Kansas State women's basketball guard Gabby Gregory embraces her new role with Wildcats

MANHATTAN — Kansas State women's basketball guard Gabby Gregory was all smiles as she faced reporters flanked by teammates Ayoka Lee and Serena Sundell on Wednesday night in the Bramlage Coliseum interview room.

The No. 12-ranked Wildcats had just knocked off Oklahoma, Gregory's former team, 74-57, to improve to 16-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big 12. Gregory turned in what has become a typical all-around performance with 13 points with three 3-pointers, three assists, a pair of rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots.

"I had four blocks today," she said with a grin. "I get made fun of a lot for the length of my arms, so I think everyone needs to stop commenting on my arm length because I had four blocks today."

The four blocks are definitely something new for Gregory, the 6-foot, fifth-year senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma, now in her second season with the Wildcats. For most of her career, which included three years at Oklahoma, she was known primarily for her offense.

Related: Ayoka Lee and Gabby Gregory give Kansas State women's basketball a potent one-two punch

In fact, when Lee, K-State's All-America center, missed all last season with a knee injury, it was Gregory who stepped in to pick up much of the slack. She averaged career highs of 18.5 points and 5.3 rebounds on the way to first-team all-conference honors.

But now that Lee is back in the lineup and averaging 19.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and on the verge of breaking the school record for blocked shots, Gregory has seen her role changed dramatically. Her 9.1 points per game are an all-time low, except for her junior year at OU when she missed half the season with a mysterious vocal cord injury.

Not that Gregory is complaining. And on Saturday, the first-place Wildcats will face No. 10 Texas (16-1, 3-1 Big 12) in a 1 p.m. showdown at Bramlage that will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

"Even in my career, I've never played with a true post player like Yokie, so obviously it was an adjustment," Gregory said of the 6-6 Lee, who needs just four points against Texas to reach 2,000 for her career. "Just working with her in tandem, passing it in to her and stuff like that.

Related: Kansas State women's basketball stuns No. 2 Iowa, 65-58, on the road

"But I think that I've been able to develop a lot from the beginning of the season to now. Just how I can work with her and play together with her and get her the ball in situations when she needs it. But I think it's still even a work in progress now, just because I've never played with a player like her before."

K-State coach Jeff Mittie commended Gregory for adapting her game not only to Lee's dominating presence, but to a deep and talented team that also includes returning starters in junior point guard Sundell and twins Jaelyn and Brylee Glenn, among others.

"She told me she has never played with a center who catches almost everything I throw in there," Mittie said. "And Gabby just wants to win, and she's just a great competitor.

"I think she has played very well with Lee, and that was the plan we when we brought her in. We said we felt like we needed a player with her swagger, her confidence, her toughness. And we thought that that would match well with Lee."

Related: Kansas State women's basketball faces daunting Big 12 Conference schedule

Sundell, who ranks second on the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game and fourth in the Big 12 with 4.8 assists, also praised Gregory for embracing her more complementary role.

"Her passing has really improved this year," said Sundell, who had 16 points and seven assists against Oklahoma. "Last year we needed her to be a scorer and we needed her to find her shots and maybe take some contested shots, which she's good at.

"But this year, I think she's finding her shot and she's shooting it confidently and she knows when Yokie is going to be wide open. So, she's playing smart and playing confident."

Gregory currently is eighth in the Big with 3.9 assists per game, more than double her career average, and her 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio marks the first time that has been a positive number.

"I had nine assists in a game," she said, smiling again. "I've never done that my whole life, so that's pretty cool. So, it's still fun."

So is the fact that K-State already has victories over then-No. 2 Iowa and another ranked team in North Carolina. After going 19-17 and playing in the WNIT last year, the Wildcats are looking at a potential deep NCAA Tournament run.

"Yokie made a comment this summer. She didn't come back for records. She came back to have a great season with her teammates," Mittie said. "I think Gabby is the same way. She came back to play with Lee. She came back to play with the rest of the team, and she wanted to have as good a team season as we could."

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 guard Gabby Gregory adapts to new role