SLATE: Winning basketball proves contagious for Kansas State

Short one today, as there’s only one event to deal with — but it’s a doozy.

Just a couple of weeks ago, everything was a disaster at Bramlage. Now, the two Wildcat basketball teams are suddenly a combined 4-4 in their last eight games. Last night, clad in their annual pink uniforms for Play 4 Kay Night, the Kansas State women unleashed an offensive torrent, and they needed almost all of it as they held on to beat Texas Tech 86-79.

The Cats charged out to an early lead, carrying a 44-30 edge into the locker room. We’ve all seen this movie before, though, and when an absurd third quarter saw Tech outscore the Cats 32-26, one might have been forgiven for being concerned about an eight-point lead heading into the final period. Indeed, with 1:44 to play the Red Raiders had whittled the lead down to just one at 80-79.

Over the following minute and a quarter, neither team could find the net. A Wildcat steal with just 27 seconds left sent Christianna Carr to the line after receiving the inbounds pass following a timeout, and she calmly sank both free throws. Carr then secured the rebound on Tech’s next shot. giving her a double-double on the night; she was fouled again, and again made both shots. The same pattern repeated one last time with only four seconds left to ice the game.

Carr, K-State’s high scorer with 24 points, pulled down 11 boards as well. Three other Cats reached double figures, as Emilee Ebert poured in 19, Rachel Ranke had 14, and Ayoka Lee had 12 points to go with eight rebounds. That was enough to overcome a game-high 26 from Tech’s Naje Murray and 24 more from Vivian Gray.

It was a game of bombs. Threes rained all night, as the two teams combined for 52 attempts and both teams hit for over 40% on the night, each team draining 11 shots from range. In fact, K-State’s shooting percentage from threeland was actually better than their overall percentage, as the Cats were only 15-38 inside the arc. But the difference in the game came at the charity stripe, as K-State hit 23 of 27 free throws compared to Tech’s 14-20 night.

The win leaves K-State at 7-14 (2-12) with an unpleasant trip to Waco looming on Saturday morning. Tech falls to 10-13 (5-12).

That’s it for today, other than this piece from Kellis Robinett at the Eagle regarding the circumstances which led to Sandstorm being whipped out Tuesday night, and why it may not happen again soon. (Spoiler: the chant.)