By D. SCOTT FRITCHEN
K-State Sports
Serena Sundell and Taryn Sides each recorded double-doubles and Temira Poindexter helped take care of the rest as No. 14 Kansas State cruised to a 90-53 win at Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Sundell had 21 points and added 10 assists, and Sides came off the bench for 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for the Wildcats, 23-2 overall and 11-2 in the Big 12, who bounced back from a 30-point loss at No. 20 Oklahoma State to deliver another dominant performance.
Poindexter had 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting in 26 minutes. Jaelyn Glenn had eight points and made a pair of 3-pointers.K-State head coach Jeff Mittie indicated that it had not been an easy few days since the Wildcats, tied for first place in the Big 12 standings, suffered their worst loss of the year in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
"I think there are big wins and there are important wins. And this was an important win," Mittie said. "I can tell you firsthand this was not an easy time after Saturday and how were we going to respond and we were still sad, disappointed, shocked, and I didn't know how we'd come out and play tonight, honestly. Really pleased with our group.
"For us to have the discipline and fortitude to stay the course, game plan, I give a lot of credit to our veterans, Serena, Jaelyn, that group, but really up and down the lineup a lot of good stuff."
K-State led 22-16 after the first quarter before it shifted gears and Sides' buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave K-State a 42-25 lead at halftime.
The question wasn't whether K-State would bounce back from the setback at Oklahoma State, but exactly how much it might dominate Cincinnati, 14-9 and 6-7, which had lost two of its last three contests.
Once Sundell & Co. got rolling, the Wildcats were near impossible to stop.
K-State shot 50.8% (33-of-65) from the floor, including 35.7% (10-of-28) from distance, and had 28 assists to just nine turnovers. Cincinnati shot just 28.6% (18-of-63) from the floor, including 21.1% (4-for-19) from 3-point range, and had just seven assists to nine turnovers. K-State won the rebounding battle 41-36.
"Our focus this week was just working on things we needed to grow and come in here and play together and play K-State basketball," Sundell said. "Coach was just talking today that he wanted to see us connected and playing with joy and playing together. We took that to heart."
K-State's lead grew to 21 points for the first time when Sundell caught a ball in midair and hit an athletic layup to make it 48-27 with 8:36 left in the third quarter.
Cincinnati appeared somewhat lost offensively against the Wildcats' defense. The Bearcats made just three of their 19 shot attempts in the third quarter. After a second-chance layup by Jillian Hayes to cut K-State's lead to 50-29 with 7:08 left in the third quarter, the Bearcats didn't make another basket until Ramiyah Byrd hit a layup with 3:24 left in the quarter.
Meanwhile, K-State continued to go to work.
Eliza Maupin gave the Wildcats their first 30-point lead at 68-38 on a layup to start the fourth quarter. The lead expanded to 34 points on three free throws by Sides and the Wildcats continued to pull away.
Sundell went over 20 points for the night on a driving layup to make it 78-42 with 6:31 left. Sundell reached a double-double when she found Kennedy Taylor for a wide-open layup for an 82-44 lead.