Nov 11, 2026 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The announcement came shortly after 9:00 a.m. on October 4, 2021. That's when crafty guard Mikayla Parks, prior to the start of her junior season at Norman High School, announced on social media her verbal pledge to the Kansas State women's basketball team. "MY ONE AND ONLY OFFICIAL #COMMITTED," her Twitter post read. It ended a recruiting process that began in the midst of a sophomore season in which Parks led her team to a 24-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in Class 6A with a state-tournament berth after winning a state championship.
Upon her commitment, Parks told reporters, "I'm so excited to be able to be a part of that big, huge family."
Growing up in Norman under the shadow of the Oklahoma women's basketball program, Mikayla, a 5-foot-9 point guard or shooting guard, learned under the tutelage of Norman High head coach Frankie Parks, her father, and she needed only one official visit to officially announce what she had known for a while. She chose the Wildcats over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, feeling most at home at the women's basketball program 300 miles north of her hometown.
"I've always been a kid who wanted to go off and be an independent child," Parks says. "Whenever I came to Manhattan on unofficial visits, I saw how the community cared about women's basketball, and the girls and the coaches. The people, it's fun, and who doesn't want to be in purple? Purple is also fun. I was close enough to home but far enough away to where I could make a drive.
"Yeah, K-State is the place for me."
A two-time state Oklahoma 6A State Champion in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 state tournament was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic), Parks was a Class 6A First Team All-State Tournament selection both seasons. Offensively, she was known for her deadly outside scoring game, and defensively, she was known for her ability to lock down against opposing ball handlers. But disaster struck prior to the start of Parks' senior year. She suffered a torn ACL in April 2021 following the postseason of her junior season, underwent surgery that May, and missed the first 18 games of her final high school campaign. She averaged 11 points on 42% shooting from the floor, including 37% from the 3-point line, to go along with four rebounds and two assists per game in her decorated career.
On November 10, 2021, Parks officially inked her name to a 2022 K-State women's basketball signing class ranked 23rd in the nation and second in the Big 12 Conference, and that also included guards Michayla Gatewood and Ja'Mia Harris along with forward Eliza Maupin. K-State head coach Jeff Mittie called it "one of the best classes our staff has collectively put together." Parks, who was all smiles on her one official college recruiting visit, wearing a purple No. 12 jersey and holding a basketball while standing next to Mittie in front of a purple backdrop, appeared ready to aid a program that had most recently appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 and again in 2021-22 — finishing with a No. 25 national ranking.
She was a part of that "big, huge family" cloaked in purple in Manhattan, and as a true freshman she played in nine games and a total of 41 minutes, and she scored a total of seven points and grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists, making her career debut against Central Arkansas on November 7, 2022.
After redshirting her sophomore season in 2023-24, Parks figured to play a larger role on the team. Those hopes were quickly dashed.
She suffered a second torn ACL and also tore her lateral meniscus in early summer 2024, which forced her to undergo surgery and miss the entire 2024-25 season with the Wildcats. Parks could only sit next to her set of crutches on the bench and cheer on her teammates as they played on into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
"It was hard," Mittie says. "Certainly, somebody like her who's had an ACL injury multiple times, that injury can be very disheartening."
Last season, Parks returned and played in seven games with 32 minutes of action as a junior, paving the way to a senior season sprinkled with hopes to contribute on the basketball court.
Today, Parks sits in the postgame interview room after a 67-62 win over Montana and following the annual Education Day game at Bramlage Coliseum, which featured 5,000 elementary school children from across the state of Kansas cheering on the Wildcats at ear-popping levels.
Through the first three games of her senior season, Parks played 14 minutes against Wichita State, 14 minutes against Southern Indiana and 16 minutes against UTRGV. Tuesday's game against Montana was different. Parks played a career-high 29 minutes while scoring five points and adding a career-high five rebounds and one steal during the most significant action of a career that encompasses 21 total game appearances in more than four seasons.
"It feels really good," Parks says. "The confidence the team and the coaches bring me throughout the year; it's been really good. Just being able to play to my full capability and to be able to go out there and produce and help my team win games, it's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm glad I get to be in this position to do that."
The ride early in this season has already proven memorable: She gets to be a part of the action and bask in the fans' cheers at the basketball arena that she loves and has now known for almost a quarter of her life.
"It's an amazing feeling," Parks says. "I hear the fans yelling. Even in the middle of the game, I always hear, 'Let's go Mikayla,' or, 'Good job, Mikayla.' It's an indescribable feeling. It's something that whenever you're done playing basketball, it's something you'll always remember."
Mittie remembers Parks' perseverance, which brought her to this point in her career.
"It's great to see her out there, and great to see her in a moment like this, and great to see her help her team win, because she's probably spent half her time here at Kansas State in the training room, in physical therapy, and in the weight room, rehabbing as much as playing," Mittie says. "And she's stayed with the program, she's stayed with us, and she's stayed with Kansas State, and that says a lot about her."
The recovery process was hardly easy.
"My teammates being around me and pushing me through it helped," Parks says. "I mean, there are still a lot of dark days when it comes to the injuries and the long process of it, but being able to be with a group of girls who believe in you, and around basketball, and within community, it's fun.
