Kansas State Wildcats bow out of women’s NCAA Tournament with frustrating loss to USC
One of the best seasons in Kansas State women’s basketball history has come to a disappointing end.
The USC Trojans defeated the Wildcats 67-61 on Saturday in a tightly contested Sweet 16 game at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Washington.
K-State played with enough passion and energy to extend its impressive postseason run. So much so, that the Wildcats had a chance to take the lead in the final minute when Temira Poindexter fired away from 3-point range. But her shot clanged off the rim with 44 seconds remaining, and nothing went right after that.
“We wanted this one bad,” K-State coach Jeff Mittie said. “We thought it was right there. We were one shot away from flipping it.”
No. 1 seed USC scored the final four points of the night from the free-throw line. K-State helped the Trojans get there by inexplicably fouling Avery Howell with 32 seconds left, even though the Wildcats only trailed by two with the shot clock winding down. Mittie screamed “don’t foul” at his team throughout the possession, but his message was not received.
K-State did not execute well enough in crunch time to knock off USC, which was playing without superstar JuJu Watkins after she suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the week.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome,” Mittie said. “We just came up short in some areas down the stretch. But it was a hard fought game. We played physical the entire 40 minutes; we just came up on the short end.”
Indeed, the Wildcats made their fans proud by leading 30-28 at halftime and challenging the Trojans until the bitter end.
Senior guard Serena Sundell led all scorers with 22 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and sent out six assists in the final game of her college career.
USC made life difficult for Ayoka Lee and denied her from getting the ball in her favorite spots in the paint. But Lee found a way to score 12 points and grab 10 rebounds.
No one else was able to step up and provide a spark on offense.
The Wildcats surged into the Sweet 16 for the first time in more than two decades thanks to eight 3-pointers from Poindexter in a Round of 32 victory over Kentucky. But she only made two shots from beyond the arc in this game.
Kennedy Smith led USC with 19 points, and Howell added 18.
The third quarter was also a decisive period in this one. K-State pulled ahead 39-34 midway through the quarter and had a chance to pull away. But the Trojans answered with a 12-0 run that altered the contest. USC feasted on mid-range jumpers and transition layups during that stretch.
Mittie arguably waited too long to call a timeout and halt the run, and the Trojans were in command up 46-39.
It was an uphill battle from then on.
K-State will return home to Manhattan with 28 wins and a memorable trip to the second weekend of March Madness. It was a stellar season, by all accounts. But the Wildcats weren’t far away from reaching the Elite Eight.
“We had big goals coming into the season, so obviously we are proud to get to where we did,” Sundell said. “This stings right now. The locker room was hard. We wanted to extend the season as long as we could. But I know we’re going to look back and be really proud of what we’ve done.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM.