The University of Arkansas-Little Rock women's basketball team was downed by Kansas State in blowout fashion 77-39 Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
The Wildcats (2-0) made 45.9% of their shots from the field (28 of 61) and got everybody involved on the floor. Kansas State showed off its depth with 11 different players scoring for the visitors from the Big 12 Conference.
That connected effort led to 18 assists as a team, seven of which by Taryn Sides off the bench. Starting guards Serena Sundell and Jaelyn Glenn each had four assists as well.
"I think one of the things that we've continued to emphasize to them is good ball movement," Kansas State Coach Jeff Mittie said. "Quick ball reversal because that's going to be a problem for any defense to get their help to the post if you get quick ball reversal.
"Skip passes, those things."
Wildcats 6-6 center Ayoka Lee proved to be a major problem for the Trojans to defend in the post. The All-American candidate from Byron, Minn., physically imposed her will on the undersized Trojans, scoring 32 points and collecting 10 rebounds.
Ayoka Lee played efficient for Kansas State, making 13 of 16 shots from the field, while converting on 6 of 8 attempts from the free-throw line in just over 21 minutes on the floor.
UALR Coach Joe Foley tried out a starting lineup that featured two new additions in Jordan Holman and Camryn James, but poor shooting continued to plague the Trojans just as it did in their loss in the season-opener to Missouri State on Monday.
The Trojans (0-2) managed to make 25.5% of their shots from the floor (13 of 51) against the Wildcats. Outside of Holman shooting 3 for 4 for three-point range, the rest of the UALR lineup was 0 for 7 from long range.
Faith Lee led UALR in scoring with 15 points. Holman added 13 points for the home team in her first start of the season.
While Foley, who was not available for comment following the loss, has experimented with different lineups to try and get better long range shooting opportunities, it has not yet produced results to this point in the season. The length of Kansas State's defense at every position also presented problems for the Trojans all afternoon.
"I thought our centers did a good job of rotating over," Mittie said of his team's defensive performance. "I thought that our guards were in the gaps most of the day. I felt pretty good about it."
UALR was without two major contributors in Tia Harvey and Jaiyah Harris-Smith as both sat out Saturday's game due to injuries. The Trojans will need them back on the floor soon as the schedule does not relent anytime soon.
Four of the next five opponents UALR plays are from the SEC, including its next matchup Tuesday night in Fayetteville against the University of Arkansas (2-0) at Walton Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.