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Your bracket may be busted and or you may be in mourning for Stephen F. Austin, but we're back to winning in Manhattan. The Wildcats crushed Akron in the first round of the WNIT yesterday 86-68. The team took an early 10-0 lead off a pair of three-point shots from senior Haley Texada and never looked back. Texada had a career-high 30 points on the night, and three others joined her in double figures: Breanna Lewis (11), Ashia Woods (10) and Bri Craig (10). Akron never got closer than 14 points, and the Wildcats emptied the bench at the end of the game.
In the next round, Kansas State will take on Missouri on Sunday at 2 PM in Bramlage. The Tigers advanced by beating Northern Iowa 69-61 yesterday.
Just call it Black Thursday (Chris Chase, USAToday). I have no idea why this was ever considered the best conference, because the Big 12 is off to a bad start at the NCAA Tournament, going 0-for-3, including huge upset losses by Iowa State and Baylor. (Eamonn Brennan, ESPN).
Let's see if Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State can help the conference to a perfect 0-7 record.
The news did not get any better for all those pulling for Stephen F. Austin either. The Lumberjacks were downed 57-50 by Utah (John Branch, New York Times). The Utes, playing with 7-foot freshman forward Jakob Poeltl, were dominant down the stretch and though the Lumberjacks played tough, they could not pull off the upset in the end.
For continued NCAA action details, be sure to catch Jon Morse's Friday TV Schedule post.
Kansas State may not be in the Big Dance this year, but we've still got brackets for you! The K-State Sports Bracket Challenge pits the best personalities of Kansas State sports against each other, beginning with Round 1 and basketball.