Kansas State fought off a late TCU rally and picked up its fourth straight win and fifth win in the last six games with a 74-63 decision on Wednesday night in Bramlage Coliseum. The No. 22 Wildcats are now 10-1 at home this season, the third straight season with 10 or more wins.
K-State (15-4, 5-2 Big 12) was paced by All-America candidate Breanna Lewis with 21 points and nine rebounds, while also setting the school record for career blocked shots at 259 blocks, surpassing Marlies Gipson for the most in school history.
Joining Lewis in double figures was senior guard Kindred Wesemann with 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting from behind the arc. Wesemann moved into the top-5 in program history for career 3-point field goals made, passing Kimberly Dietz with 231 career 3-pointers made. Freshman forward Eternati Willock added 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
TCU (9-9, 1-6 Big 12) was led by sophomore Amy Okonkwo with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Junior Toree Thompson and freshman Amber Ramirez added 12 and 11, respectively.
Kansas State shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field, including a 59.3 percent effort in the second half. The Wildcats held TCU to just 30.2 percent (19-of-63) shooting for the game. The Wildcats set a season-high with 22 assists and outscored the Horned Frogs 38-26 in the paint.
Both the Wildcats and the Horned Frogs used stingy defense to start the game as each team held its opponent to just four points over the first seven minutes of the game.
K-State trailed by as much as six points, but a Lewis layup with just seconds remaining brought the Wildcats back to within three points, 16-13, at the end of the first quarter.
After trading baskets with the Horned Frogs, a Peyton Williams traditional 3-point play put K-State within two points, 20-18, with 4:06 to play in the opening half.
The Wildcats used a 9-4 run to go up by three points in the late stages of the second quarter before Ramirez banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 27 all at halftime.
Led by two Wesemann 3-pointers, K-State used an 8-0 run out of halftime to force a TCU timeout and take a 35-27 lead with 8:11 to play in the third quarter.
Three consecutive 3-pointers by the Wildcats helped push the lead to 14, 44-30. After back-to-back layups by Lewis and Willock, TCU’s Jordan Moore scored three straight points to end the third quarter and cut the Wildcats lead to 52-40.
TCU used an 8-1 run to pull the game within five, 57-52, with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter, but a Wesemann transition 3-pointer put the Wildcats back up eight, 60-52, with 4:51 to play in the game.
Thompson and Karyla Middlebrook traded layups before Jada Butts knocked down three straight free throws to cut the lead to five with 2:29 to play.
A Willock layup and a Shaelyn Martin traditional 3-point play paced the Wildcats on a 6-0 run to give K-State breathing room with a 68-59 lead with just under a minute to play.
Kansas State will play its final road game in the month of January on Saturday, as the Wildcats travel to Ames, Iowa to face Iowa State. Game time at Hilton Coliseum is set for 5 p.m.
