Kansas State University Athletics
Fought Through the Chaos
Nov 19, 2025 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Jordan Speiser recorded her second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Kansas State, which played a stretch of five games in 10 days, bounced back from consecutive home losses with much-needed 81-59 win over Troy on Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State head coach Jeff Mittie called the game "a lot of chaos" at times, particularly in a gut-check first half when the Wildcats shot poorly, committed 14 turnovers, and still took a 35-28 lead into halftime. But K-State responded with one of its best second halves this season behind a 22-5 scoring run between the third and fourth quarters to jump ahead by 27 points twice down the stretch.
"Throwing it to our team helped," Mittie said. "There was a lot of chaos in that first half. There's no doubt we're a tired team right now having played a lot of games early, and there hasn't been a lot of practice time. There's mental fatigue. Troy has a chaos element to its defensive scheme, and you'd better be sound and fundamentally strong.
"Proud of our group for fighting through it."
K-State, 4-2, started its season at 3-0 before suffering a 72-71 heartbreaker to South Dakota last Thursday and a 77-72 loss to Texas A&M on Sunday, giving the young Wildcats and their bevy of newcomers back-to-back losses at Bramlage in the month of November for the first time since 2009.
K-State, fatigue and all, said no more on Tuesday.
"We had tough losses, and we came back stronger," said junior forward Nastja Claessens, who had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting. "We had a team talk about our team's values and everybody thought about it pretty seriously. We came back stronger. You saw it on the court today. We got the win, and it feels great."
Claessens arrived in Manhattan early Tuesday morning after spending the past week in training camp with the Belgian Senior Women's National Team in Belgium. She had been involved with the national team for the past two seasons.
"I'm running on five hours of sleep," Claessens said. "I'm a little tired, but it's OK. I'm happy with the win. That's what matters. I get to sleep after this. You're concentrated on the game and not thinking about being tired. You just push through."
Troy, the WNIT runner-up last season, entered 3-0 for the first time in eight years and looked for its first 4-0 start since 1991-1992.
K-State had other plans.
The Wildcats used a 22-5 scoring run between the third and fourth quarters to put away a game that began with "chaos."
K-State finished shooting 41.7% (30-of-72) from the floor, including 25% (8-of-32) on 3-pointers. Troy shot 26.5% (22-of-83) from the floor, including 19.4% (6-of-31) from long range.
After suffering 14 turnovers in the first half, K-State committed just four turnovers over the final two quarters.
"We played together as well as any time of the game," Mittie said of the scoring run. "I didn't really feel like the game had any rhythm to it with so many turnovers and a lot of chaos. We couldn't play well enough to get any rhythm. That part of the game felt like it had some rhythm to it. I felt like the right play was being made more often than not."
K-State made its push in the final 5:34 of the third quarter as a Claessens 3-pointer began a 15-3 scoring run for the Wildcats, who sailed into the fourth quarter with a 59-41 lead.
K-State took its first double-digit lead of the game on a Gina Garcia layup for a 46-36 advantage with 4:38 left in the third quarter. Speiser added to it when she made the back end of two free throws. When Garcia swept in from the left side and went up strong with her left hand and drew a foul, the Wildcats began to pull away. Garcia's free throw gave the Wildcats nine straight points and made it 50-36 with 3:57 to go in the third quarter.
Tess Heal, who had 11 points and made both of her 3-point attempts and added nine rebounds, hit a step-back 3-pointer to increase the lead to 55-38, and then freshman forward Brandi Harrod made a fastbreak layup to make it 57-38. Claessens added a shot jumpshot in the paint.
Freshman guard Aniya Foy, who had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, gave K-State its first 20-point lead at 63-43 when she stole a pass and made a layup with 8:07 left in the game. The lead grew to 66-43 on a Heal 3-pointer. A Foy jumpshot gave K-State a 68-43 lead.
K-State continued to roll, and its lead grew to 27 points twice down the stretch.
"It feels amazing," said Harrod, who had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and four rebounds. "We've been working in practice these past few days and have had long stretch of games. We've been very tired. Getting this win and having the day off tomorrow will be really good."
K-State next travels to Green Bay on Saturday before playing three games in three days at the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico between November 27-29.
"We were battling," Mittie said. "It just looked to me you could see the physical fatigue and mental fatigue, but I know they wanted to come out on the right side. It's been a tough week for us. I'm really pleased we were able to battle and play well enough and have some balance. Everybody did some good things.
"I like their work ethic, so you know it matters and it's important to them. You could see the hurt of the last couple games. It matters to this team. You have to have character, some toughness — and it does matter to this team."
