In a rematch of a one-point thriller in Manhattan on Jan. 5, the Kansas State Wildcats (11-7) defeated the TCU Horned Frogs 57-54 in a game that, once again, came down to the final possession.

TCU guard Zahna Medley, who hit a 3-point shot as time expired in the first half, missed a shot from the wing with six seconds remaining that would have tied the game at 57-57.

“We can’t make the plays to get over the hump,” said TCU head coach Jeff Mittie.

Kansas State head coach Deb Patterson said that she thought that last three was going in and the game was heading to overtime. 

Looking past the last few minutes, Mittie said he was irritated with his team being outhustled throughout the game.

“It bugs me when we talk about taking strides forward that we don’t win the hustle plays tonight,” Mittie said. “We just haven’t learned to play every possession, 40 minutes, and value every possession both offensively and defensively.”

Kansas State overwhelmingly won the rebounding battle 41-31. Of their 41 boards, the Wildcats gathered 17 offensive rebounds as Patterson’s squad moved to 2-4 in Big 12 conference play.

“We outrebounded that team by five or six in Manhattan and I thought we were not very aggressive tonight,” Mittie said postgame.

The Wildcats offense shot 36 3-pointers on the night, the fourth highest total of long balls ever attempted in a single game by a TCU opponent.

Kansas State guard Brittany Chambers led all scorers with 24 points, 15 of which coming from beyond the arc. Chambers also tallied five assists and eight rebounds.

Medley led TCU with 21 points with guard Kamy Cole scoring an additional 14 points. Forward Latricia Lovings, who posted a 16-point and 16 rebound double-double in the previous matchup, finished with six points and 13 boards.

“We just haven’t learned to play every possession, 40 minutes, and value every possession both offensively and defensively,” Mittie said. “We’re not strong, we don’t gather ourselves, we don’t pump fake, we don’t draw fouls. Until we start to value those things, we are going to shoot poorly until we start to do those things better.”

It is the first time since 1995 that the Frogs have started 0-6 in conference play.  TCU now has an eight-day layoff until Jan. 27 when the Frogs will travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech.