The Guru Report - National: Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee Sets NCAA Record With 61 Points; Florida’s Fifth Straight Win Upsets No. 11 LSU

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Kansas State junior Ayoka Lee almost single-handedly handled the Wildcats’ upset of visiting No. 14 Oklahoma, setting an NCAA scoring record of 61 points Sunday afternoon in Bramlage Coliseum in a Big 12 game in Manhattan.

It was the fifth win for the home team in the last seven games in the series.

Lee, who has already had several Big 12 weekly honors and one from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) this season, besides previous one since her freshman season, had an extra impressive performance in her 35 minutes by also grabbing 12 rebounds for her 13th double double this season as well as four blocks and a steal.

She already had 32 at the half and for the game she was 23 of 30 from the field and 15 of 17 at the line.

Two people held the previous NCAA mark of 60 — Long Beach State’s Cindy Brown in 1986-87 and Minnesota’s scoring demon Rachel Banham in 2015-16. When Lee reached her 51st point, she busted the Big 12 record of 50 set by Baylor’s Brittney Griner in 2012-13 and point number 44 broke her own school mark of 43 set in this season’s opener against Central Arkansas.

“Coming into this game, I wasn’t like, and I don’t think anyone is like, ‘oh yeah, we’re just going to set a record today,’” Lee said afterwards. “But I think it just goes back to our preparation. This wasn’t any easy scout. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we just executed so well, and it started with our defense.”

Lee, a native of Byron, Minn., also set Kansas State records for points in a half, the first player to score 30 or more points, and also points in a quarter with the 20 she poured down in the second.

Head coach Jeff Mittie cited her play at both ends of the floor during her record-setting performance.

“I think it says a lot about the type of player that she is when she is trying to take charge in a 20-point game late in the game, and still doing the right things, defensively and talking and not taking plays off,” Mittie said. “This is a complete player. We focus sometimes on the offensive end, but she was tasked with defending guards today at the three-point line. Ayoka is the same person, good, bad, everyday.”

Other school marks in the contest were for points in a conference game, field goals (23), field goals in a half (12 in the first 20 minutes). She also tied the Wildcats achievement for foul shots made in a conference game and tied for second in program history for foul shots in a game with 15.

First-year Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk, asked if she had ever seen anything like Lee’s feat, answered, “Well, obviously, she just set an NCAA record. So from that standpoint, no. I don’t know, maybe, I need another word.

“What’s another word for incredible? Outstanding, amazing, spectacular, All American? Yes, all of those things. She was great.”

Serena Sundell added 11 points to set a Kansas State mark for a duo at 72, while Jaelyn Glenn, with eight points, set a three-player mark of 80 for the Wildcats.

Kansas State in holding Oklahoma (16-3, 5-2 Big 12) to its lowest scoring output at 65 did it against the No. 1 scoring team in the nation. The Wildcats (15-4, 5-2)  also outrebounded the Sooners 44-26 and forced them into 17 turnovers, grabbing 12 steals.

Elsewhere in the Big !2, which might have otherwise been the top story in the conference, No. 15 Baylor took down visiting No. 7 Iowa State 87-61 at home in Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The win by the Bears (13-4, 3-2) over the Cyclones (16-3, 5-2) was the first ranked one under first-year coach Nicki Collen.

Jordan Lewis had 24 points for Baylor, while Sarah Andrews had 18 points, Queen Egbo had 14 points and 21 rebounds, and NaLyssa Smith scored 17.

Iowa State’s Lexi Donarski scored 19 points, Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw scored 11, and Ashley Joens scored 10.

Gators Chomp No. 11 LSU: Collens, who previously coached WNBA Atlanta, replaced Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey, who is now coaching LSU in the Southeastern (SEC) Confeence in her home state of Louisiana.

On Sunday, her No. 11 Tigers were upset by Florida, which took down its second straight Top 25 opponent in its fifth straight triumph in getting the victory by a point 73-72 in Exactech Arena in Gainesville.

“It was a game where they started out tougher, more physical guarding us,” Mulkey said. “”We hung in there. We battled. I thought Khayla Pointer almost single handedly won the game for us.”

