HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Thirty years to the day after winning his first game as head coach of UConn, Geno Auriemma earned his 919th victory.

The top-ranked Huskies routed Kansas State 97-57 on Monday night for their 39th straight victory. UConn is seeking its 11th national title and fourth in a row.

“If I’d have known that 30 years ago, that’s what was going to happen, I probably would have enjoyed it more the last 30 years, and said, `Yeah, I should really enjoy this because 30 years from now, our program is going to be legendary,” Auriemma said.

Auriemma remembered that first game at Iona, traveling on the bus and pooling together the team’s meal money so they could buy something more than sandwiches before the game.

Now the Huskies can afford to travel and eat a little bit better.

Breanna Stewart scored 25 points and Gabby Williams added 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Huskies.

Stewart became the ninth player in school history to reach 2,000 points with a 3-pointer from the right corner in the third quarter. She now has 2,009 for her career, moving past Renee Montgomery (1,990) and Bria Hartley (1,994).

Kaylee Page and Kindred Wesemann each had 11 to lead Kansas State (3-1).

The Huskies shot just under 51 percent from the floor and held Kansas State to 34 percent.

Morgan Tuck had 15 points and Moriah Jefferson had 14 points and seven assists.

Jefferson (1,102 points) also is moving up the scoring list, becoming the 37th Husky to reach the 1,100-point plateau.

Stewart moved into 10th place on the school’s scoring list with her fourth point, a layup that gave the Huskies an early 12-5 lead. A third quarter free throw put her in ninth place.

“When you have these type of milestones, you kind of just want to get it over with, because people keep talking about it,” Stewart said.

Kansas State’s Breanna Lewis, who had been averaging 18 points and six rebounds, picked up two early fouls guarding Stewart. She finished with 10 points.

The Wildcats hit three of their first five shots from 3-point range and hung with the Huskies early, trailing just 16-13 with 3:24 left in the first quarter.

“I think we challenged at times,” said Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie. “We battled harder than we had in our previous three games. You’re going up against the team that is playing at the highest level in the country.”

But UConn responded by scoring the final 10 points of the quarter and the first four points of the second. Williams had eight of the Huskies’ 14 points during that spurt.

Williams had her seventh career double-double before halftime, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds as the Huskies took a 44-27 lead into intermission.

Kia Nurse quickly pushed the lead to 20 in the third quarter on with a 3-pointer, and it was 30 points a few minutes later after a jumper from Moriah Jefferson.

Auriemma’s first win came on Nov. 23, 1985, 73-67 at Iona. The Huskies won their first seven games that year, but finished the season 12-15. Since then, Auriemma has led the Huskies to 10 national titles, 16 Final Fours, 21 regular-season conference championships and 20 conference tournament titles.

The Huskies improve to 2-0 all-time against the Wildcats. Their only other meeting was in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament, a 72-26 blowout.

TIP-INS:

UConn: The Huskies have now won 23 straight home openers. They are now 37-5 all-time and 30-1 under Auriemma. His only home-opening loss in his 30 years as head coach came on Nov. 29, 1990, when the Huskies fell to Iowa, 58-41. UConn ended that season 29-5, losing in its first Final Four appearance to Virginia.

Kansas State: The Wildcats blocked five shots, giving them 30 in four games. They have four starters that are a 6-foot or taller, and have six players on the roster with two or more blocked shots this season.

ELITE COMPANY: Stewart becomes the third fastest Husky to reach 2,000 points, doing it in her 117th game. Maya Moore needed just 108 games, and Kerry Bascom accomplished the feat in 113. Auriemma noted that Stewart has done it while averaging about 15 shots a game and filling up the stat sheet. She had eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots Monday.

UP NEXT

UConn: The Huskies are back in Hartford on Saturday to take on Nebraska.

Kansas State: The Wildcats have one more game before their Thanksgiving break, taking on Southern at home on Wednesday.

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State senior kick returner Morgan Burns picked up his second-consecutive Big 12 weekly honor on Monday as he was again named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance in K-State’s thrilling 38-35 victory over Iowa State, the conference office announced.

It marked the second time in the last three years a Wildcat has earned a weekly conference honor in consecutive weeks (Ryan Mueller, 2013 vs. Iowa State and Texas Tech), while it was the first in the special teams category since David Allen was honored following the Iowa State and Texas games in 1999. With Burns’ honor last week and Jack Cantele’s accolade following the Louisiana Tech game, K-State now has a staggering 18 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors since 2011 (3.6 per year).

