K-State Caps 2025 on Wednesday Against Cincinnati

Wednesday, December 31

Manhattan, Kan.

1 p.m.

Kansas State University

Cincinnati

Dec 29, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Buy Tickets ESPN+Listen Live Live Stats K-State notes (pdf)

GAME #15
Cincinnati Bearcats (5-8, 0-1 Big 12) at K-State Wildcats (7-7, 0-1 Big 12)
Wednesday, December 31, 2025 | 1 p.m. | Bramlage Coliseum (11,010) | Manhattan, Kan.

PROMOTIONS & TICKETS
$5 Day
- Advance general admission tickets and select concession items are available for just $5. The first 500 fans will receive a free hand fan.

For tickets, call (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com/tickets.

TELEVISION
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Brian Smoller
Analyst: Missy Heidrick
Sideline: Sophie Smith

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Matt Walters
Analyst: Kristin Waller

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

SERIES HISTORY vs. Cincinnati
3-0

• K-State leads the series with Cincinnati, 3-0.
• Head coach Jeff Mittie is 7-1 in his career against Cincinnati.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - K-State (7-7, 0-1 Big 12) returns to Bramlage Coliseum for the first time in 21 days, as the Wildcats begin the home portion of its Big 12 slate on Wednesday, as the Wildcats host Cincinnati (5-8, 0-1) at 1 p.m.

• Wednesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+, as Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Missy Heidrick (analyst) and Sophie Smith (sideline) will have the call.

Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. Sides Dish
• Taryn Sides is 24th on the K-State career assists list with 239 assists. With 11 assists, Sides will become the 22nd player in program history with 250 or more career assists.
2. Freshmen Toe the Line
• Freshmen guards Jordan Speiser and Gina Garcia have converted at a high rate at the foul line. Speiser is shooting 90.3 percent (28-of-31) at the line, while Garcia is 89.7 percent (26-of-29). K-State is the only team in the nation with two freshmen shooting 88.0 percent or better from the foul line (min. 25 free throw attempts).
3. Garcia with the Dish
• Freshman guard Gina Garcia is second in the Big 12 and third in the nation for assists by a freshman (69). Since 1981-82, Garcia is the 16th freshman in program history with 65 or more assists in their freshman season and the fifth in the Jeff Mittie era.
4. Final Game of 2025
• K-State has tallied a record of 22-14 (.611) in the 2025 calendar year.
5. Cats Prolific at Charity Stripe
• K-State features four players shooting .825 or better from the foul line this season (min. 25 free throw attempts): Speiser (.903; 28-of-31), Garcia (.897; 26-of-29), Sides (.839; 26-of-31) and Tess Heal (.833; 30-of-36). The Wildcats are one of two teams in the nation (UC Irvine) with four or more players shooting .825 or better from the foul line (min. 25 free throw attempts).

Number to Know
21

• Junior forward Nastja Claessens has registered a career-high 21 points twice - at Green Bay, Nov. 22; at Creighton, Dec. 14.
• She is the third international Wildcat since 2009-10 to register a game with 20 or more points.
• Her 21 points are the most by an international K-State player since Sarah Shematsi tallied 25 against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4, 2023.
• Since 2009-10, the most games with 20 or more points by a K-State international player in a season came from Leticia Romero with six in the 2013-14 season.

Last Time Out
at (9/7) TCU 77, K-State 55 (Dec. 20, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas)
• K-State started its 30th season of Big 12 action on Dec. 20, as the Wildcats dropped its opener at TCU.
• The Wildcats were held to 33.3 percent shooting, but recorded 15 assists on its 21 made field goals.
• Junior guard Taryn Sides and sophomore forward Jenessa Cotton led the Wildcats with 10 points each.

2025-26 Roster Youngest Since 2018-19
• K-State will have one of the youngest rosters in the country this season, as 10 of the 13 players on the 2025-26 roster are either true freshmen or sophomores. The roster features five true freshmen (Aniya Foy, Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Ivona Scekic and Jordan Speiser) a redshirt freshman (Alexis Hess), three sophomores (Izela Arenas, Jenessa Cotton and Ramiya White) and one redshirt freshman (Mikayla Parks).
• The 2025-26 roster is the third-youngest roster in program history and the second-youngest under head coach Jeff Mittie trailing the 2018-19 roster, which had 10 underclassmen among its 14 players and the 1977-78 season, which featured a program-high 11 underclassmen (seven freshmen and four sophomores) among the 16 players in the roster.
• K-State's roster of 13 features six players combined to have played 226 career collegiate games before the 2025-26 season.
• Of the six players to play a college game, Heal played the most at 96.
• Among Big 12 programs this season, K-State is second in the league (10, UCF) for the most underclassmen on its roster.
• The freshmen class for the 2025-26 season for K-State was ranked among the top-10 signing classes by ESPN.com.
• In terms of K-State playing experience, the Wildcats' roster featured 10 players that had yet to play a game in purple and white entering the 2025-26 season.

