By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Kansas State broke a close game wide open in the third quarter of the inaugural Bill Snyder Classic at the Civic Arena, defeating Missouri 84-56.
K-State dominated after halftime, outscoring Mizzou 36-12 in the third quarter, cruising the rest of the way for the win.
It was a homecoming for K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie, who began his coaching career at Missouri Western State University.
“It goes without saying that St. Joe means a lot to me, because I went to school here and I coached here and there are a lot of friends and family and ex-players here,” Mittie tells reporters during the media availability after the game. “So, that was fun as well. But, if the event’s run poorly those things don’t matter. This has been run very well, so I appreciate that.”
Mittie says he tried to keep the weekend as normal as possible, but says he saw a lot of old friends and former players.
The Civic Arena was packed for the game with 3,500 in attendance for the Saturday night match.
Mittie says it was a fun event.
“A lot of K-State fans. A lot of Mizzou fans. I think it was a good atmosphere,” Mittie says. “You look up and see very few open seats. I mean, that’s what you want to play in front of. I think the venue’s really, really good for basketball.”
Missouri Head Coach Robin Pingeton also praised the classic.
“I think it was a very well-run organization,” Pingeton says. “Very impressed with everything that they’ve done. It was first class from top to bottom.”
Pingeton says the classic was attractive to her program, because it gave it a chance to play a good basketball team near the greater Kansas City area, which is a natural recruiting hotbed for both teams.
Mittie wasn’t the only member of the K-State squad that had a homecoming.
Junior Serena Sundell is from Maryville and says it was thrill to hear the crowd when she was introduced.
“It’s special to come back to this town and just have so many people from Maryville and St. Joe; there’s girls that I was seeing that were from East Buch and Benton, just young girls that are looking up to me and this team and women’s college basketball,” Sundell tells reporters. “So, just to be able to come back to St. Joe and play for them is really special and I’ll never forget this game.”
Sundell scored 11 on 4-for-8 shooting.
K-State Center Ayoka Lee led all scorers with 28. MU was led by Abby Feit and Heyley Frank, who had 13 each.
