Kansas State women’s basketball center Ayoka Lee decides to return
Kansas State women’s basketball center Ayoka Lee had several options, but chose to return to Manhattan for one more season.
K-State Athletics
The Kansas State women’s basketball team created a buzz last year as an early-round host in the NCAA Tournament and will try to build on that success with most of its roster back for the 2024-25 season.
But first, the Wildcats must navigate a challenging Big 12 schedule as the conference welcomes four new members. Oklahoma and Texas have gone to the SEC, but the league has grown to 16 teams for the first time with the addition of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
The Big 12 announced its conference matchups Thursday, and unlike the men who expanded their league schedule to 20 games, the women will remain at 18. For K-State, that means a home-and-home series with traditional conference rivals Kansas and Iowa State, plus Cincinnati, while they play six more teams at home only and another six on the road.
Opponents were selected based on a combination of geography, historical results and a poll of the coaches to best balance the schedule in terms of travel and competitiveness. Dates and start times for the conference matchups will be announced later.
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K-State will play Kansas a home-and-home each year with the Sunflower Showdown serving as both schools’ one protected rivalry matchup.
In addition to KU, Iowa State and Cincinnati, the Wildcats will play host to league newcomers Arizona and Arizona State, plus Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Central Florida. Road opponents include conference additions Colorado and Utah, along with Brigham Young, Houston, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
K-State has 10 players and four senior starters back from last year’s team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, led by All-America center Ayoka Lee and first team all-conference point guard Serena Sundell. The other returning starters are guards Brylee Glenn and Jaelyn Glenn.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.