For the second-straight week, Burns returned a kickoff for a score as he went 100 yards against the Cyclones in the second quarter. It was Burns’ third return for a score in 2015, while he became the first player in school history with two 100-yard returns in a season and first in the Big 12 since Fozzy Whittaker (Texas) in 2011. Burns is the only player nationally this year with two 100-yard returns, while his three kickoff return scores rank second in both school and Big 12 history.

A product of Wichita, Kansas, Burns ranks sixth nationally this season in kickoff-return average (30.2), while he is second in school history in single-season kickoff-return yards (846) and fifth for a career (1,280). Additionally, he ranks fourth in school history in both season and career (28.4) return average.

This week’s honor comes on the heels of breaking the school record with 221 kickoff-return yards at Texas Tech, which featured a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown.

The 113th edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown takes place on Saturday as the Wildcats travel to Lawrence, Kansas, to face KU at 3 p.m., in Memorial Stadium.

— KSU Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State coach Bill Snyder couldn’t help but laugh when asked about the enthusiastic locker room he had just stepped out of.

Over the last six weeks, the Wildcats squandered leads, came up short in frantic comeback attempts and been blown out — culminating in the program’s worst losing streak since 1989.

But on Saturday there was finally reason to celebrate.

Jack Cantele kicked a 42-yard field goal with three seconds left to cap Kansas State’s 38-35 come-from-behind victory over Iowa State.

“They enjoyed the daylights out of it,” Snyder said. “I told them that I had been here for a couple 100 years and I have never seen our locker room like that. We always say, `Act like you’ve been there before.’ We didn’t act like we’ve been there before, but we needed that.”

Kansas State (4-6, 1-6 Big 12 Conference) recovered three Iowa State (3-8, 2-6) fumbles in the final seven minutes and rallied from a 35-14 first-half deficit.

Joe Hubener had 216 yards passing and a touchdown, and had 20 carries for 90 yards to lead Kansas State, which needed the win to stay bowl eligible. Charles Jones ran for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

Iowa State’s Joel Lanning threw for 195 yards and three touchdown passes, two to Allen Lazard in the first half. Mike Warren ran for 195 yards with a 76-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for the Cyclones.

Jones ran for an 8-yard score, and Hubener threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kody Cook to make it 35-28 early in the fourth quarter. Warren fumbled with 7:26 to play, and Duke Shelley recovered it at the Cyclones 32. On the ensuing series, Hubener threw an incomplete pass on a fourth-and-6 to stall the drive.

Iowa State elected to not take a knee, and Warren fumbled again with 1:31 to play. Elijah Lee recovered the football at the Wildcat 44.

“The decision was based on being able to run out the clock and never having to punt the football,” Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. “You take a knee on that play and they are going to call a timeout.”

Jones ran for a 5-yard touchdown to tie it at 35 with 42 seconds left. Marquel Bryant then sacked and forced a Lanning fumble. It was recovered by Charmeachealle Moore on the Cyclone 25 to set up Cantele’s game-winner two plays later.

“A bunch of us seniors were over there and when we saw Iowa State take the ball back with 1:31 we just kind of looked at each other and understood that was it,” Cantele said. “That was our chance. That changed quickly, though. It doesn’t take much to spark this team and give us some hope.”

Kansas State has won eight straight against Iowa State. The Cyclones have not won in Manhattan, Kansas since 1988.

Kansas State’s defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive of the contest for the first time in seven games. But Iowa State opened the scoring on its next series when Lanning threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Trever Ryen with 9:26 to play in the first quarter.

The Wildcats pieced together its only offensive scoring drive of the first half with a trick-play. Fullback Glenn Gronkowski threw a 4-yard jump pass to Winston Dimel to cap a 9-play, 65-yard drive.

Lanning ran for a 1-yard score in response, and then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Lazard to stretch the Cyclones lead to 21-7. Morgan Burns, who was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday, returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to pull the Wildcats to 21-14.

Warren then had his long touchdown run, and Lanning connected on a 16-yard scoring strike to Lazard with 29 seconds left in the first half to give the Cyclones a 35-14 halftime lead.

“Coach Snyder preaches finish,” Jones said. “Regardless of what the score is on the scoreboard, we’re going to finish and fight until the last second.”

