SLATE: Kansas State women complete Texas sweep, men head to West Virginia

It may surprise you, but on the morning of February 5, 2015, the Kansas State Wildcats women woke up with an all-time record of 14-15 against Texas following a 66-57 win in Manhattan.

Two weeks later, they lost in Austin and hadn’t beaten Texas since prior to annihilating the then-11th-ranked Longhorns 87-69 back on January 16 of this year.

So it may surprise you again that K-State went to Austin yesterday and — despite being in a 14-point hole midway through the third quarter — completed the sweep with a 69-60 road win over the now-15th-ranked Horns. It’s K-State’s first regular-season sweep of Texas (20-6, 10-4) ever, and the first time they’ve felled the Horns twice in one season since 2012. That, coincidentally, was also the last season in which K-State notched two wins over top-15 opponents, and K-State is now responsible for one-third of all Texas losses this season.

More: Justin Toscano recaps at the Mercury

The Cats (16-10, 7-7) won with the good ol’ balanced attack, as four Wildcats reached double figures. Kayla Goth led the way with 15 (and seven assists), Peyton Williams had her usual double-double with 13 points and 14 boards, and Rachel Ranke and Jasauen Beard dumped in 11 each. Kali Jones almost made it five, finishing with nine points.

The third quarter was the critical stage of the game. K-State led 27-26 at the half, but a after a 16-1 Longhorn run the Cats were in trouble. But Goth led the charge, scoring nine points herself during a 17-4 run of their own to get the game back to a single point heading into the final quarter, and then a 12-3 run late in the game sealed the deal.

More: Cedric Golden of the Austin American-Statesman on the Texas fizzle

The women do not have a midweek game this week, and they’ll head to TCU on Saturday with a chance to get their Big 12 record in the black for the first time since a 60-30 January 26 loss to West Virginia put them back at .500 in conference play. The bad news: TCU won by 14 in Manhattan as January came to a close, and next Wednesday’s game is against the Mountaineers.

But maybe this team’s finally figuring it out. After all, they’ve done what you’re supposed to do in the Big 12: swept both Oklahoma and Texas.

More: The women are the focus of Corbin McGuire’s Sports Extra

Toscana also profiled Sarah Bates, whose name you probably don’t recognize because she is sitting out the year after transferring from UC-Santa Barbara.

As for the men (19-6, 9-3), they’re in Morgantown tonight for what had better be a win. West Virginia (10-15, 2-10) is dreadful, and it was a win over the Mountaineers which started the just-ended winning streak which brought the Wildcats to the front of the league.

Grant Guggisberg recaps Saturday’s loss at the Garden City Telegram, and preview’s tonight’s game at the Capital-Journal. At the Eagle, Kellis Robinett reports that Bruce Weber remains positive even after the loss, and with West Virginia on the plate, why wouldn’t he?

At GPC, Riley Gates digests the media reactions to Saturday’s loss and reports that whether Dean Wade plays or not tonight is probably entirely Dean Wade’s decision.

There are actually TWO editions of Sports Extra dated today. The second is, of course, McGuire’s preview of tonight’s contest.

Baseball

After Friday’s game was suspended due to rain tied 4-4 after five innings, K-State looked like they were going to open the season with a win on Saturday. They immediately batted around in the sixth, scoring four runs. But Cal State-Northridge countered with six of their own over the final four innings to claim game one 10-8.

But in what ended up being Saturday’s second game, the Wildcats did in fact get Pete Hughes his first win as a Wildcat, coming from behind with a three-run ninth in a 6-5 win.

Unfortunately, they’re going to have to try to even the series, and their record, this afternoon. Yesterday, after a wild first inning saw CSUN escape with a 3-2 lead, the CatBats went silent and K-State fell 4-2 despite Will Brennan posting a quality start and a three-hit game with the bat in his hands.