K-State Drops Dillons Sunflower Showdown at Kansas

Sunday, January 25

Lawrence, Kan.

12 p.m.

Kansas State University

11-10,4-4Big 12

Kansas

13-8,3-6Big 12

Kansas St.

Kansas

Photo by: K-State Photo

KStateWBB vs KU, Lawrence KS, Final: K-State 61, KU 83

Photo by: K-State Photo

Jan 25, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)Photo Gallery

LAWRENCE, KANSAS – K-State looked to improve its win streak to three on Sunday afternoon, but Kansas fended off a hot start from Taryn Sides and used a big second quarter to capture the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, 83-61, at Allen Fieldhouse.

K-State (11-10, 3-4 Big 12) was led by junior guard Taryn Sides with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, and added five assists. Freshman Jordan Speiser chipped in with 10 points.

Kansas (13-8, 3-6) was paced by freshman Jaliya Davis with 22 points and eight rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State was paced in the opening quarter by the hot-shooting of Sides, as she went 5-of-6 from the field, including 4-of-5 from long range for 14 points to give the Wildcats an early 14-9 lead. Kansas (13-8, 3-6) would finish the frame with a 24-23 edge, by shooting 52.9 percent from the floor (9-of-17).
- Sides would tie the school record for 3-point field goals made in a first quarter, equaling the mark set by Gabby Gregory against Utah Tech on Nov. 20, 2022.
- The Jayhawks would score the first six points of the second quarter to increase its lead to seven, 30-23, and force a K-State timeout with 8:16 remaining.
- Kansas would force the Wildcats into using a second timeout, as the Jayhawks increased its lead to 13, 40-27, with 4:49 remaining in the second quarter.
- The Jayhawks would build an 18-point lead before K-State narrowed the margin to 15, 49-34, at halftime. The Wildcats shot 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the field and were outscored 25-11 in the second frame.
- Defensively, K-State allowed the highest opponent field goal percentage in a quarter this season (81.8) in the second quarter and the highest field goal percentage for a half this season (64.3).
- Kansas upped its lead to 20, 58-38, before Sides was followed on a 3-pointer and finished all three free throws and then was followed by a three-pointer from Speiser with 7:20 remaining to narrow the game to 14, 58-44.
- After the Jayhawks built its lead to 23, 67-44, K-State would pull the margin to 18, 70-52, as Nastja Claessens hit her first 3-pointer of the afternoon and Alexis Hess would card her points with a 3-pointer before the third quarter buzzer.
- Kansas would prevent K-State from mounting a fourth quarter comeback by winning the final stanza, 13-9.
- K-State shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the field including 32.3 percent (10-of-31) from long distance.
- Kansas shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the floor and tallied a 32-12 advantage in points in the paint.

QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with Kansas, 82-52. Over the last 53 meetings, K-State is 41-12 against the Jayhawks. The Wildcats are 34-30 in games played in Lawrence. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 22-11 in his career against Kansas, including a 19-6 record at K-State.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 683-388 (.638), including a mark of 229-153 (.599).
- In its 30^th season of play in the Big 12, K-State owns a record of 249-251 (.498) in Big 12 action.
- The Wildcats are 303-332 (.477) in road games during its 58-season history. Under Mittie, K-State is 54-75 (.419) in road games.
- The Wildcats are 268-198 (.575) in games played in the month of January. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 49-46 (.516) in games during the 1^st month.

TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, and Taryn Sides and forwards Nastja Claessens and Jenessa Cotton. This was the 10th time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 20^th career start for Sides. This was the 19^th career start for Garcia. Harrod made her 18^th career start. Claessens made her 17^th career start. This was the 16^th start this season for Cotton.
- This season, K-State owns 30 quarters with an effort of 50.0 percent or better shooting from the field, including the first (53.3) quarter on Sunday.
- Since the start of the quarter-system in women's college basketball in the 2015-16 season, K-State is 169-71 (.704) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game, including a 9-6 mark this season. The Wildcats have 28 quarters this season with 20 or more points scored.

PLAYER NOTES
- Sides tallied her sixth career game and her fourth this season with 20 or more points. She tallied 10 or more points for the 31^st time in her career and 13^th time this season.
- Sides buried five 3-pointers on Sunday. This was her 13^th career game with four or more connections. Sides garnered her 16th game this season and the 47^th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. With her five connections, Sides moved into 12^th in program history for career 3-pointers with 163. In her five career games against Kansas, Sides is 17-of-31 (.548) from long distance.
- Sides dished out five assists on Sunday. This was her 24^th career game with five or more assists. She remains 22^nd in program history with 268.
- Speiser carded 10 points on Sunday. This was her 10^th game this season with 10 or more points.
- Speiser tallied two 3-pointers on Sunday. This was her 10^th game this season with two or more connections from long range.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On what went right for Kansas and wrong for K-State today…
"A little bit everything really. I thought they played really well. They moved the ball to the right player. I thought interior, they just pounded us inside. We were soft all day in there. Our game plan to be top heavy in terms of the press. We did not play with enough energy to get enough pressure up the floor, because we knew they had some advantages at the other end. So some of it them, certainly a lot of it us."

On Taryn Sides…
"She got off to a good start. Obviously, in the first quarter, really got off to a great start. I thought she played within herself in that stretch, really got squared up to the three. I thought in that stretch we got the ball in there. We had some things offensively. In that stretch, both teams did, right? Both teams were really scoring the ball well early, we just did not sustain any of that. And we didn't have anybody else come to the party with her, right? So they did. They had others. They had, you know, when you talk about (Jaliya) Davis, then all of a sudden Elle Evans is knocking threes down. And so they had others come to the party, and we just did not."

On message for upcoming stretch of games…
"Disappointing that we played that way. Disappointing that the things that we talked about doing we did not do well. I think anytime you're in a game and you talk about three, four or five critical areas, and your team commits to that, you can live with the result. But when they don't, when we don't have five players on the floor and we don't have players coming in doing those things, then that one's a tough one to swallow."

UP NEXT
K-State returns to Bramlage Coliseum on Thursday, as the Wildcats host Colorado at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, visit kstatesports.com/tickets or call (800) 221-CATS.

The game will stream on ESPN+ and can be heard online at kstatesports.com, 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.