The No. 4 Kansas State women's basketball team, despite the absence of their star center Ayoka Lee, has climbed to their highest ranking in 21 years. Their latest victory, a narrow 58-55 win against No. 13 Baylor, extended their winning streak to an impressive 13 games.

Facing a formidable Baylor team on Monday, K-State's coach Jeff Mittie made a pivotal decision to switch to a zone defense, specifically a 1-2-2 formation. This move proved crucial in stifling Baylor's offense, limiting them to only 16 points in the second half. Mittie admitted the strategy was a bit of a gamble.

“We were having a lot of trouble guarding them man-to-man,” Mittie said, as reported by Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press. “We went zone, went to a 1-2-2. … We hadn’t played that much this year. We had some interesting rotations. Probably confused Baylor, confused me a couple of times.”

Kansas State's victory in the absence of Lee, who is sidelined due to an ankle fracture, is noteworthy.

“For our group, it gives us a lot of confidence,” Mittie said. “We’re playing without our anchor and we’re finding a different way.”

Baylor, standing at 15-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12, struggled to adapt to Kansas State's change in defensive tactics. Their efforts to tie the game in the closing seconds were halted by K-State's defense, highlighted by Jaelyn Glenn's block in the final moments.

We didn’t need to be in that situation,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said. “We put ourselves in that situation to be in a one-possession game without enough time.”

The Wildcats' rise to their current standing, now 19-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference, is made more impressive considering their early-game struggles. Trailing by 13 before halftime, they managed a comeback spearheaded by Eliza Maupin, Gabby Gregory and Serena Sundell, each contributing 16 points.

The Wildcats next face BYU on Saturday, aiming to extend their winning streak.