Harris nails dagger triple as K-State finishes strong in 74-67 road win over Kansas City

K-State held a 69-67 lead, so head coach Jeff Mittie wanted to run what he called a “flash” play and get the ball to center Ayoka Lee inside, or at least a jump shooter in a soft spot of the Roos’ zone defense.

The only problem: Neither option was available. Kansas City had Lee covered, and it would have been risky for Harris to try a pass to Chrissy Carr at the free throw line.

Harris, standing a foot behind the arc on the left side, noticed the shot clock was at three seconds.

So she shot.

Money.

K-State took a five-point lead, secured a stop on the other end and got the ball back to Harris, who calmly sank two free throws for the final points of the game.

The Wildcats closed the contest on an 13-0 run.

“I saw more fight,” Mittie said. “I thought we made some plays defensively. We attacked the offensive glass. That was big. Then ‘Yoki’ (Lee) converted on some free throws, so she was solid from the free throw line all day long.”

Harris finished with 22 points, and the good news for the Wildcats was that she wasn’t the only one in double figures. Lee totaled 24 points and 14 rebounds, her third straight game with a double-double, and senior forward Peyton Williams carded 13 points and 15 boards.

Add in nine points from Cymone Goodrich and six from Jasauen Beard, whose mid-range jumper gave the Wildcats a 69-67 lead with 95 seconds left, and you begin to understand how K-State (5-4) ended the game so strongly.

What Mittie really liked about his team’s scoring, though, was the way it did so.

K-State shot 43% from the field, for one. The Wildcats also went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. Harris shot 2-for-2 from distance.

To Mittie, that signals something important: Good shot selection.

“I was impressed with our discipline today of only shooting seven 3s,” Mittie said, “because I’ve been on them to get the ball inside. Let’s limit those attempts until we start to shoot the ball better, and I saw an effort to do what we talked about.”

Lee, a redshirt freshman, personified those efforts. She converted on several chances inside, using her 6-foot-5 frame to bury defenders underneath and flip in short bank shots.

She wasn’t perfect, though. Lee shot just 6-for-15.

Here’s the key, though: She went 12-for-13 at the free throw line. The two freebies she nailed in the fourth quarter tied the game at 67-all.

“I think it took me a little bit to get into a rhythm,” Lee said. “There were a lot that were left short, which is not good. But I think from the free throw line, I wanted to make that a point, to make my free throws. So it was a good day from the free-throw line for me.”

Still, the only reason why K-State had to come back was because it spent the early stages of the game trailing.

The Wildcats could only hang around in the opening phases. UMKC grabbed a 15-8 lead, and considering the way the hosts were beating the visitors to the glass, it wasn’t hard to see why.

Yet things began to swing K-State’s way early in the second quarter, when the Wildcats kicked off what turned into a 14-3 run. Lee had her way in the paint. Harris canned an open triple, and Goodrich notched back-to-back buckets.

UMKC seized the momentum back in the third frame using a full-court press that gave K-State fits. The Roos forced six turnovers in the third alone. They turned those into nine points, including two baskets in transition.

Kansas City took a 61-57 lead into the fourth stanza.

Part of the reason for that was because the Wildcats had trouble defending the 3-pointer. The Roos tallied eight of them, on 28 attempts, and one from Emily Ivory handed her group a 67-61 lead.

That, though, was the Roos’ final scoring play of the game.

“We switched defenses at that time,” Harris said. “We went from a 2-3 zone to a 23 Silver, which is basically man, switching. I thought I did a good job on (Ericka Mattingly). I think she only took one shot in that last five minutes. I thought we did a great job on all the other players, and rebounding the ball.”

The Wildcats’ road swing isn’t over just yet, and it isn’t getting easier.

K-State will pay a visit to No. 3 Oregon, a perennial powerhouse that advanced to last year’s NCAA Tournament Final Four, next Saturday.

A true road game against a powerful foe like the Ducks represents a challenge for just about every team in the country, let alone for K-State. The Wildcats will have to defend Sabrina Ionescu, last year’s national player of the year, plus the teammates who have helped Oregon start 7-1 this year.

The Wildcats aren’t there yet, though.

Not while they enjoy Saturday’s win.

“I ain’t going to lie, (No.) 14 was talking trash to me,” Harris said, referring to Mattingly. “She had told me earlier in the game that she didn’t like the way I was playing defense on her. She was like, ‘Get off me.’ I said, ‘You missed.’ She told me, ‘Scoreboard.’

“I said, ‘OK.’ So I let her know.”

Simmons, Ray out with injuries

K-State won Saturday without the services of two role players: Point guard Savannah Simmons and forward Ashley Ray. Simmons still is working her way back from injury.

Ray, according to a team spokesman, missed the game with a season-ending knee injury. She was averaging 0.5 points in 6.6 minutes per game this year.