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State women’s basketball team endured a fourth quarter rally from South Dakota on Thursday night and iced the game with a perfect effort from the free throw line in overtime to win 84-81 at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State has opened a season 3-0 for the second straight season and the 23rd time in program history. Head coach Jeff Mittie is the second coach in program history (Lynn Hickey) to begin their first two seasons at K-State with 3-0 records.

Kindred Wesemann led all scorers with 28 points, including a 12-of-12 performance from the free throw line, a career-high seven assists and three steals. Breanna Lewis tallied 22 points and seven rebounds, while Megan Deines notched her third straight game in double figures with 17.

South Dakota was led by Caitlin Duffy with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from 3-point range and Nicole Seekamp with 20 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three assists.

The Wildcats trailed early, as the Coyotes opened with a 6-0 run. K-State ended the first quarter on a 15-3 run to hold a 15-9 lead. Deines paced K-State with five points, while Lewis and Wesemann added four each.

K-State extended its lead to 11, 23-12 with 7:19 to play in the second quarter, as Wesemann knocked down her second 3-point field of the quarter.

South Dakota used a 22-5 run to take a 37-30 lead at the half. The Coyotes hit five 3-pointers on five consecutive possessions to build their lead.

After the Coyotes extended their lead to nine, K-State used a 9-2 run over a two-minute stretch to pull to within 41-39 with 7:46 to play in the third quarter. Wesemann drained her fourth 3-pointer of the night during the run while Lewis added four points.

A fast break layup by Deines gave K-State a 45-43 lead with 5:31 to play in the third quarter. Kaylee Page followed with a three-pointer to give K-State a 48-43 lead with 5:01 to play in the third.

The Wildcats entered the fourth quarter with a 58-51 lead and held a 69-64 advantage following a Lewis layup with 1:51 remaining in regulation.

South Dakota ended the fourth quarter on a 6-1 run, highlighted by three free throws by Seekamp with 2.8 seconds remaining to tie the game at 70.

In the extra session, Wesemann was a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line, while Lewis added four points and Shaelyn Martin registered her only made field goal on a layup.

The Coyotes’ Seekamp made a late layup to narrow the game to 82-81 with four seconds remaining, but Wesemann drained two free throws for the final margin.

K-State travels east to face No. 1/1 Connecticut on Monday at 6 p.m.

— KSU Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kansas (AP) — Justin Edwards scored 19 points, true freshman Dean Wade connected on a 3-pointer in crunch time, and Kansas State outlasted pesky Columbia 81-71 on Monday night.

Wade finished with 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting, and Wesley Iwundu had 16 to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists, as the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the floor (30-of- 60).

Spurred by an 8-of-11 start shooting, Kansas State jumped out to a 21-12 lead midway through the first half. The Wildcats stretched their lead to 13 points before Luke Petrasek converted on a dunk and two free throws to pull the Lions within single digits. Petrasek’s effort was part of a 9-0 run late in the half to cut the deficit to 40-35 at halftime.

Edwards scored 9 of the Wildcats first 11 points out of the break, part of an 11-2 run, to give the Kansas State a 51-39 lead with 17:03 to play. But Petrasek continued to come up with clutch baskets, including back-to-back field goals midway through the half, to avoid any potential blowout.

Columbia hit a trio of 3-pointers to get within three points with 5:45, but Wade, playing in his second colligate game, buried a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats some wiggle room. It also spearheaded a 9-0 Kansas State run, which benefited from four Columbia turnovers.

The Lions didn’t go without a fight, but Kamau Stokes sealed the game with 5 of his career-high 11 points coming from the line with less than a minute to play.

Petrasek led Columbia with 19 points and eight rebounds while Alex Rosenberg scored 16 points.

TIP-INS

Kansas State: Iwundu was named co-Big 12 Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday after tallying 23 points and 10 rebounds against Maryland-Eastern Shore. . Monday’s meeting marked Kansas State’s first game against an Ivy League foe in 40 years. The Wildcats are 3-0 all-time against the conference.

Columbia: The Lions led top-ranked Kentucky last season at halftime, including an 11-0 lead to start the ballgame, before falling 56-46. Twelve lettermen, including four starters, return from that team.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: Home against South Dakota on Friday

Columbia: At Northwestern on Friday

— Associated Press —

The Kansas State women’s basketball team cruised past Abilene Christian on Monday night, as the Wildcats opened the home portion of its non-conference schedule with a 75-46 win at Bramlage Coliseum.

