Kansas State vs. Portland: NCAA Women’s Tournament Preview and Prediction
Here is everything you need to know about Kansas State and Portland in our Wildcats vs. Pilots NCAA Women’s Tournament first-round preview.
No. 4 Kansas State (25-7) vs. No. 13 Portland (21-12)
Time, TV: 3:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas.
All-time series: First meeting
Winner: Advances to the second round on Sunday against the winner of the game between No. 5 Colorado and No. 12 Drake.
Projected starting lineups
Kansas State: C Ayoka Lee, G Brylee Glenn, G Serena Sundell, G Jaelyn Glenn, G Gabby Gregory
Portland: F Lucy Cochrane, F Kennedy Dickie, G Maisie Burnham, G Emme Shearer, G Mckelle Meek.
Players to watch
Kansas State
G Serena Sundell
Ayoka Lee gets all the headlines, but Sundell is one of those players that does everything well and moves the needle for this team in the backcourt. This season she averaged 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and assumed a bigger scoring load when Lee went down with an injury in January. He’s played three years at Kansas State and her steady play and leadership earned her All-Big 12 First Team honors this season.
Portland
G Emme Shearer
Shearer will handle the ball a lot in this game. She averages a team-high 12.2 points, but she also averages 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals. Somehow, she only plays 24 minutes per game and puts up those numbers. She’s one of Portland’s most efficient players. She’s a fourth-year junior from New Zealand who has been with Portland her entire career. But, statistically, this has been her best season. She’s also a better 3-point shooter than his season’s numbers indicate. She shot nearly 40% from there last season.
Key storylines
Kansas State
Ayoka Lee’s return was the headline, but the progress her teammates made without her last season as she recovered from knee surgery put the Wildcats in position to become a Top 25 team. The Wildcats’ early victory over Iowa signaled they would be a contender in the Big 12 and they were until Lee was hurt again and missed seven games. The team looks full strength once again and they’ve landed in an interesting bracket where they could end up facing Iowa for a third time this season. But, first the Wildcats have to win two at the Octagon of Doom.
Portland
If Portland looks familiar it’s because the Pilots made the NCAA Tournament last season and played a Big 12 team in the first round, as they face Oklahoma in Los Angeles and lost, 85-63. This is the Pilots’ first back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament since making four straight from 1994-97. The Pilots also stole a bid from someone who didn’t make the field as they beat Top 25 Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game to claim the WCC’s automatic bid.
Prediction
Kansas State 77, Portland 68. Oddly enough I saw Portland in person earlier this year when they paid my alma mater, Stephen F. Austin a visit. The Pilots are not to be overlooked. Portland is a good shooting team and is the rare mid-major with a player in Lucy Cochrane — at 6-foot-6 — who can match up with Lee.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
