Kansas State center Ayoka Lee shattered a 35-year-old record by scoring 61 points in a Division I women’s collegiate basketball game.
In Manhattan, Kan., she led her team to a 94-65 victory against No. 14 Oklahoma. She fell 5 points shy of outscoring the opposing squad.
Ayoka Lee told ESPN after the game. “I thought it was just going to be another Sunday.”
The N.C.A.A. Division I single-game scoring record was 60 points, established by Cindy Brown at Long Beach State in 1987 and equaled in 2016 by Rachel Banham of the University of Minnesota, who now plays for the Minnesota Lynx in the W.N.B.A.
Kansas State Center
Ayoka Lee broke the record by shooting 23 of 30 (76.7 percent) from the field and not trying a single three-point shot. She also made 15 of 17 free throws and had 12 rebounds and three blocks.
“I don’t think anyone thinks, ‘Oh yeah, we’re just going to set a record today,’” Lee told reporters after the game. “You knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But we just executed so well.”
Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie commented after the game, “We wanted to keep our foot on the accelerator.”
Mittie stated that the only time he contemplated taking Lee out of the game was with only two and a half minutes remaining.
That is expected to change this season. Kansas State has a 15-4 record and is one game off of first place in the Big 12. That change is partly due to Lee‘s efforts on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
