Following her stellar performance at the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship, K-State senior center Ayoka Lee has been named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team.
With this honor, Lee becomes the fifth player in program history to be named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team and the first since Megan Mahoney and Kendra Wecker in 2005.
During the 2024 Big 12 Championship, Lee averaged 23.5 points on a .667 field goal percentage, 10.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Among players to have played at least two games in the event, Lee was the second-leading scorer, the top rebounder and top field goal percentage.
Against West Virginia in the quarterfinals, Lee registered 22 points on 9of-14 shooting, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Against Texas in the semifinals, Lee carded 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds.
Lee was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team and was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team.
It was the fourth All-Big 12 First Team honor for Lee in her career. She joins Nicole Ohlde (2000-04) and Kendra Wecker (2001-05) as the only four-time All-Big 12 selections in program history. Lee joins Breanna Lewis as the only players in program history with two or more Big 12 All-Defensive team honors.
Lee, a 2024 Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Midseason Team honoree and a 2024 John R. Wooden Award Top 20 candidate, has had a strong 2023-24 as she is averaging 19.8 points on a .620 field goal percentage, 8.3 rebounds and 2.83 blocked shots. She ranks seventh in the nation and leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage. Lee is third in the Big 12 in scoring average, second in the league and seventh in the nation for blocks per game and sixth for rebounding average.
She is a Lisa Leslie Award Top 10 finalist and has recorded 11 games this season with 20 or more points including her second career 20-20 double-double with 24 points, 21 rebounds and five blocked shots against Oral Roberts.
This season, Lee has led the Big 12’s top defense with 18 games of two or more blocked shots including a season-high seven at UCF on Jan. 6 and at Iowa State on Feb. 14. The 2024 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year candidate has also collected two or more steals in five games.
In her career, Lee ranks third in school history for points scored with 2,163, second for rebounds with 1,098, the school record holder for career blocks with 303 and owns the school record for career double-doubles with 59. She is the first player in program history with 300 or more career blocks and 100 or more career steals.
Lee joins Madison Booker and Aaliyah Moore from Texas and Audi Crooks and Emily Ryan from Iowa State. Lee was the only selection to not make the conferences championship game.
K-State (25-7) will now prepare for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats will find out its seed on Sunday, during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on ESPN at 7 p.m.
