Kansas State looked to end a brief road skid on Saturday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena, but TCU held serve on its home floor with an 87-70 win over the Wildcats. K-State has now dropped three straight road games.
Kansas State (13-13, 5-10 Big 12) saw three players score in double figures, led by junior guard and All-Big 12 candidate Kayla Goth with 23 points, seven assists, two steals and a block. This was Goth’s 14th game this season with 15 or more points and five or more assists.
Sophomore forward Peyton Williams added 21 points and nine rebounds. Williams was 8-of-8 from the the foul line, setting a new career-high for free throws made. The product of Topeka, Kansas, has now scored 20 or more points in six career games.
Senior forward Kaylee Page added 10 points and three blocks.
TCU (17-9, 8-7) had four players in double figures and were led by the interior duo of Amy Okonkwo and Jordan Moore. Okonkwo finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Moore tallied 16 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block.
The Horned Frogs used an 8-2 run midway through the first quarter to build a 16-7 lead. The Wildcats rallied with six straight points, as Kali Jones capped the run with a layup at 2:43 remaining in the first quarter and bring K-State to within 16-13.
TCU closed the opening quarter on a 7-0 run, to take a 23-13 lead after the first. The Wildcats were held without a field goal for the final 2:42 of the quarter.
An 8-3 run from TCU in the second quarter forced K-State to call a pair of timeouts, as the Horned Frogs went in front, 32-21, with 5:59 remaining. Following the second K-State timeout, TCU scored four additional points to increase the run to 12-3 and lead by 15, 36-21.
K-State was able to close to within 12, as Goth scored seven straight K-State points to bring the Wildcats to within 40-28 with 2:04 remaining in the opening half. The Horned Frogs closed the quarter with a 7-2 run and increase its lead to 47-30 at the break.
TCU shot 60.0 percent in the second quarter and outscored K-State 24-17 in the frame. K-State was held to a 35.7 percent effort in the second stanza.
Kansas State started the third quarter with a hot shooting effort, 6-of-10, but were only able to trim four points off the deficit, 57-44, with 4:03 remaining. Page tallied seven points of K-State’s first 14 points in the third.
K-State would outscore TCU, 18-16, in the third quarter and trail 63-48. The Wildcats held TCU scoreless for just over three minutes, but a layup and free throw from Lauren Heard gave the Horned Frogs the 15-point lead entering the final quarter.
The Wildcats were able to cut the TCU lead to 12, 72-60, with 5:04 to play. Goth scored K-State’s first 10 points of the fourth quarter, while Martin added a pair of free throws.
A three-point play from Williams with 3:38 to play brought K-State back to within 12, 77-65, but the Horned Frogs got a Kianna Ray jumper with 2:03 left to end the Wildcats comeback attempt.
Kansas State finished the game shooting 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field, including a 53.8 percent effort in the second half. The Wildcats were 18-of-19 from the foul line on Saturday.
TCU carded a 54.2 percent (32-of-59) performance from the floor. The Horned Frogs handed out 23 assists and outrebounded the Wildcats
Kansas State returns to Bramlage Coliseum to begin at two-game home stand on Tuesday. The Wildcats host West Virginia at 7 p.m. Tuesday’s game will be streamed on ESPN3 and available on the K-State Sports Network.
