Martinez, No. 20 W. Virginia women beat Kansas St. 72-64

Posted March 03, 2021 6:00 am

The Associated Press

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Esmery Martinez scored 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds to help No. 20 West Virginia beat Kansas State 72-64 on Wednesday night.

Kysre Gondrezick added 14 points, Kirsten Deans and 13 points and nine assists, and Jasmine Carson scored 11 points for West Virginia (19-4, 13-4 Big 12).

Kansas State (8-16, 3-14) scored 10 consecutive points to take its first lead at 20-19 with 49 seconds left in the first quarter, but Martinez answered with a layup 30 seconds later and the Mountaineers led the rest of the way.

Ayoka Lee, a 6-foot-6 sophomore center, scored 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds for Kansas State. The rest of the Wildcats made just 14 of 45 (31%) from the field.

Kansas State, which is tied with Kansas at the bottom of the conference standings, closes its regular season Sunday at Oklahoma.

The Mountaineers play No. 6 and Big 12-leading Baylor on Monday with a chance to lock up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, which begins March 11 in Kansas City, Missouri.

___

More AP women's basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Article Comments

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.