Pointer had a career high with 35 points for LSU (17-3, 5-2 SEC) while Autumn Newberry grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Gators (15-5, 5-2) got 23 points from Kiara Smith, while Jordyn Merritt scored 16, and Zipporah Broughton scored 14.

Elsewhere in the SEC, fifth-ranked Tennessee, with a chance to perhaps move up one more step higher, stayed perfect, winning at No. 13 Georgia 63-55.

The win in Stegeman Coliseum was the fifth Top 25 for the Lady Vols (18-1, 7-0 SEC), off to their best start since 2007-08 when they started 22-1 and claimed both the conference and last NCAA of eight national titles.

Jordan Horston had her ninth double doubles for Tennessee with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Rae Burrell scored 13.

Georgia (15-4, 4-3) got 16 points from Jenna Staiti and 14 from Que Morrison.

Visiting Ole Miss with a 63-54 win at No. 23 Kentucky in Lexington may have sent the Wildcats on the way to their first ouster in four seasons from the weekly Associated Press women’s poll, whose new rankings will be released early Monday afternoon.

All-American Rhyne Howard had 24 points and 10 rebounds, in a losing cause for Kentucky (8-7, 1-4 SEC) in a losing cause at Rupp Arena. 

Ole Miss (17-2, 5-1), which could replace Kentucky in the rankings, got 24 points and eight rebounds from Shakira Austin, while Snudda Collins scored 12.

The Rebels will play No. 1 South Carolina Thursday night, in a makeup game in the conference and replacing No. 9 Connecticut, whose coach Geno Auriemma, announced with Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley that this year’s regularly scheduled game in the series in Columbia was cancelled.

The two teams met back in November in a Thanksgiving tourney won big by Staley’s squad.

UConn will now go to Chicago Wednesday to make up a Big East game at DePaul in Wintrust Arena.

On Sunday, the Huskies won 75-57 at St. Johns in a Big East game in Queens, N.Y.

Huskies freshman Caroline Duchame had a career-high 28 points for UConn (11-4, 6-0), which won 76-57, their 167th straight win in conference games.

Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma racked up his 1,130th career win, second to Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer, who reached 1,139 last week as the NCAA Division I women’s record holder but whose NCAA defending champions did not play their PAC-12 game Sunday because of COVID protocol issues with their conference traveling partner across the San Francisco Bay in Cal-Berkeley.

Ohio State transfer Dorka Juhasz had 16 points, while Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 18 rebounds, and Evina Westbrook scorerd 11.

Kadaja Bailey had 21 for St. John’s (5-12, 1-6), and Leilani Correa scored 19.

DePaul in its game in Cincinnati in the Big East with Xavier at the Cintas Center defeated the Musketeers 94-74 as freshman Aneesah Morrow got her 12th double double for the Blue Demons with 32 points and 15 rebounds. Sonya Morris scored 27 for DePaul (16-4, 8-1 Big East).

Back in the SEC, other scores had host Arkansas beating Mississippi State 74-54, and host Missouri beating Texas A&M 78-69.

In the ACC, it was No. 21 Duke 57-48 over visiting Virginia; No. 18 Georgia Tech in Atlanta over visiting No. 20 North Carolina 55-38; No. 19 Notre Dame over host Pittsburgh, 77-63; No. 3 Louisville 72-60 at home over Wake Forest; and No. 4 N.C. State at home over Virginia Tech, 51-45 in Raleigh.

No. 12 Maryland at home in the Big Ten topped Northwestern 87-59, while No. 25 Iowa beat Illinois 82-56 as Monika Czinano scored 21 and Caitlin Clark scored 18. The Hawkeyes next head to Penn State Tuesday for a makeup game.

In the PAC-12, it was Oregon and Washington State postponed, but No. 10 Arizona at home in Tempe beating Colorado 75-56.

In a game between conference-leading Dayton at home against visiting Fordham 52-48 before the Rams return home to face Saint Joseph’s at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx Wednesday night.

And that’s the Guru’s national report for Monday AMs just before sunrise getting posted.