Kansas State was led by the tandem of Megan Deines and Breanna Lewis, as the duo scored 39 points to lead the Wildcats. Deines finished with 20 points and three steals, while Lewis added 19 points, five rebounds and five blocks to her final line.

The first quarter featured seven lead changes, with neither team leading by more than four points. Abilene Christian held an 18-17 lead at the end of one.

Deines led the Wildcats to a 20-7 second quarter, scoring 12 of her 18 points in the second frame. For the first two and a half minutes of the second period, Deines outscored Abilene Christian 10-2.

K-State held Abilene Christian without a field goal for five and a half minutes of the second quarter to build a 37-25 lead at the half.

Kansas State extended its lead to 18, 48-30, with 4:39 to play in the third quarter. Bri Craig knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game and added a putback layup to aid an 11-5 run in the third quarter.

Lewis registered nine of her 19 points in the third period, including eight straight for K-State.

Kansas State would build its lead to a high of 36 before the final margin of 76-45 was decided.

K-State shot .492 (29-of-59), including .400 (8-of-20) from beyond the arc. The Kansas State defense held Abilene Christian to a .212 (14-of-66) field goal percentage, including 7-of-33 (.212) from behind the 3-point line.

K-State concludes its two-game home stand on Thursday, as the Wildcats host South Dakota at 7 p.m.

— KSU Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Following a school-record breaking performance last week at Texas Tech, senior kick returner Morgan Burns was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.

The honor was the first in Burns’ career, while it was the second for the Wildcats this season after place kicker Jack Cantele was honored following the Louisiana Tech game. K-State has had 17 special teams player-of-the-week honors since 2011, while the Wildcats have had at least two accolades on special teams over the last eight seasons.

Burns recorded a school-record 221 kickoff-return yards against the Red Raiders, breaking the previous record held by Aubrey Quarles, who had 197 yards at North Texas in 2010. Burns took the first Texas Tech kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, his second kickoff-return score this year after returning the season-opening kickoff 100 yards for a score against South Dakota.

Burns’ yardage total was the most by a Big 12 player since Texas’ Fozzy Whittaker went for 252 yards against Oklahoma State in 2010, while it is the third-highest total in the nation this season.

With his effort against the Red Raiders, Burns moved into fifth place in school history in career kickoff-return yards (1,112), while he entered the top-10 list for kickoff-return yards for a season as he is now fourth (678). He also moved into a tie for second place in school history in season kickoff-return touchdowns and into sole possession of third place for a career.

Kansas State takes on Iowa State this Saturday in an 11 a.m., contest at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game can be seen nationally on FS1.

— KSU Athletics —

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury knows the value of extra practices, so getting bowl eligible with a win Saturday was a welcome change from last season.

“As a program, those practices are huge,” he said. “We have a bunch of young talent on this team that needs to be developed and those extra practices … it’s incredible to get those guys going and get them ready for the offseason and get them ready for spring football.”

The Red Raiders failed to go to a bowl last year, finishing 4-8 in Kingsbury’s second season.

Patrick Mahomes threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Justin Stockton, and DeAndre Washington rushed for three more as Texas Tech beat Kansas State 59-44.

The win snapped a three-game skid.

The loss extended the Wildcats winless streak to six, a first since 1989.

Mahomes completed 33 of 42 passes and rushed for a touchdown for Texas Tech (6-5, 3-5 Big 12).

Stockton’s touchdowns were for 17 and 20 yards. He also rushed for a 7-yard score. Mahomes’ other touchdown pass was a 19-yarder to Devin Lauderdale.

Washington scored from 80 yards — a career-long — 5 yards and 12 yards to finish with a career-high 248 yards.

“Everybody on the team looks up at that guy,” Kingsbury said. “As a coaching staff we go to him to talk to the team, we ask him his opinion on things, because he has that sort of trust and that sort of character.”

Kansas State (3-6, 0-6) quarterback Joe Hubener rushed for three 1-yard touchdowns and threw for two more. Morgan Burns added a TD on a 93-yard kickoff return.

Hubener threw both his touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats tried for a second comeback. He found Dominique Heath for a 6-yard score and threw a 33-yard touchdown to Kyle Klein. An onside kick kept the Wildcats in it, but trailing 52-41 they needed a touchdown. They settled for a 43-yard field goal to whittle the deficit to 52-44.

In order for Kansas State to go to a bowl this year the Wildcats need to win their remaining games against Iowa State, Kansas and West Virginia.

“They were all-around solid,” Hubener said of Texas Tech’s defense. “I mean, I don’t think it was anything that caught us off guard in this situation. I think most of the stuff they threw at us was stuff that we anticipated. I think we had success against them for the most part. We put up 44 points.”

Washington’s rushing yardage was the first time since 1999 that Texas Tech has had a 200-plus-yard game when Shaud Williams had 230 against Colorado.

Texas Tech let a 21-point lead dwindle to 7 points early in the third quarter after Hubener scored his third touchdown. The 1-yard score came after Washington fumbled deep in Texas Tech territory.

A turnover by the Wildcats turned into a touchdown for the Red Raiders in the first quarter. Zach Reuter fumbled after catching a 10-yard pass from Hubener and JahShawn Johnson recovered. Four plays later Stockton scooted around end for a 7-yard touchdown to make it 28-7 late in the first quarter.

Both teams had big plays in the first half. Kansas State’s Burns got his third career kickoff return for a touchdown on a 93-yarder and his second this season. The first play of the season Burns returned a kickoff 100 yards.

Washington’s 80-yard scamper for score was a career long for him and was the team’s longest run of the season.

The Red Raiders scored on five of their first seven possessions and the Wildcats, who got touchdowns on three of their first seven possessions, struggled to keep pace.

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior Wesley Iwundu poured in a career-high 23 points to go with a career-tying 10 rebounds, as Kansas State won its season opener over Maryland-Eastern Shore, 80-53, in front of 11,389 fans in Bramlage Coliseum on Friday night.

K-State (1-0) improved to 87-25 (.776) all-time in season openers, including 22-2 (.917) at Bramlage Coliseum.

Senior Justin Edwards and freshman Barry Brown added double-digit scoring nights of their own, tacking on 17 points apiece. The pair went a combined 12-for-24 from the field and 4-for-10 from behind the arc.

Junior D.J. Johnson saw the court for the first time since the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament game with Kentucky on March 22, 2014, scoring five points to go along with six blocks and two steals in his 14 minutes of action.

K-State continues its homestand on Monday, November 16 at 8 p.m., as it hosts Columbia at Bramlage Coliseum in the second game of a doubleheader. The women’s team hosts Abilene Christian at 5:30 p.m.

— KSU Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber announced the signing of high school standout Xavier Sneed (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) on the first day of the Fall National Signing Period on Wednesday.

A 6-foot-5, 180-pound small forward, Sneed is considered one of the Top 150 prep players in the country, according to most recruiting services, ranking No. 92 in the Rivals150 and No. 140 by 247Sports. He is considered one of the top small forward prospects nationally, ranking No. 21 by Scout and No. 31 by 247Sports. He is also rated a Top 5 recruit in the state of Missouri, including No. 2 by Scout and No. 3 by 247Sports.

“We have had our attention on Xavier since we arrived here (in 2012) and (associate head coach) Chris (Lowery) has done a great job with his recruitment,” said Weber. “He is an elite athlete who has developed into a standout on both the football field and basketball court and would’ve been a high-level prospect in either sport. As a basketball player, he is a slasher who excels at not only driving to the rim, but has also developed into a very good 3-point shooter. Since giving up football, he has spent a considerable amount of time honing his basketball skills. He has tremendous upside and the ability to be a high-level defender.”

Sneed has helped Hazelwood Central to 46 wins the past two seasons, including back-to-back Suburban XII North titles, while he has enjoyed tremendous success playing for the St. Louis Eagles U17 team, which lost in the championship game of the 24-team Peach Jam Tournament this summer. The Peach Jam is the season-ending tournament for Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. The Eagles, who count current NBA players Bradley Beal, Tyler Hansbrough and David Lee as alums, could produce as many as four Division I signees in 2016.

“Xavier is not only a great young man and student, but he comes from a great family,” said Weber. “He has had the opportunity to play for one of the best high school programs in the state of Missouri – Hazelwood Central – as well as one of the top AAU programs in the St. Louis Eagles. He is a tremendous addition to our basketball team.”

Sneed is the first St. Louis area signee since current junior D.J. Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) in 2012.

— K-State Athletics —