with three treys, seven steals, five assists, and four rebounds. Reserve guard Heidi Brown reached double figures for the first time in her K-State career with 10 points, as she hit two of three from beyond the arc and was perfect on a pair of free throw attempts. Oklahoma State was led by 22 points and nine rebounds from Toni Young.
On the strength of nine triples in the first half, K-State held a 43-42 edge at halftime. Four more three-pointers to lead off the second half put the Cats ahead 55-44 with 14:56 left ins the game. K-State (12-7, 3-4) would manage just one more field goal for the remainder of regulation, but still led 61-54 with 4:20 to go. Oklahoma State countered with the next seven points to tie the game at 61. Texada stole the ball from the Cowgirls’ Toni Young and raced to the other end for a layup with 26 seconds remaining to give K-State a 63-61 lead. Oklahoma State (14-3, 3-3) point guard Tiffany Bias made a jumper with 6.2 second left to tie the game, and White missed a layup after dribbling the length of the floor as the game went to overtime. Chambers and Brown each hit an early three, plus each would add the clinching free throws.
The win over a top 15 team lifted spirits in what has been a trying week for the K-State women’s program as they lost two players with season-ending injuries at Monday afternoon’s practice. Wildcat head coach Deb Patterson revealed after the game that starting guard Ashia Woods tore her achilles tendon, and forward Ashlynn Knoll tore an ACL. Forward Ashley Malone was also unavailable against Oklahoma State with an undisclosed injury. In the final two minutes of regulation, forward Chantay Caron went down when the Cowgirls’ Brittany Martin drove to the basket, and Caron did not return. Patterson said it’s not yet known if she will miss any significant time. With guard Marissa Ellis having the left the program before Big 12 play began, and Katya Leick and Kelly Thomson suffering ACL injuries before the season began, K-State had only six active players and no post players when the game ended.
K-State will hit the road this weekend to Texas, who’s winless in the Big 12 after a 76-38 rout at the hands of Kansas on Wednesday night. Tipoff in Austin will be at 1:00pm, and pregame will begin at 12:30 on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN.
