How Kansas State women's basketball got its mojo back despite semifinal loss to Texas

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas State women's basketball team did not return to Manhattan on Monday night with a Big 12 Tournament trophy, but there's a good argument to be made that the Wildcats gained something just as valuable from their three-day, two-game stay at T-Mobile Center.

With the NCAA Tournament just around the corner, they have their mojo back.

Yes, the Wildcats dropped their semifinal game to No. 5-ranked and second-seeded Texas, 71-64, on Monday. But they also rallied from a 14-point deficit to grab a lead in the fourth quarter before the Longhorns made enough plays down the stretch to pull it out.

"Boy, proud of my group for really playing an excellent basketball game," said K-State coach Jeff Mittie, whose Wildcats fell to 25-7 and now must wait until Sunday for their NCAA Tournament assignment. "We played well enough to win. We just came up on the short end.

"I thought it was an outstanding, physical, competitive game. We didn't get off to the best of starts, but we sure battled back and fought hard and did a lot of really good things."

Related: Kansas State women's basketball rested and ready for Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal

After limping toward the finish line with three losses in a five-game stretch, the Wildcats needed a good showing in Kansas City to get the bounce back in their steps.

Combine Monday's performance with a 65-62 come-from-behind quarterfinal victory over a West Virginia team that has been ranked most of the year — not to mention a 73-49 blowout of Texas Tech on the road to close the regular season — and K-State seems to be back on track.

"I think we showed a lot of people tonight our competitive fight, our fire," said K-State senior guard Gabby Gregory, who had eight points, including a pair of second-half 3-pointers, and five assists against Texas. "Obviously, Texas is a really, really physical, strong team and I think that we just fought right until the end.

"We made a lot of really great plays. They just made a few more."

The Wildcats never led until the fourth quarter, needing a six-point run at the end of the first half to trim a 14-point Texas lead to 38-30 at the break. That despite 18 from center Ayoka Lee, who led all scorers with 25 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Related: Kansas State women's basketball places Ayoka Lee and Serena Sundell on Big 12 first team

But in the second half, Brylee Glenn scored all nine of her points, Serena Sundell added eight and Gregory six, to go with another half-dozen from Lee.

"I think what you saw in the second half was us pushing tempo and us getting more cutting, which got the ball moving, and I thought Lee did a fantastic job of being able to post-up without us having to call plays every trip," Mittie said. "Because you can call plays for Lee every trip, but then Texas has the opportunity to organize their help side, organize where that's coming from. Second half, much better ball movement, much better player movement."

That, more than anything, is what the Wildcats can take from the Big 12 Tournament, according to Gregory.

"I think we did a lot of good things today," she said. "I think one of the good parts this game was we proved that we can rebound. We were probably outsized in a lot of positions play Texas, and we really stuck to the game plan, and I thought we did a really good job on the boards."

Related: Kansas State women's basketball claims No. 3 seed and double-bye in Big 12 Tournament

Indeed, Texas' rebounding advantage was just 29-28, and the Longhorns held a slim 12-8 advantage in second-chance points. K-State also outshot the Longhorns 49% to 46.6 and forced 15 turnovers.

"I think those things should give us confidence in a lot of areas," Lee said. "I think we need to step into that confidence sooner and believe that we can rebound, even when we are undersized.

"I also think just making those in-game adjustments, too, is one thing we can do sooner."

Two big baskets by Texas senior guard Shay Holle — a corner 3-pointer and backdoor layup — in the final 1:11 broke a 61-61 tie and gave the Longhorns the cushion they needed at the end. But Mittie was by no means distraught.

In the past week-plus, he saw the Wildcats regain their form, and at the perfect time. Lee, who was sidelined for seven games with an ankle injury during conference play, is getting stronger every day.

"Anybody that watched these games, I don't think there is any doubt," Mittie said. "We got a 25-point road win, which doesn't happen very often in the Big 12, we beat an outstanding West Virginia team and … we went toe-to-toe for 40 minutes here.

"I am really proud of this group and disappointed with the result today, but as I told them in the locker room, you don't have to be ashamed about that one. You left it on the floor. You play like that in the NCAA Tournament, you'll have every opportunity to advance."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State women's basketball positive heading into NCAA Tournament