Following their loss to defending National Champion Baylor in the Quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on March 9, the Kansas State Women’s Basketball team had a long time to wait and see if they would be playing again. With Selection Monday for the NCAA Tournament 10 days away, K-State had plenty of time to wonder if the Big 12 would get enough teams into the Big Dance even though they would not be one of them.
Usually, Wildcat fans don’t get excited when good things happen to the University of Kansas but when the Jayhawks became the league’s seventh team into the NCAA Tournament, that gave the Cats the automatic bid into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Thursday night at Bramlage Coliseum K-State and especially Senior standout Brittany Chambers made the most of that opportunity.
Chambers set three school records and the Wildcats jumped out to a 35-8 first half lead and never looked back en route to a 72-44 first round victory. Chambers led the way by first breaking the first half points record with 29. The mark had stood since Jennifer Jones set it on March 3, 1984 against Missouri. When Chambers struck the 39-point barrier she set the single-season record for most points set by Tammie Romstad during the 1979-80 campaign and when she knocked down a free throw she set a new mark for most points in a single game with 42 breaking the old record of 41 set by Kendra Wecker on November 26, 2004 during the Junkanoo Jam on Grand Bahama Island. Ironically, the Redbirds will be K-State’s next opponent in the WNIT after beating IUPUI 63-47 Thursday night. Chambers now has 689 points for the season.
Joining Chambers in double figures was Haley Texada with 12 points. Kansas State (16-17) will face Illinois State in a second round contest on Monday, March 25 at Bramlage Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
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