MANHATTAN, Kansas (Kansas State Sports Information) – Junior Ayoka Lee led the Kansas State women’s basketball team to a 76-44 win over Western Kentucky, which included the All-America candidate surpassing the 1,000-career point mark and earning her 30th career double-double on Sunday afternoon in Bramlage Coliseum during the 2021 WNIT Preseason Tournament.
Lee ended the afternoon with 33 points on 14-of-17 shooting and pulled in 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the 2021-22 season. Lee also pocketed a career-high four steals.
The 33 points by Lee set the school record for points in a Preseason WNIT game, surpassing the previous mark of 26 by Kendra Wecker against Penn State on November 24, 2002.
With 8:36 to play in the second quarter, Lee scored her 1,000th-career point, becoming the 44th player in K-State women’s basketball program history to reach the mark. Following her 33 points on Sunday, Lee’s career total stands at 1,020 which ranks her 42nd in program history. Lee was pleased to reach the mark, but knew she couldn’t relax for the rest of the game.
“Obviously it was exciting. But honestly, we still had a lot of game left and we had to keep it up. And we did. So yeah, it was exciting and fun to celebrate.”
Lee’s 14-of-17 (.823) shooting against the Lady Toppers tied for the fourth-highest single-game field goal percentage in school history (min. 15 field goal attempts).
K-State’s (3-0) defense was stifling during the first half, holding Western Kentucky (1-2) to 19.4 percent shooting and with K-State building a 39-17 halftime lead.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 13-2 run, as Lee scored 11 of the 13 points. Kansas State would hold a 19-8 lead after the opening stanza.
It took Western Kentucky 4:28 to get out of a scoring drought with Alexis Mead making a jump shot. Mead led the Lady Toppers with 18 points.
After keeping the Lady Toppers to eight points in the first quarter and nine points in the second quarter, K-State strung together five straight quarters of holding its opponent to single digits. Head coach Jeff Mittie is pleased with his team’s defensive effort.
“What I’m really pleased about right now is the growth that I’ve seen in not tying our defense to how well we’re playing offensively. I think we’re starting to learn to dig deep defensively.”
K-State outscored Western Kentucky, 18-16, in the third quarter despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field (6-of-18), but managed a 5-of-8 effort from the foul line.
Kicking off the fourth quarter, K-State went on a 14-0 run. Senior forward Laura Macke recorded five points during the run, as the Wildcats increased their lead to 71-33 with 6:46 remaining in the final frame. Macke ended her day with seven points and three rebounds.
Sophomore center Taylor Lauterbach joined Lee in double figures with a career-high 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The product of Appleton, Wisconsin, added six rebounds and two blocks to her final line.
K-State has won six straight games in the Preseason WNIT.
K-State will end its four-game home stand and end the home portion of the 2021 Preseason WNIT on Monday night, as the Wildcats host North Carolina A&T at 6:30 p.m. Prior to K-State’s game against the Aggies, Western Kentucky and UT Martin will square off at 4 p.m.
