No. 4 Vanderbilt advanced to the Sweet 16 on Monday at The Pit.
No. 5 Kansas State, which made its last Sweet 16 appearance in 2002, was dismissed 74-61.
For the first 30 minutes, it looked like the Kansas State and Vanderbilt fans were in for a barnburner similar to the two's 2005 NCAA Tournament game, when Vanderbilt pulled out a 63-60 victory in Seattle.
But Jennifer Risper helped Vandy pull away.
The Commodores got a career-high 27 points from Risper, the most scored by a Vanderbilt player since Carla Thomas had 32 against Auburn in 2005. Risper had 15 by halftime, poised to obliterate her previous career-high of 20 points.
In the first half, Risper and Wirth combined for 31 of Vandy's 37 first-half points, but somehow the Wildcats took to the half up 38-37.
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Both were 6-of-8 from the field in the first half, but Wirth, the first-team All-SEC player, decided to take a sabbatical from scoring. She missed her first six attempts of the second half, airballing two shots before finally putting one through the nylon at the 11:01 mark.
Risper rarely missed. In fact, only three times all night and just once in the second half.
"I had no idea she had 27 points," Wirth said. "That's amazing. She just fought. That's nothing unusual for her. She was just taking advantage of her strengths."
Risper outshined K-State's Shalee Lehning, who had 13 assists in a first-round win over Drexel. K-State couldn't deal with Risper's ability to penetrate the lane.
"There was just numerous possessions - they were comfortable with spreading the floor and just taking it one-on-one," K-State's Deb Patterson said.
And as a result, Risper drew fouls and shot 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.
"I am 5-foot-9 and I have a lot more guard skills and post skills," Risper said. "We work a lot with our trainer. Just tried to be physical and just basically finish a lot of my shots. Sometimes, there's games where I have to pass more, rebound more. I just tried to do whatever the defense was giving me. My teammates kept passing to me. I just kept attacking. I saw that they weren't stopping that."
Even better, Risper had several members of her family on hand to watch her mince through the Wildcats' defense.
"They don't get to come to a lot of games," Risper said. "It meant a lot to me for them to come, especially for our team to win. I could've had a horrible game, but if we had that win - that's what I wanted my family to see."
Kansas State's point guard, Lehning, was held to 10 points. More importantly, head coach Melanie Balcomb said, Lehning had only four assists.
"What we wanted to do was keep her in front and play her with one person," Balcomb said. "Force her to shoot the basket instead of pass the basketball. She wants to draw somebody to the ball and then kick to 3."
Both teams went blow for blow, wrangling the lead from each other eight times and tying another eight times. But Vandy went on an 11-0 run, with Wirth pumping in the first shot of the burst. Risper added four during the stretch before a Meredith Marsh 3-pointer gave the Commodores a 59-48 advantage with 7:38 left to play.
Wirth finished with 24 points on 10-of-19 and was only other player besides Risper to score in double figures.
Ashley Sweat paced Kansas State with 17, while Marlies Gipson added 16, but fouled out with 2:47 to play.
Vanderbilt only had six turnovers by halftime, but Kansas State made the Commodores pay, piling up 13 points off turnovers. But Vandy tightened up in the second half, only coughing up the ball four times.
In a rare event, the Wildcats turned in a five-point play in the first half. Sweat hit a trey and Kansas State got the ball back on a foul away from the play, with the Wildcats adding another two on the possession.
"I thought the game was just an unbelievable position-by-position matchup until about nine minutes left," Patterson said. "I think we began to struggle in the offensive end of the floor. We turned over a few positions without makes, and that is the time Vanderbilt go very, very aggressive."