Jordan Speiser recorded her second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Kansas State, which played a stretch of five games in 10 days, bounced back from consecutive home losses with much-needed 81-59 win over Troy on Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State head coach Jeff Mittie called the game "a lot of chaos" at times, particularly in a gut-check first half when the Wildcats shot poorly, committed 14 turnovers, and still took a 35-28 lead into halftime. But K-State responded with one of its best second halves this season behind a 22-5 scoring run between the third and fourth quarters to jump ahead by 27 points twice down the stretch.
"Throwing it to our team helped," Mittie said. "There was a lot of chaos in that first half. There's no doubt we're a tired team right now having played a lot of games early, and there hasn't been a lot of practice time. There's mental fatigue. Troy has a chaos element to its defensive scheme, and you'd better be sound and fundamentally strong.
"Proud of our group for fighting through it."
K-State, 4-2, started its season at 3-0 before suffering a 72-71 heartbreaker to South Dakota last Thursday and a 77-72 loss to Texas A&M on Sunday, giving the young Wildcats and their bevy of newcomers back-to-back losses at Bramlage in the month of November for the first time since 2009.
K-State, fatigue and all, said no more on Tuesday.
"We had tough losses, and we came back stronger," said junior forward Nastja Claessens, who had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting. "We had a team talk about our team's values and everybody thought about it pretty seriously. We came back stronger. You saw it on the court today. We got the win, and it feels great."
Claessens arrived in Manhattan early Tuesday morning after spending the past week in training camp with the Belgian Senior Women's National Team in Belgium. She had been involved with the national team for the past two seasons.
"I'm running on five hours of sleep," Claessens said. "I'm a little tired, but it's OK. I'm happy with the win. That's what matters. I get to sleep after this. You're concentrated on the game and not thinking about being tired. You just push through."
Troy, the WNIT runner-up last season, entered 3-0 for the first time in eight years and looked for its first 4-0 start since 1991-1992.
K-State had other plans.
The Wildcats used a 22-5 scoring run between the third and fourth quarters to put away a game that began with "chaos."
K-State finished shooting 41.7% (30-of-72) from the floor, including 25% (8-of-32) on 3-pointers. Troy shot 26.5% (22-of-83) from the floor, including 19.4% (6-of-31) from long range.
After suffering 14 turnovers in the first half, K-State committed just four turnovers over the final two quarters.
"We played together as well as any time of the game," Mittie said of the scoring run. "I didn't really feel like the game had any rhythm to it with so many turnovers and a lot of chaos. We couldn't play well enough to get any rhythm. That part of the game felt like it had some rhythm to it. I felt like the right play was being made more often than not."
K-State made its push in the final 5:34 of the third quarter as a Claessens 3-pointer began a 15-3 scoring run for the Wildcats, who sailed into the fourth quarter with a 59-41 lead.
K-State took its first double-digit lead of the game on a Gina Garcia layup for a 46-36 advantage with 4:38 left in the third quarter. Speiser added to it when she made the back end of two free throws. When Garcia swept in from the left side and went up strong with her left hand and drew a foul, the Wildcats began to pull away. Garcia's free throw gave the Wildcats nine straight points and made it 50-36 with 3:57 to go in the third quarter.
Tess Heal, who had 11 points and made both of her 3-point attempts and added nine rebounds, hit a step-back 3-pointer to increase the lead to 55-38, and then freshman forward Brandi Harrod made a fastbreak layup to make it 57-38. Claessens added a shot jumpshot in the paint.
Freshman guard Aniya Foy, who had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, gave K-State its first 20-point lead at 63-43 when she stole a pass and made a layup with 8:07 left in the game. The lead grew to 66-43 on a Heal 3-pointer. A Foy jumpshot gave K-State a 68-43 lead.
K-State continued to roll, and its lead grew to 27 points twice down the stretch.
"It feels amazing," said Harrod, who had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and four rebounds. "We've been working in practice these past few days and have had long stretch of games. We've been very tired. Getting this win and having the day off tomorrow will be really good."
K-State next travels to Green Bay on Saturday before playing three games in three days at the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico between November 27-29.
"We were battling," Mittie said. "It just looked to me you could see the physical fatigue and mental fatigue, but I know they wanted to come out on the right side. It's been a tough week for us. I'm really pleased we were able to battle and play well enough and have some balance. Everybody did some good things.
"I like their work ethic, so you know it matters and it's important to them. You could see the hurt of the last couple games. It matters to this team. You have to have character, some toughness — and it does matter to this team."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballK-State Women's Basketball | Postgame Highlights vs Troy
Wednesday, November 19
K-State Men's Basketball | Recap vs Tulsa
Tuesday, November 18
K-State Men's Basketball | Players Press Conference - November 17, 2025
Tuesday, November 18
K-State Men's Basketball | Head Coach Jerome Tang Press Conference - November 17, 2025
Tuesday, November 18