Andrew RosenthalEven though Kansas senior Kylee Kopatich was once AAU teammates with Kansas State junior Peyton Williams, she didn’t smile for her when she made a basket in the final seconds of the game to erase what was once a nine-point lead for the Kansas women’s basketball team.
With 18 seconds to go in regulation, Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie took a timeout with the Wildcats down by two with the ball. Freshman Christianna Carr made the pass to Williams to force overtime.
Kansas eventually fell to K-State, 72-62, in the extra period Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks (12-9, 2-8 Big 12) split the season series with the Wildcats after a win at Bramlage Coliseum earlier in the year.
“We didn’t want (Williams) to get the ball,” KU coach Brandon Schneider said. “I’m more disappointed that we didn’t call timeout as soon as we had the ball. My understanding is one of the officials is designated to look at the bench in those situation and we were calling timeout there. Obviously, the players are much closer and we got to learn from that because that’s one of the things we leave each huddle with.”
As a team, the Jayhawks finished with 14 assists on 23 field goals. Kansas only missed on three tries to net a 74 percent clip on 11-of-14 free throws.
In a game that saw four different lead changes and nine ties, K-State’s (14-9, 5-6 Big 12) largest lead of the game didn’t come until the end of overtime. In regulation, Kansas didn’t allow K-State to get up by more than 2 points.
Tied after the first media timeout, the Jayhawks and Wildcats both got off to the start that they wanted. Kansas took a lead at the half, as Kylee Kopatich snuck around the corner to take an open 3-pointer to go up by three. Christalah Lyons scored another four points in transition, and the Jayhawks finished the run up six at the end of the quarter, 27-21.
After a poor performance from deep, Kansas surrendered the second quarter, 13-7, to the Wildcats. K-State scored a late jumper by Kayla Goth to tie the game at 34-34 at the intermission.
After her hot start in the first quarter Lyons entered the half with a pair of fouls, and ended the game with four. She scored 15 points along with three KU players, who netted double figures.
“She’s a lot easier to guard on the bench, I can assure you,” Mittie joked after the game.
In the third period, Marianne De Carvalho hit a 3-pointer after a steal by Kopatich on an assist from Brianna Osorio to put the Jayhawks up 47-40.
The Jayhawks maintained their lead until Williams made a layup in the final seconds of the game to force overtime tied at 60-60.
“I think we would have had a full second to shoot it (if we called timeout),” Schneider said. “When you can advance it, we’ve got all kinds of things we practice in those situations where we feel like we could have a decent look at the basket.”
Williams’ basket marked the end of a 7-0 run to finish regulation, but the Wildcats didn’t stop there. The Jayhawks only scored once in overtime, going 1-of-9 from the field in the free period in the loss.
Kansas will play host to No. 14 Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday.
