Kansas pulled off a courageous last-minute comeback, but missed free throws by the Jayhawks and made free throws by the Wildcats gave Kansas State its ninth-straight win in the Sunflower Showdown — as KSU won, 69-63, Wednesday night at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
The Jayhawks, which fell to 13-4 overall, 2-4 in the Big 12, were down 17 points with six minutes to go. But Kansas went on a 16-2 run over the next five and a half minutes. A three-pointer by Erica Hallman with 36.6 seconds cut K-State’s lead to 62-60, but KU missed free throws down the stretch while Wildcat Claire Coggins hit 5-of-6 charities in the last minute to ice the game.
“I told ’em in the lockerroom to pat yourselves on your back because we kept fighting and competing and did not give in,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “I think that’s big and we have to build on that from here.”
Crystal Kemp — who entered the game with 1,398 points, became the seventh player in KU history to reach both 1,400 career points and 700 rebounds when she hit a turnaround jumper with just under 15 minutes left in the first half — led KU with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Hallman, who moved her career scoring total to 999, added 18 points.
Kansas State, which improved to 14-4 overall and 4-3 Big, was led by freshman Marlies Gipson who tied her career-high with 16 points before fouling out. Coggins added 12 points and freshman Shalee Lehning chipped in 10.
After KSU took its largest lead at 58-41 following a lay-up by K-State’s Kimberly Dietz, Kansas limited the Wildcats to a pair of JoAnn Hamlin free throws over the next five and a half minutes and used a 16-2 run to make it 60-57 with just over a minute to play.
“After that four to five minute stretch where we got really sloppy, I thought we found a way to step in and make free throws and secure the basketball to seal the win,” said KSU coach Deb Patterson, whose squad hasn’t lost to the Jayhawks since the 2000-01 season.
“I’m not going to say it was pretty, but for a young basketball team it was a great job of battling down the stretch when KU had obviously gained momentum in the game.”
But KU players admitted they were disappointed with the in-state setback, especially considering some of the opportunities they didn’t convert late in the contest.
“There’s no reason to go 50 percent from the free-throw line,” KU senior Kaylee Brown said.
The Jayhawks, who have lost four out of their last five games after starting the season with a program-best 12-0 mark, were even worse than that in the second half — as KU missed 9-of-15 from the charity stripe.
Kemp had two free throws rim out with KU trailing by three with 1:06 on the clock.
“Unfortunately for us we couldn’t get a couple of stops there at the end,” said Kemp, after her last game in Manhattan. “We made a couple of bad calls defensively, and they were able to knock down free throws and we weren’t.”
Second Half Action
The Wildcats took their biggest lead of the game just four minutes into the second half at 39-31.
A couple of quick jumpers and lob pass to Gipson fueled the 8-2 spurt by K-State.
KSU increased its advantage to 41-37 with a timeout with 14:47 to go.
The Wildcats built their biggest lead at 43-33 with 13:30 to go in the half.
Gipson tied her season-high with 16 points on a lay-in that put KSU up 47-35 with 12 mintues to go. But the K-State forward picked up a crucial fourth foul on the opposite end.
With 10:23 to play KSU leads KU 51-37.
The Wildcats have outscored the Jayhawks 23-10 in the second half to lead 54-39 with a little less than nine minutes to go.
KU has cut KSU’s lead to 58-48 with 4:15 to go.
A jumper by the Jayhawks cut the lead to single digits.
A Kaylee Brown three with a little over three minutes to go cut KSU’s lead to seven.
Kemp hit a jumper in the lane with 2:26 to go to make cut KSU’s lead to 60-55 as the Jayhawks are on a 14-2 run. K-State has tallied just two points in the last four minutes.
An offensive foul gives the ball back to KU with 1:36 left.
Brown lost the handle on the ball but some how kept possession and scored on a lay-up to cut the score to 60-57 with 1:23 to go.
With 1:06 to go Kemp, who has 20 points, missed a pair of free throws that could have brought the Jayhawks to within one.
K-State missed a free throw but the Wildcats got a rebound and Coggins hit two charities.
With 36.6, Hallman hit a three to cut KSU’s lead to 62-60.
Coggins added two more.
Hallman missed a shot, but KU got the rebound and Mosely scored on an easy lay-in.
