K-State’s Lee, Sundell Named 2024 CSC Academic All-District

MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State women’s basketball student-athletes Ayoka Lee and Serena Sundell have been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District VII team. This is the third honor for Lee, while Sundell earned her second selection.

As a program, K-State women’s basketball has earned 29 (formerly CoSIDA) CSC Academic All-District VII citations by 17 student-athletes.

As Academic All-District selections, Lee and Sundell advance to the CSC Academic All-America Team selection process, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected in mid-April.

In the classroom, Lee is a two-time CSC Academic All-America honoree (second team in 2021; first team in 2022),  the 2022 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, a three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team recipient and received the 2021 Big 12/Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award.

Lee graduated in May of 2021 with her undergraduate degree in psychology and will graduate in May with her graduate degree in couples and family therapy.

On the court in 2023-24, Lee was a Second Team All-American by The Athletic, a Third Team All-American by The Sporting News and an honorable mention recipient by the Associated Press, a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-Region 3 honoree, a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection by the league’s coaches, Big 12 All-Defensive Team and Big 12 All-Tournament Team.

Lee averaged 19.7 points on a .619 field goal percentage, 8.6 rebounds and 2.78 blocked shots. She is the first player in program history with two or more seasons of 500 or more points, 200 or more rebounds and 75 or more blocks. Her 75 blocks were the sixth-most in program history and was her third career season with 75 or more blocked shots.

She ranked sixth 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 ninth in the nation for blocks per game and third in the Big 12 for rebounding average.

In her seven games this season against Associated Press top-25 opponents, Lee averaged 20.6 points on a .637 field goal percentage, 10.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks.

Lee has recorded 14 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 led the Big 12’s top defense with 21 games of two or more blocked shots including a season-high seven at UCF on Jan. 6 and at Iowa State on Feb. 14.

In her career, Lee ranks third in school history for points scored with 2,194, holds the school record for career scoring average at 19.2, holds the school record for career rebounds with 1,118, holds the school record for career rebounding average at 9.8, the school record holder for career blocks with 310 and blocks per game at 2.72 and owns the school record for career double-doubles with 60. She is the first player in program history with 300 or more career blocks and 100 or more career steals.

Sundell, a guard from Maryville, Missouri, is an organizational management major who has garnered Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2022-23, Big 12 Academic All-Rookie Team honors in 2021-22 and is a five-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipient.

Sundell was second on the team in scoring with 12.1 points per game on a career-best .536 field goal percentage. She leads the Big 12 for total assists (189) and assists per game (5.6 apg). She was second for Big 12-only games with 5.7 assists per game, she ranks fourth in league-only games for field goal percentage (.539) and is 12th in conference play for scoring (13.82 ppg).

Her 189 assists this season were a new career-high and tied for the fifth-most assists in a season in program history.

With her points (411) and assists (189) totals this season, Sundell is the first player in program history and the third Big 12 player since at least 2009-10 to record three seasons with 350 or more points and 150 or more assists.

In her career, Sundell is fourth in school history for career assists with 549 and is second in program history for career assists per game (5.3 apg). She ranks 22nd on the K-State career scoring list with 1,263 points. She is the only player in school history with 1,000 or more career points, 500 or more career assists and 50 or more career blocked shots.

K-State (26-8) completed the 56th season in program history, as the Wildcats achieved its 18th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and collected 26 wins for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Wildcats were ranked among the Associated Press top-25 for 18 consecutive weeks, including a high of number two in the nation on January 29.