LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kansas State forward Temira Poindexter missed her first six shots against Kentucky in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament. She finished by hitting eight 3-pointers, and the last one sent the visiting Wildcats to the Sweet 16.
Poindexter made a corner 3 with 56 seconds left in overtime, and Kansas State's defense did the rest to preserve an 80-79 victory Sunday on Kentucky's home court.
“In those moments, I do get down on myself,” Poindexter said. “My teammates come in and have my back and tell me to keep shooting so it really lifts me up and gives me confidence.”
Fifth-seeded Kansas State (28-7) dodged four misses by No. 4 seed Kentucky (23-8) in the closing seconds to advance to face either JuJu Watkins and top-seeded Southern California or No. 9 seed Mississippi State in a regional semifinal in Spokane, Washington.
Kentucky star Georgia Amoore missed a jumper with 21 seconds left, a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining and then a baseline layup at the buzzer. Amelia Haslett also missed a 3 that would have put Kentucky ahead at Rupp Arena.
“As soon as I caught it, I realized how open I was and it’s up to fate at that point,” Amoore said about her final attempt.
Poindexter finished 8 of 15 beyond the arc to score 24 points.
“Give her credit. She knocked down some very tough shots and we had a couple of situations where we had miscommunication and she got free,” Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks said.
Serena Sundell added 19 points and 14 assists for Kansas State, and her turnaround jumper with 8 seconds left forced overtime. Ayoka Lee scored 16.
Clara Strack led Kentucky with 22 points. Amoore scored 18 points on 7-of-23 shooting.
Amoore hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Kentucky a 69-67 lead with 32 seconds left in regulation. After Sundell's basket, Kentucky's Dazia Lawrence could not get a clean look before time expired.
There were 21 lead changes, seven in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“You go the last ten minutes of the game and there were just huge shots by both teams and different players,” Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. “I’m really proud of our group to to be down five and to need to really dig deep defensively and make plays, but also very little margin for the other end.”
Takeaways
Kansas State: Sundell had 11 points in the first quarter to steady the visiting Wildcats after Kentucky jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. She also became the school's career assist leader.
Kentucky: The host Wildcats built small leads but could never extend their advantage to double digits.
Key moment
Teonni Key rebounded her own missed jumper to make a layup that gave Kentucky a 66-61 lead with 2:11 to play. Kansas State responded with 3-pointers by Jaelyn Glenn and then Poindexter in a 40-second span. Key finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Key stat
Kentucky came in averaging seven blocks per game, but it was Kansas State denying shots with 13 blocks, including two on 3-point attempts in the second quarter. Those fueled a 12-3 run that propelled Kansas State to a 33-31 halftime lead.
Up next
Kansas State will have to wait until late Monday night to learn its regional semifinal opponent. Kentucky will have to replace Amoore, a second-team All-American, and Lawrence, a key contributor and another transfer.
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