International Cats
• K-State's 2025-26 roster will have an international flair.
• The Wildcats feature four players from four different countries: Nastja Claessens (Belgium), Gina Garcia (Spain), Tess Heal (Australia) and Ivona Scekic (Slovenia). Claessens is the first player in program history from Belgium, Scekic is the first player in program history from Slovenia, while Heal is the second player to play for the Wildcats from Australia and Garcia is the third from Spain.
• Claessens helped Belgium win the 2025 FIBA Women's EuroBasket and was a member of the 2024 Belgian National Team at the Paris Olympics.
• Garcia had a busy summer, as she helped Spain win the 2025 FIBA U18 Women's EuroBasket and the 2025 FIBA U20 Women's EuroBasket. Garcia was named to the All-Star Five in both events and captured MVP honors at the U20s.
• In its history, K-State has had a letterwinner from five different foreign countries (Spain, 2; Ukraine, Canada, Australia and France, 1).

At a Glance: Cincinnati
• Cincinnati (5-8, 0-1 Big 12) enters Wednesday's game following a 91-63 loss to Oklahoma State on Dec. 21 to open league action.
• On the sideline, the Bearcats are led by third-year head coach Katrina Merriweather. A 2001 graduate of Cincinnati, Merriweather owns a career record of 185-110 (.627) which includes a 34-40 record at her alma mater.
• On the floor, Cincinnati is led by Mya Perry and Caliyah DeVillasee.
• Perry, a senior guard from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, paces the Bearcats with 18.4 points on a .395 field goal percentage. Against the Cowgirls, Perry tallied 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-9 from long distance.
• DeVillasee, a freshman guard from Owings Mills, Maryland, is second on the team with 16.2 points per game and paces Cincinnati with 5.6 assists per game.

Wildcats 400+ Wins in Bramlage
• K-State is 416-160 (.722) all-time inside Bramlage Coliseum, which is in its 38th season of existence.
• In his career in games played in his home venue, head coach Jeff Mittie is 420-117 (.782) including a 146-52 (.737) record at K-State.
• Kansas State has protected Bramlage Coliseum with determination against non-conference foes with a record of 241-33 (.880). Mittie is 87-12 (.879) in non-conference games in Bramlage.
• In the 2024-25 season, K-State was 17-1 (.944) in home games, which included a 17-game home winning streak, tied for the fifth-longest home win streak in program history and tied for the second-longest in Bramlage. This was the longest in-season home win streak since 2002-03 (19). The .944 winning percentage last season was the best since going 19-1 (.950) in 2002-03.
• This was the 34th time in program history that the Wildcats reached double figures in home victories. It was the 26th season K-State has won 10 or more games in Bramlage.
• The 33 home wins by the Wildcats over the last two seasons are the most wins in Bramlage over a two-season span in program history.

K-State's 12th Month Record
• In the 58th year of women's basketball at K-State, the Wildcats own a record of 253-105 (.707) in the month of December.
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 52-20 (.722) in the month of December.
• K-State has had a .500 or better record in the month of December 49 times in its history, including a current streak of 29 consecutive seasons.

Bench Boost
• K-State has received an offensive boost from its second unit.
• The Wildcats opened the season with 47 points from its bench against Omaha. The 47 points from the bench were the most since K-State scored 47 against McNeese State on Dec. 6, 2023.
• K-State is averaging 27.7 points per game from its bench (388 points), which ranks third in the Big 12 and 39th in the nation. The Wildcats have had the edge in bench points in 11 games this season (6-5).
• K-State has scored 20 or more bench points in 11 games.
• In the 2024-25 season, the Wildcats averaged 22.6 points per game (813 points) from the bench and ranked second in the Big 12 and 50th in the nation for bench points per game. K-State had the upperhand in bench points in 24 games last season (20-4).
• K-State's 813 bench points were the second time in the Jeff Mittie era in which the bench recorded 700 or more points in a season and the top mark under Mittie for a season.

Dishin' as Well as Swishin'
• Guard Taryn Sides has continued to be an adept distributor.
• In the season-opener against Omaha, Sides established a new career-high with 12 assists and did so without a turnover. She was the first player at a Big 12 Conference program since the 2021-22 season to hand out 12 or more assists without a turnover.
• This season, Sides is averaging 3.5 assists per game with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.81.
• In her career, Sides is averaging 2.88 assists per game (239 assists) and owns a career assist to turnover ratio of 1.87 which is tied for the top mark in program history. She has tallied 20 games with five or more assists, including two games with 10 or more assists.
• Sides is 24th on the K-State career assists list. With 11 assists, Sides will become the 22nd player in program history with 250 or more career assists.
• In the 2024-25 season, Sides averaged 2.8 assists with a career-best 98 assists and an assist to turnover ratio of 1.4.
• Sides had seven games last season with five or more assists, including a season-high of eight at Kansas on Feb. 2.

Speiser with the Freebies
• Guard Jordan Speiser has produced at a high level at the free throw line in her first season.
• For the season, Speiser is 28-of-31 (.903) from the foul line. She owns an active streak of 17 consecutive makes from the free throw line. Her streak is the second-longest this season by a Wildcat, trailing Gina Garcia's 19 straight makes.
• Against Ole Miss on Dec. 7, Speiser went a career-best 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. She also went a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line at Creighton on Dec. 14. She is the only freshman in the Big 12 to shoot 100.0 percent from the foul line on five or more attempts in two or more games.

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.