Preseason predictions basically had our Cats accomplishing nothing. Ha! How about 21-11, and 10-6 in the Big 12? Coming in 3rd in the Big 12 behind an Elite Eight team and the national champs is pretty respectable, isn't it? Beating the national champs, #5 Texas A&M, was tremendous! Being the 13th team nationally to reach 800 wins is a benchmark of the long-term success of Deb Patterson's program. The Cats led the Big 12 in athletes named to the Big 12 All-Academic Teams. We can't fail to mention Brittany Chambers being named First Team All-Big 12, and Jalana Childs as Second Team All-Big 12.

Our amazing seniors, Shalin Spani and Kelsey Hill, have both faced a great deal of adversity with injuries, and leave K-State with our highest respect and appreciation for their character and leadership.

I was so happy that Kelsey got to play her senior season. As Coach P said last night, there were a few games this season that we flat didn't win without Kelsey on the court, nailing a three-pointer from way out there, getting a well-timed steal, or huddling the team to provide senior leadership. Kelsey's impact was felt in many ways. Also, her video board promos were the best ever! Some of her amazing three-pointers would leave Brian Smoller screaming, "Are you serious? Are you kidding me?" One way or another, you knew when Kelsey Hill walked over to the scorer's bench, she was going to find a way to make a difference.

After seeing All-American Gary Spani's entire career at K-State, I was delighted when Shalin signed with the Cats. When a game was in question, I often hollered for Coach P to get Shalin on the court, to shoot some of her awesome three-pointers. After six knee injuries, continuing to play was clearly not possible. Just as we knew she would, Shalin found every possible way to impact the program this season, and Coach P took numerous opportunities to help us understand how meaningful her contributions were. She was constantly encouraging, cheering, coaching and rebounding during warm-ups. There's no finer example of a person staying positive and finding a way to make a difference. I think it would be tremendous for Shalin to remain with the program, but we all know that wherever she is, she'll do great things.

I couldn't be prouder to be a fan of K-State Women's Basketball. Year after year, our teams have been wonderful representatives of K-State. Do we really have to wait 'til November?

I want to recognize our All-Big 12 player, Jalana Childs, for playing through considerable pain at KU and today. It was truly courageous of her, and we would not have won without her. She had 14 points on 63% from the field, three steals, four rebounds and three assists, while being shoved around a lot by a very good Iowa State team. Thanks for a tremendous effort today, and throughout the season. Edit: After I posted this game report, I found that Mark Janssen had a feature on Jalana's toughness in today's K-State Sports Blog.

Brittany Chambers, now officially our All-Big 12 First Teamer, as well as Big 12 Player of the Week, strikes again! Chambers contributed 20 points, hitting 50% from the field. She had seven rebounds, and three assists. Brittany has 488 points this season (currently 10th in the Big 12).

While Taelor Karr didn't have her usual big shooting day, she had seven points, and played some very fine defense. Branshea Brown also added seven points on 100% on field goals, and 100% on free throws.

Our Cats are now 21-9, and headed for the NCAA tournament. But first they have an encounter with Baylor's co-rec team on Friday at noon. Go get 'em, Cats!

Brittany's averaging 16.1 points per game, on a .434 field goal percentage. She's recorded 81 three-pointers. Currently she has 468 points this season, and she's averaging 5.7 rebounds per game.

Jalana is making 13.6 points per game, with a .456 field goal percentage. She has 393 points this season, and 17 blocked shots.

Rumor has it that this selection is related to her recording 35 points in a Wednesday evening victory over #5 Texas A&M, when she went 11-of-19 from the field, and tossed in a career-high 7-of-12 on threes. The 35 points was fifth all-time, with the record held by an All-American named Wecker. Then, was KU ever on red alert on Chambers on Saturday! She was only able to attempt two three-pointers. Instead she collected nine rebounds and three steals.

Thanks to Brittany for her tremendous contributions this season!

An indication of how versatile our Cats are would be the fact that they marched into Lawrence and beat the 19-11 Squawks with only one three-pointer, delivered by Taelor Karr.

Here's a recap from K-State Athletics, and Coach P's postgame comments.

Now, if you have a minute, let's talk about the series. K-State has defeated KU in 19 of the last 21 meetings. This includes 10 straight wins at home, one tournament win in 2006 and winning eight of the last 10 games in Lawrence. To KU's credit, they have shown up on time for each of these 21 contests.