Coggins hit only one free throw to put K-State up 65-62 with 17.5 to go and KU has the ball.
Mosely made one free throw with 11.8 to go to cu the score to 65-63.
Twiggy McIntyre hit two free throws with 11.8.
Hallman missed a long three.
KSU’s Danielle Zanotti iced the contest with two more charities.
The Wildcats recorded their ninth straight win in the Sunflower Showdown with a 69-63 victory in Manhattan.
Halftime
K-State’s Shalee Lehning hit a pair of free throws with 1.7 left in the half to put the Wildcats ahead, 31-29, going into the break.
KU’s Crystal Kemp, who scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds, became just the seventh player in program history to record 1,400 points and 700 rebounds.
The Jayhawks shot 48-percent, while Kansas State fired at 42-percent clip.
Kansas outrebounded the Wildcats 16-14, but the Jayhawks committed 11 turnovers compared to six for K-State.
KSU forward Marlies Gipson scored 10 points to lead K-State.
First Half Action
Kansas State took a quick 2-0 lead in the first minute of the 90th edition of Sunflower Showdown.
But the Jayhawks, wearing red uniforms, battled back to tie the game at seven-all in the first five minutes.
Crystal Kemp hit a long jumper to put KU up 9-7, but the Wildcats responded with a three from the right side.
With 11:50 to go in the first half KU led 13-10.
The Wildcats took a 17-13 lead as K-State went on a 7-0 run to take the advantage with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
Kemp, who leads KU with eight points hit a basket to cut KSU’s lead to 25-24 with just under four minutes to go in the first half.
Erica Hallman hit a three-pointer right before the end of the half to tie the game at 29-all.
But Kemp fouled K-State’s Shalee Lehning with 1.7 on the clock. The Wildcat hit two free throws to put KSU up 31-29 at the half.
Pregame
The last couple of seasons have seen both the KU football team and K-State basketball team break long losing streaks in the Sunflower Showdown. Tonight the KU women’s basketball team will try and snap the Wildcats eight-straight victories.
“We’ve got to get off to a decent start,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said about tonight’s intra-state clash.
KU (13-3, 2-3 Big 12) and Kansas State (13-4, 3-3 Big 12) are meeting for the 90th edition of the Sunflower Showdown in a 7:05 p.m. tip tonight from Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
The game will be telecast live on Fox Sports Midwest (Sunflower Broadband channel 36).
Kansas enters the game after defeating Oklahoma State 66-46 on Sunday in Lawrence. Senior Crystal Kemp pumped in 25 points and collected 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. The Topeka, Kan., native has posted nine 20+ scoring games this season. She needs two points against K-State to reach 1,400 for her career. After reaching 700 career rebounds against OSU, Kemp would become the seventh player in KU history to reach both milestones.
KU senior Erica Hallman is also closing in on a milestone, as she needs 19 points to become the 19th 1,000 point scorer in Jayhawk history.
Led by Kemp, Hallman and senior Kaylee Brown — the top three scorers with 19.9, 13.9 and 13.2 points per game, respectively — Kansas is looking for its first win over K-State since defeating the Wildcats 65-62 on Jan. 27, 2001 in Manhattan.
In last year’s visit to Manhattan, the Jayhawks started slowly and finished even slower, bowing, 73-46. It was K-State’s eighth straight victory over KU by an average margin of 25.5 points.
“I don’t think we’re worried about how many we’ve lost over there,” Kemp said. “We’re just going in there to win.”
K-State enters the contest after a 71-70 overtime loss at Texas on Sunday. Junior Claire Coggins connected on a career-high six 3-pointers and led all scorers with a career-best 26 points. Freshman JoAnn Hamlin added 18 points. Freshman Marlies Gipson chipped in nine points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots to break K-State’s freshman blocked shots record with 38 on the season.
After going 24-8 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12 last season, the Wildcats were picked by the league coaches to finish eighth in the conference this season. Kansas State is coached by Deb Patterson who is 188-107 in her 10th year with the Wildcats and as a head coach overall.
Kemp said while the Jayhawks’ task will be a tough one, a win is very achievable.
“We just have to go out there and play hard,” Kemp said. “We had two tough ones at Nebraska and Colorado and we’ve put those behind us. We’ll just go out there and play the game we know how to play.”
