4-seed Kentucky falls to 5-seed Kansas State, 80-79, ends season in Round of 32

On Sunday, Kentucky Women’s Basketball faced Kansas State in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. After not making a tournament since 2022, the Wildcats proved to college basketball fans everywhere, that they deserve a spot in the tourney. However, the ‘Cats were unable to hold off K-State, and ended their season in the Round of 32.

After opening the first quarter perfect from the field on a 7-0 run, K-State quickly answered, tying the game with less than five minutes to go in the first. Kentucky didn’t make another shot until Clara Strack made her third basket of the day with four minutes to go in the quarter. She also made the next shot for the ‘Cats, and ended up with nine points before the quarter was even over. Georgia Amoore made her first shot of the game, a three-pointer to give Kentucky a five-point lead in the first, with about three minutes to go. Kentucky was firing on all cylinders, offensively and defensively. It was clear that only one team of Wildcats came to play.

That wasn’t stopping K-State’s Serena Sundell from hitting a couple threes every now and then. In fact, she had 11 of her team’s 15 points at the end of the first quarter. Amelia Hassett did the same and hit two threes in the first quarter alone.

Just like the first quarter, the second quarter was much of the same. Serena Sundell doing most of the scoring for K-State, and Kentucky playing almost perfect defense. While the team slowed down offensively, the ‘Cats still looked composed. There was a full three minutes where Kentucky didn’t make a single basket, but the crowd at Historic Memorial Coliseum was still fully immersed in the action. Both teams were extremely physical, and Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee ended up with three fouls before the first half finished. In her previous game against 12-seed Fairfield, Lee came back from an early season injury to score 17 points from her team. In the first half, Kentucky held Lee to only six.

Despite that, Kansas State went on a quick 5-0 run to tie the game at 29 with only a minute to go in the half. Then, after a foul on Saniah Tyler, Kennedy Taylor made both free throws to give K-State a two-point lead. It looked like Kentucky was falling apart, and with Georgia Amoore not producing offensively, the ‘Cats were scrambling for shots. K-State made yet another shot, but Dazia Lawrence closed the half with a jumper. At this point, the ‘Cats trailed by two, 33-31.

Teonni Key made her first basket of the day to open up scoring, a corner three to give Kentucky the edge over K-State. Then, Dazia Lawrence drained one of her own. The ‘Cats had a different energy about them, and so did the crowd. Kentucky and Kansas State traded the lead back and forth for almost the entirety of the third quarter. Just as a Key reverse layup gave the ‘Cats a two-point lead, Temira Poindexter drained her fourth three of the game to give K-State the lead right back. Plus, it seemed like any time Ayoka Lee touched the ball in the low post, it was an automatic two points. After three, K-State had a one point edge over the ‘Cats, 54-53.

Going into the fourth, Georgia Amoore only had eight points. She’s only had one other game with less than 10 points, on Nov. 27 against Illinois. Finally, Amoore hit double digits with a crucial three-pointer at the eight minute mark. Just then, K-State’s Poindexter drained one of her own to take the one-point lead back. Thankfully, Kentucky took the lead once again, and forced K-State into a timeout with six minutes to go.

With three. minutes to go, the ‘Cats took the lead once again, and Amelia Hassett extended it to three with a put-back layup. Kentucky was up three with two minutes to go, and got the ball back off a K-State turnover. All of Memorial was on its feet, and when Teonni Key made a layup to take the lead to five, the Coliseum erupted. Temira Poindexter wasn’t ready for chalk it up to a loss, though. She hit her sixth three of the game to give K-State a one point lead with 39 seconds to go in regulation.

Amoore hit a three at the 33-second mark to send Kentucky over K-State. With a two-point lead and 30 seconds to go, the ‘Cats needed a final push to move on to the Sweet 16. Serena Sundell hit a jumper to tie it up, and gave Kentucky a full eight seconds to finish regulation. Dazia Lawrence used her best effort to hit a layup for the ‘Cats, but was triple-teamed down low. The battle between the Wildcats was going to overtime.

There were no points scored in the first minute and a half of overtime, but Teonni Key hit a put-back layup to give Kentucky a two-point edge. Just like clockwork, Serena Sundell hit a jumper to tie the game at 71 with three minutes to go. Ayoka Lee had four fouls, and the ‘Cats were doing their best to exploit that weakness. While Lee wasn’t as physical down low, Kansas State’s perimeter offense was still going strong. Teonni Key hit yet another layup to give Kentucky a four-point edge, but K-State’s Poindexter was not slowing down. With a minute and a half to go, she hit her seventh three of the game. Amoore hit another jumper, and was up 79-77 with a minute left in overtime. Poindexter hit another three, and despite incredible effort, the ‘Cats weren’t able to pull this one out. Kentucky fell to Kansas State, 80-79.

After a great first season for Head Coach Kenny Brooks, the Wildcats end the year 23-8. If one thing’s for sure, this Kentucky team is one to remember.