MANHATTAN, Kan. — Gisela Sanchez led No. 4 Kansas State with 18 points as the Wildcats outlasted BYU 67-65 on Saturday.
Serena Sundell scored 14 points for Kansas State (20-1, 9-0 Big 12). The Wildcats did not convert a field goal over the final 4:35.
“The resiliency to dig deep and find a way to get to the free throw line, find a way to manufacture some points that way was huge,” Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. “We found a way to get a couple of stops at the other end. (Zyanna) Walker had a huge block on what looked like to be a layup. We defended the out-of-bounds play a couple of different times. This team has character. This team believes and it took every bit of all of those things to win this game today.”
Lauren Gustin led BYU (12-9, 2-6) with 25 points and 21 rebounds. Gustin broke a 30-year-old Bramlage Coliseum record for rebounds by an opponent. Kailey Woolston added 14 points and Amari Whiting had 10.
“That’s what she does,” BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “I expect every night she steps out, she gets a double-double. For her to bring it like that is huge, but she wants to win. She doesn’t care about the record. She doesn’t care about stuff. She just wants to win.”
With the score tied at 62 with 57 seconds left, the Wildcats and Cougars traded free throws and the lead.
Zyanna Walker blocked Emma Calvert's layup attempt with 8.2 seconds left. Woolston missed a layup with 3.2 seconds left and Kaylee Smiler's jumper caromed off just before the buzzer.
“That was a good, hard-fought game," Mittie said. "A lot of credit should go to BYU for coming in here in front of that crowd and playing as well as they did.
"I’m proud of my group for battling through and persevering and making plays late in a day where we didn’t have a whole lot of answers for them.”
Gabby Gregory and Gustin each kept their teams in a tight game in the third quarter. Gregory scored 10 of Kansas State's 25 points in the quarter while Gustin scored seven of the Cougars' 19. Those were Gregory's only points of the game.
“It feels good to see the ball go in the basket,” Gregory said of her third quarter. “Obviously, I need to try to get that to spread to the other quarters. ... It just shows what I’m capable of doing on offense. I’m just not doing it all four quarters, but hopefully, I can fix that.”
The Wildcats led 16-11 after one quarter and opened up a 19-13 lead early in the second quarter, but the Cougars responded with an 11-0 run to grab their largest lead of the game.
THE TAKEAWAY
BYU: The Cougars crashed the boards. They limited the Wildcats to just nine second-chance points and outrebounded them 44-31.
Kansas State: The Wildcats could use a healthy Ayoka Lee and her 19.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The all-American center is out until mid-February with an ankle injury.
UP NEXT
BYU: The Cougars visit Kansas on Wednesday night.
Kansas State: The Wildcats visit Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