Brittany Chambers recorded a career-high 35 points (including seven 3s) in a 71-67 senior night victory over #5-ranked A&M, the second-place team in the Big 12. Taelor Karr had 14 points, and Branshea Brown had 10. This win was a very big deal, and as A&M's coach Gary Blair told Coach P, "Welcome to the NCAA Tournament, Kansas State, you just punched your ticket."

We send best wishes to Jalana Childs, who went down with an injury after only one minute of play, and sincere congratulations to all the Cats who stepped up in her absence.

I can't summarize this tremendous game better than Coach P, who said, "I am just extremely proud of our basketball team that is the competitive disposition that we really worked very hard to bring to the floor tonight. I thought everybody stepped up so intensely tonight. We were so unbelievably focused and accountable, which gave us a chance. We played hard and well together. We wanted the responsibility of doing our job. We had great mental toughness out there as a basketball team, and we followed it up with great physical plays. It was a great win against a great program, so I could not be happier. This is a very special moment in my mind for this group right here. For Kelsey Hill and Shalin Spani, to go out of this arena knowing that K-State beat the No. 5 team in the country. For Brittany (Chambers), Brandy (Brown), and Taelor (Karr), these are the people that have competed so hard over the course of the last two and three years, and to have a signature win, like this, is an extraordinary feeling for me. Tonight they stepped up for one another."

This win established Kansas State as the 13th women's basketball program to reach 800 wins, which underscores our program's success in the Deb Patterson era. Here's the game recap from Sports Information.

Our awesome Cats are now 18-7 and 8-4 in the Big 12. They're alone in fourth place in the Big 12, and I'm very proud of what they've accomplished. Had the Iowa State game not been stolen outright from them by the zebras, they'd be tied for third place. (The Cyclones attempted 26 free throws in Ames on Feb. 13, to the Cats' 4. Obviously the officials were trying to please the partisan crowd of 11,239.)

Finally (and this is no surprise to anyone), this program is so fortunate to have Brian Smoller on play-by-play. No one does it better!

Taelor Karr, who needs no introduction, scored 19 points, thanks in no small part to 5 of 7 shooting from three-point range! Her field goal percentage was 77%! Colorado's Coach Lappe said of Taelor, "We have talked about it. If she hits the majority of her shots, she is one of the best players in the country. She has a high release, and it does not take her much time to get her shot off. She is always moving and coming off screens. When she has wide-open looks, she becomes a pretty good shooter." Here's the Manhattan Mercury's feature on Taelor's game.

Jalana Childs had a fine night, too, with 18 points in just 22 minutes. Alina Voronenko had some real nice minutes, adding nine points. She went 3 of 5 on threes. Brittany Chambers had 10 points and six rebounds.

Coach P cleared the bench tonight. The starters averaged just 26 minutes. Another fun stat is the Cats' 8 of 9 performance from the free throw line, for 88%. The women's basketball program has been asking for continued fan support. Tonight there were 3,610 happy, smiling fans walking out of the Octagon o' Doom. Next home action is vs. ISU on Feb. 26.

First Team: Brittany Chambers (So.), JuliAnne Chisholm (Jr.), Kelsey Hill (Sr.) and Shalin Spani (Sr.)
Second Team: Alina Vovonenko (Jr.) and Taelor Karr (So.)

K-State and Oklahoma led the conference with six players each. Awesome!

The story so far is missing key characters. Jalana Childs shot 50% from the field, logged seven rebounds, played 37 minutes and contributed 19 points. Brittany Chambers had a career-high 27 points, hitting 57% from the field, with many of the baskets at critical times. She was five of 11 from three-point range, including four consecutive threes. She collected eight rebounds and, by the way, played 45 minutes. We have some players headed for All-Big 12.

Let's have fans by the thousands in the Coliseum on Wednesday when Texas comes calling.

The Cats are now 5-2 in Big 12 play, and 15-5 overall. They're a mere 11 points from leading the Big 12 at this point. There are some tough games ahead, of course, but this team is competing with everyone.

I want to give a shout out to Jalana Childs, who made of number of aggressive moves to the basket, and was very solid on defense, too. She showed a lot of determination, and that's just what we need. Coach P brought up the Cats' mental toughness in her postgame comments. Jalana said after the game, "It was just a grind. I knew that going into this game I wanted to bang on the inside and just take it at them. I did not care if I got blocked my first five shots, I was going to take it at them." Awesome!

Finally... this game marked the 18th victory over KU in the last 20 outings!!

To put this game in perspective, Nebraska's 37 points marked their fewest since 2/26/03 (TTU, 38). It was their second-lowest point production since a visit to Ahearn Field House on 2/17/75, when they scored 31 points.