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With 10 games left in the season the Kansas State women's basketball team has the opportunity to be equal parts frustrating and inspirational the rest of the way. With road games still to come against Iowa State, West Virginia and Oklahoma State, the Wildcats still have much to prove against the best teams in the conference. If they plan on taking steps forward this season, they can't afford to have games like their last road offering against Baylor.
Additionally, they have to win at home against teams that are in the bottom half of the Big 12. Last Saturday's loss to Kansas hurts not only from a rivalry standpoint but also from a standing perspective. K-State is now 2-6 in conference play and could have put themselves in front of the Jayhawks with a chance to catch TCU with a little fortune this week.
This squad has shown they can play with the upper half of the conference and lose heart breakers to teams that are beatable on paper. In a word, the Wildcats season has been "unpredictable."
There is no magic pill K-State can take to pull everything together either. Coach Deb Patterson has beaten the point home in press conferences and coaches' shows; this year's fortunes come down to rebounding and turnovers. In Saturday's loss to KU, the Wildcats kept their turnovers in check but found themselves out-rebounded 44-25.
Frosh point guard Leticia Romero continues to be an offensive spark for K-State but the Wildcats are going to need more consistency from Ashia Woods and Katya Leick. Both players have shown their ability to score this season but Leick will need to keep her efforts up and Woods needs to have some style of rebirth in the coming weeks. In her last four games Woods is averaging just six points per game.
Wednesday Night: Oklahoma comes to Bramlage to take on the Wildcats. OU defeated K-State 61-50 earlier this season in a game where an early second half run put the Wildcats behind the eight ball. While OU (13-7, 4-3 Big12) has been one of the top teams in the conference this season, Wednesday's game is a very winnable game for the ‘Cats. They will have the rather audacious task of trying to shut down one of the Big 12's leading scorers in Aaryn Ellenberg. Ellenberg averages 19.7 points per game for the Sooners.
NAIA Connection: Way too easy for me. Sherri Coale is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian and a former NAIA Scholar Athlete when she played for OCU. The same goes for her assistant Jan Ross. Several of the OU assistants have NAIA ties.
Random Thought: Daft Punk performed for years without masks or helmets or whatever the heck it was they wore on the Grammys. Why all of a sudden are they trying to be secretive and wear these costumes? It just looks stupid. But again, I'm talking about Daft Punk here. What instrument do they play again? The Casio Keyboard?