MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State junior center Ayoka Lee approached a triple-double and Brylee Glenn carried the Wildcats in the fourth quarter, as Kansas State extended its home-court winning streak to seven games with a 78-57 win over North Dakota State on Monday night in Bramlage Coliseum.
Lee, a 2022 All-America candidate, tied her own school record for consecutive double-doubles with her sixth straight by registering 22 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks, which included five in the fourth quarter. This was her fourth career game with seven or more blocks and tied for the second-most in a single-game in program history.
“I think a big thing was definitely being smart,” said Lee about her shot blocking efforts. “I don’t think I was playing defense looking for those blocks. I think it was just one of those things that came from playing with my hands up.”
Providing a big lift for the Wildcats in the fourth quarter was freshman guard Brylee Glenn. The product of Kansas City, Missouri, registered 13 of her career-high 15 points in the fourth quarter.
“I can’t say what was really going through my head, nothing was really going through my head,” said Glenn about her dynamic fourth quarter. “I think after I got fouled on the three-pointer and then just seeing the ball go through the basket a couple of times for me, I think that just kind of built on my confidence. And then we weren’t getting many threes, that just wasn’t an option for us during the game. So I knew that I had to be more aggressive and I think that’s when it just came into play.”
K-State (7-1) led by 17, 53-36, entering the final frame, but NDSU (2-4) cut the lead to 11, 55-44, following the first and only 3-pointer of the night from the Bison with 7:24 remaining. K-State head coach Jeff Mittie wanted to see his team respond to the late North Dakota State push and was pleased with the results.
“I was just kind of curious to see how we would respond. I think when they were the aggressive team, they had some success. When we were the aggressive team at both ends, they didn’t have success. I thought we lost that aggressiveness in that stretch. I think Brylee (Glenn) gave us a big lift in getting it back. And so I thought our response to that was good. Through a season you’re going to have to answer those and we’re going to have to learn, if a team gets hot, don’t let it be a 10-point run, turn it into a six-point run. The other teams have good players and so they’re going to have flows of the game where they play really well. We can’t contribute to that and I thought we contributed to it in that stretch. But I liked our response.”
Glenn would then score nine of K-State’s next 11 points and push the Wildcats into a 20-point lead, 66-46, with five minutes remaining. Glenn scored her points from the foul line, in transition on layups and from beyond the arc.
K-State would increase its advantage to as many as 26, 78-52, with 1:53 remaining on a Jaelyn Glenn three-pointer before NDSU used late free throws to cut the final margin to 21.
The Wildcats finished the night shooting 41.9 percent (26-of-62) from the field and were 4-of-11 (.364) from 3-point range. K-State was excellent from the foul line, making a season-high 22-of-25 (.880). North Dakota State was held to 34.5 percent (20-of-58) from the field and were 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
With its win on Monday night, K-State matched its home win total from the 2020-21 season and have now won 10 of its last 11 home games.
K-State will begin the month of December with the 2021 Big 12/SEC Challenge and will travel to top-ranked South Carolina on Friday, December 3, for a 6 p.m. (CT), tip-off. The Wildcats will play its next three games on the road.
Friday’s game can be seen on SEC Network Plus and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com and on the K-State Sports app.
