Illinois State didnt have an answer for Kansas State All-American Kendra Wecker and fell 105-61 to the Wildcats. In the process Wecker smashed the record for most points in a Junkanoo Jam game with 41 tallies. The Birds fall to 0-2, while #16 Kansas State moves to 3-0.
Wecker, who hit eight three pointers in the game, outscored the Redbirds 21-5 in the first four and a half minutes of the game. An Erin Keeney three-pointer at 13:37 stopped a 20-point run by KSU that lasted over four minutes. Wecker scored 17 of the Wildcats points during that run. No other K-State player broke into the scoring column until the 13:56 mark.
With 3:29 left in the half, the Redbirds went on a 10-1 run that included seven straight points by Katie Donovan. In her first game this season, Keeney sparked the Redbirds off the bench with nine points in the first stanza. Kansas State held a 53-38 lead at the half.
K-State started off the second half much like the first with a 13-0 run that last until the 16:35 mark when Keeney hit a jumper to make the score 66-40. The Birds went cold in the second half as they shot just 19% from the field, including 11% from behind the arc. The Wildcats ran off another 11 unanswered points, starting at the 12:40 mark and ending at 8:16 with a pair of Ashley Sandstead free throws.
Donovan paced the Redbirds with 17 points, five assists and three rebounds. Keeney was the only other Redbird in double figures with 11. Sandstead chipped in nine points and five rebounds, while fellow freshman Lashawn Johnson tossed in eight and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Illinois State will take on the loser of the Duke/Stephen F. Austin game tomorrow at 5 p.m. CST.
