This NCAA Tournament record from Kansas State's unsung hero will blow your mind

03/24/2025 03:20 PM

The Kansas State Wildcats are in the NCAA women’s basketball Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002 and they have senior Temira Poindexter to thank.

Not only was Poindexter the game’s leading scorer (24 points) in Kansas State’s Second Round win over Kentucky on Sunday, but she made some history along the way. Her eight made three-pointers and six blocks were a first in NCAA men’s or women’s tournament history. And, according to self-described data guy on X, @JordanEMAW, no player in either tournament had ever made five threes and had five blocks in a single tournament game.

Overall, Poindexter shot 8-17 from the field with 15 of those attempts coming from beyond the arc in the Wildcats’ 80-79 overtime win. She missed her first six shots of the game.

"In those moments, I do get down on myself," Poindexter told the media after the game. "My teammates come in and have my back and tell me to keep shooting so it really lifts me up and gives me confidence."

The Wildcats escaped thanks to Poindexter’s go-ahead three with 56 seconds left in overtime and a miss at the buzzer from Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore.

With the win, Kansas State advances to the Sweet 16 to face either 1 seed USC or 9 seed Mississippi State.

Kansas State women’s basketball makes long-awaited return to the Sweet 16

Poindexter transferred to Kansas State from Tulsa, and according to head coach Jeff Mittie, games like Sunday are the reason why.

“I’m really proud of her because she transferred to us and this is one of her reasons,” Mittie said, according to Kansas State’s official game story. “She goes, ‘I want to go to the NCAA Tournament. I haven’t done that in my career.’ She said, ‘Coach, I want to go to an established locker room. I want to go to a group that wants to go further.’ To see her step up in the biggest moments after a start like that is pretty special.”

It’s been a long time coming. Mittie took over the Kansas State program in 2014 and has taken the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament six times. The senior class, led by leading scorer Ayoka Lee, had played in two NCAA Tournaments before, winning one game each time.

Now that they’ve broken through, they’re probably going to be tasked with stopping Juju Watkins and USC. There’s no question it’s a tall order, but Kansas State has beaten good teams before. The Wildcats took down 2 seed TCU in February behind 27 points from Serena Sundell.

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