K-State Sets 3-Point Record to Down Columbia

CANCUN, Mexico – K-State used a school record 17 three-pointers to rally back from a halftime deficit against Columbia, 95-92 on Thanksgiving in the Mayan Division of the 2025 Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya.

K-State (5-3), who entered Thursday's game following a 2-of-23 effort from long range at Green Bay on November 22, broke the school record for 3-point field goals made in a game with a 17-of-26 effort (.654).

The 17 three-pointers are tied for the second-most in the nation this season. K-State's 3-point percentage of 65.4 percent is the highest by any team this season that has made 17 or more 3-point field goals in a game. The 65.4 percent effort was a team season-high from beyond the arc and was K-State's highest on 20 or more attempts since shooting 70.0 percent (14-of-20) against UCF on February 15, 2025.

The Wildcats featured four players in double figures led by the career day of junior guard Taryn Sides. The product of Phillipsburg, Kansas, tallied a career-high 30 points on a career-high 10-of-14 shooting including a career-best 8-of-12 from long distance and added six assists, three rebounds and two steals. Sides had entered Thursday's game shooting 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from beyond the arc in the previous three games.

Sides is the only player in the nation this season to register a game with 30 or more points, eight or more 3-point field goals made and dish five or more assists. This was the first time a player from a Power 4 Conference achieved these markers in a game since Samara Spencer of Tennessee on December 14, 2024.

Since 2009-10, Sides became the fifth player in Big 12 history and the second Wildcat to achieve these numbers in a game. Sides joins Brittany Chambers, as the only Wildcats to reach these numbers in a game. Chambers tallied 42 points, nine made 3-pointers and five assists against Texas Southern on March 21, 2013, in the first round of the 2013 WNIT.

With her eight made 3-pointers, Sides tied for the fourth most in a game in program history. Her eight 3-point connections were the most since Temira Poindexter made eight at Kentucky in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Sides is the only player in the nation this season to shoot 66.7 percent or better on 12 or more attempts. She is the fourth Big 12 player since at least 2009-10 and the first since Micah Gray of Oklahoma State on Nov. 25, 2024, to achieve this percentage or better on 12 or more attempts.

Joining Sides in double figures were sophomore guard Izela Arenas with 16 points, including a 3-of-5 effort from long distance.

Junior forward Nastja Claessens added 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 effort from the field including 2-of-2 from long range. The native of Waregem, Belgium, made the record-setting 3-pointer with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Freshman guard Brandie Harrod tallied 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, nine rebounds and three assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- In the fourth quarter, K-State went into the lead, 72-71, as Sides buried a deep three-pointer from the top of the key to begin the final quarter and Sides followed with a layup to push the lead to 74-71 with 8:46 remaining.
- Columbia (3-3) rallied with an 8-2 run to pull in front 79-76 with 5:52 remaining in the frame. K-State would retake the lead for the final time with 4:38 remaining in the frame as Sides buried her eighth and final 3-pointer of the afternoon.
- After holding the Lions of the board, Claessens followed with the record-setting 3-pointer with 3:09 to boost the K-State advantage to 85-81.
- The Lions pulled to within one point twice, in the final two and a half minutes but layups from Gina Garcia and Claessens kept the Wildcats in front by three on both occasions.
- In the final 20 seconds, the Wildcats went 6-of-6 from the free throw line as Sides went 2-of-2 and senior guard Tess Heal went 4-of-4 with under 10 seconds to play to secure the win.
- Kansas State shot 59.4 percent (19-of-32) from the field in the second half, including 66.7 percent (8-of-12) in the fourth quarter.
- In the first half, Columbia outscored the Wildcats 11-6 in the final 3:18 of the second quarter and hold a 48-41 lead at halftime.
- The 48 first half points allowed by the Wildcats were the most surrendered in an opening half since at least the 2017-18 season. Columbia shot 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the floor including 65.2 percent (15-of-23) on two-point attempts.
- K-State shot 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from the field, including 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from beyond the arc.
- The Wildcats pulled back into the game with a 28-point third quarter to trail by two, 71-69, entering the fourth quarter. K-State made six 3-pointers in the third stanza, including a buzzer-beater from Sides to end the quarter.
- For the afternoon, K-State shot 54.0 percent (34-of-63) from the field and shot 76.9 percent (10of-13) from the free throw line.
- The Wildcats equaled their season-high in assists with 25.

QUICK FACTS
- K-State and Columbia met for the first time in the series. record in games played in Green Bay. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 2-0 in his career against Columbia. The Wildcats are 11-1 against members of the Ivy League.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 677-381 (.640), including a mark of 223-146 (.604).
- The Wildcats are 3-8 all-time in games played in Mexico, including a 2-8 mark in games played in Cancun. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 6-6 in his career in games played in Mexico, including a 3-2 mark at the helm of the Wildcats.
- The Wildcats are 171-58 (.747) in games played in the month of November. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 57-15 (.792) in games during the 11^th month. K-State has now ended the month of November with a winning record in 15 consecutive seasons and 46 times in its 58 seasons.

TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Taryn Sides and forwards Jenessa Cotton and Nastja Claessens. This was the first time this lineup has started together this season. This was the eighth career start for Harrod. This was the seventh career start for Sides. This was the sixth career start for Garcia. Claessens made her fourth career start.
- The combined score of 187 points were the most in a regulation game for Kansas State since at least 2009-10.
- K-State has scored 90 or more points in a game 21 times in the last five seasons including twice this season. In the Jeff Mittie era (2014-15 to the present), K-State has reached 90 or more points in a game 28 times.
- Since the 2014-15 season, K-State is 135-23 (.854) when scoring 70 or more points in a game.
- Since the 2014-15 season, K-State has made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game 54 times and are 47-7 (.870).
- Since the 2011-12 season, the Wildcats are 204-89 (.696) when three or more players score in double figures in the same game. K-State is 4-2 this season when three or more players score 10 or more points in a game.
- For the first time this season, the Wildcats registered 20 or more points in all four quarters with 20 on Thursday. Since the start of the quarter system in 2015-16, K-State is 164-67 (.710) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game. K-State has 15 quarters this season with 20 or more points scored.
- Since the 2014-15 season, the Wildcats are 58-6 (.906) when shooting 50.0 percent or better in a game. The Wildcats shot 50.0 percent or better in three of the four quarters on Thursday. K-State has 11 quarters this season with an effort of 50.0 percent or better which includes a season-high of 66.7 percent in the fourth quarter on Thursday.
- K-State had the edge in bench scoring, 32-11. The Wildcats have received 20 or more points from its bench in seven games this season.
- K-State tied its season-high with 25 assists on Thursday. Over the last 18 years, the Wildcats are 116-8 (.935) when handing out 20 or more assists.

PLAYER NOTES
- Sides reached double figures for the 22^nd time in her career and the fourth time this season. This was her first career game with 30 or more points and her fourth career game with 20 or more points.
- Sides knocked down a career-high eight 3-pointers on Thursday. This was her fifth game this season and the 35^th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. Sides carded her 11^th career game with four or more connections from long distance.
- Sides dished out five or more assists for the 19^th time in her career and the fourth time this season.
- Arenas registered her third game this season and the eighth of her career with 10 or more points.
- Claessens achieved double figures in scoring for the third time this season and second straight game.
- Harrod reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season and in her career.
- Harrod pulled in nine rebounds on Thursday. This was her sixth game this season with five or more rebounds.
- Gina Garcia registered a career-high eight assists. This was her fifth career game with five or more assists. Over the last two games, Garcia has 15 assists and four turnovers.
- Jordan Speiser knocked down three 3-pointers on Thursday. This was her third career game with two or more connections from long range.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the second half shooting performance...
"I just think our ball movement found the right player more often than we had seen previously. It's one of those things that, when Taryn gets hot, you got to find her. And, you go back on film, previously, I'm not sure we had that ball movement to find the hot shooter, and so we just had better execution offensively."

On the fourth quarter defense...
"I thought Nastja (Claessens) had a real toughness about her on Riley Weiss. Weiss is such good offensive player and she got off to such a hot start. This is a player coming in shooting 22% this year that hit 96 threes a year ago, so we knew that she was really capable. But, you know, we even talked about we don't want to be the team she gets hot on. And then, sure enough, she gets nine points in the first four minutes. So I thought, Nastja played better on her and then I do think we had a better awareness as a team of where Weiss was at. Their screening action is hard to guard, but we guarded them better. I thought Columbia played really well, you know, hard to argue with how they played, and we beat a team today that played really at a high level."

On the school record 17 three-pointers...
"It's the first team we have faced that kind of went from man to zone, and we did see some good things that we really we haven't faced. You know, we were able to get the ball in the middle. (Jordan) Speiser got a three off of that. We were able to start the half with a Taryn (Sides) three off of a set coming out of halftime. We felt like they probably would go zone coming out of half. So just better execution. You know, you can execute better but the shots don't fall. Today, they were falling. We had good looks, but I also think we had better movement. I keep saying it, the ball moved better today than it has in previous games to the right player."

On Taryn's career day...
"I just think she had a better rhythm about her today. It seemed like the shots were coming in rhythm, and it seemed like the shots in the previous game, she was maybe hunting, trying too hard. I thought the game came to her better today, she just seemed to have a good rhythm about her footwork, a good rhythm about her shot. And then once she got hot, you could see she wanted the basketball. Great to see her play well."

On the quick turnaround to North Carolina tomorrow morning...
"Recovery starts right now. They'll be in recovery right now. We'll get some rest. We'll eat a Thanksgiving meal. And then the staff will go into work right now, but Thanksgiving meal and then we'll come back in and get them to bed. I mean, in these tournaments there's just not a lot of time. We'll have to focus on two or three things at both ends of the floor and execute those things."

FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Junior Guard Taryn Sides
On knowing when it was going to be an offensive game...
"I think right when we started scout with this team, Coach Mittie was like, 'I want to push for 100. They're going to press. So let's attack it right away and go score.' We don't really need to run any of our offense. Let's just go attack and play together. So really, the second we started scout."

On when she felt comfortable from beyond the arc...
"I think once you knock down one, you're like, okay, like I'm ready. I'm in it. I've been struggling to shoot the ball the last few games, but I knew it was going to come eventually. And yeah, just once you get one, I feel like you kind of get in a mode and you're just locked in the rest of the game."

On the school record 17 three-pointers...
"I feel like we've all kind of been struggling to shoot the ball lately, and we know we're good shooters, we just haven't gotten it to fall. So seeing everyone hit some it's just like, it's a good feeling that you know we can trust one another to make it just as much as we trust ourselves."

UP NEXT
K-State continues action in the Cancun Challenge on Friday morning, as the Wildcats will face (12/10) North Carolina at 10 a.m.

The game will be streamed live on FloCollege (subscription required) and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network, online at kstatesports.com and on the K-State Sports app and the flagship stations of K-State women's basketball in Manhattan, Sunny 102.5 and 1350 KMAN.

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Women's Basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.

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Team Stats

Taryn Sides

Izela Arenas

Nastja Claessens

Brandie Harrod

Players Mentioned

Jenessa Cotton

Gina Garcia

Brandie Harrod

Temira Poindexter

Taryn Sides

Jordan Speiser

Players Mentioned

Jenessa Cotton

Gina Garcia

Brandie Harrod

Temira Poindexter

Taryn Sides

Jordan Speiser

Kansas State University Athletics