"I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates and coaches believing in me, and also me believing in myself to get through the injuries that I've had. The training staff and strength and conditioning have helped me to be the player I am today."
Today, Parks sits as an inspiration and as a testament to perseverance and patience in overcoming two ACL injuries in her basketball career — and still smiling. Every walk onto the basketball court is a victory. The young player with a smile standing next to Mittie in front of a purple backdrop on her official recruiting visit at K-State nearly five years ago now sits with a smile behind a microphone and in front of a purple backdrop as a K-State senior sharing her story.
"Just being the person, I am, I push through," Parks says. "Having people behind me who are always going to stand behind me, and having girls come through the program to help me through it, has shaped me into the woman I am today.
"I've been around good people."
At a purple place 300 miles north of her hometown, and at the place where she knew she was meant to be, because it all comes down to what she's known all along.
K-State is a big, huge family.
The announcement came shortly after 9:00 a.m. on October 4, 2021. That's when crafty guard Mikayla Parks, prior to the start of her junior season at Norman High School, announced on social media her verbal pledge to the Kansas State women's basketball team. "MY ONE AND ONLY OFFICIAL #COMMITTED," her Twitter post read. It ended a recruiting process that began in the midst of a sophomore season in which Parks led her team to a 24-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in Class 6A with a state-tournament berth after winning a state championship.
Upon her commitment, Parks told reporters, "I'm so excited to be able to be a part of that big, huge family."
Growing up in Norman under the shadow of the Oklahoma women's basketball program, Mikayla, a 5-foot-9 point guard or shooting guard, learned under the tutelage of Norman High head coach Frankie Parks, her father, and she needed only one official visit to officially announce what she had known for a while. She chose the Wildcats over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, feeling most at home at the women's basketball program 300 miles north of her hometown.
"I've always been a kid who wanted to go off and be an independent child," Parks says. "Whenever I came to Manhattan on unofficial visits, I saw how the community cared about women's basketball, and the girls and the coaches. The people, it's fun, and who doesn't want to be in purple? Purple is also fun. I was close enough to home but far enough away to where I could make a drive.
"Yeah, K-State is the place for me."
A two-time state Oklahoma 6A State Champion in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 state tournament was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic), Parks was a Class 6A First Team All-State Tournament selection both seasons. Offensively, she was known for her deadly outside scoring game, and defensively, she was known for her ability to lock down against opposing ball handlers. But disaster struck prior to the start of Parks' senior year. She suffered a torn ACL in April 2021 following the postseason of her junior season, underwent surgery that May, and missed the first 18 games of her final high school campaign. She averaged 11 points on 42% shooting from the floor, including 37% from the 3-point line, to go along with four rebounds and two assists per game in her decorated career.
On November 10, 2021, Parks officially inked her name to a 2022 K-State women's basketball signing class ranked 23rd in the nation and second in the Big 12 Conference, and that also included guards Michayla Gatewood and Ja'Mia Harris along with forward Eliza Maupin. K-State head coach Jeff Mittie called it "one of the best classes our staff has collectively put together." Parks, who was all smiles on her one official college recruiting visit, wearing a purple No. 12 jersey and holding a basketball while standing next to Mittie in front of a purple backdrop, appeared ready to aid a program that had most recently appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 and again in 2021-22 — finishing with a No. 25 national ranking.
She was a part of that "big, huge family" cloaked in purple in Manhattan, and as a true freshman she played in nine games and a total of 41 minutes, and she scored a total of seven points and grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists, making her career debut against Central Arkansas on November 7, 2022.
After redshirting her sophomore season in 2023-24, Parks figured to play a larger role on the team. Those hopes were quickly dashed.
She suffered a second torn ACL and also tore her lateral meniscus in early summer 2024, which forced her to undergo surgery and miss the entire 2024-25 season with the Wildcats. Parks could only sit next to her set of crutches on the bench and cheer on her teammates as they played on into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
"It was hard," Mittie says. "Certainly, somebody like her who's had an ACL injury multiple times, that injury can be very disheartening."
Last season, Parks returned and played in seven games with 32 minutes of action as a junior, paving the way to a senior season sprinkled with hopes to contribute on the basketball court.
Today, Parks sits in the postgame interview room after a 67-62 win over Montana and following the annual Education Day game at Bramlage Coliseum, which featured 5,000 elementary school children from across the state of Kansas cheering on the Wildcats at ear-popping levels.
Through the first three games of her senior season, Parks played 14 minutes against Wichita State, 14 minutes against Southern Indiana and 16 minutes against UTRGV. Tuesday's game against Montana was different. Parks played a career-high 29 minutes while scoring five points and adding a career-high five rebounds and one steal during the most significant action of a career that encompasses 21 total game appearances in more than four seasons.
"It feels really good," Parks says. "The confidence the team and the coaches bring me throughout the year; it's been really good. Just being able to play to my full capability and to be able to go out there and produce and help my team win games, it's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm glad I get to be in this position to do that."
The ride early in this season has already proven memorable: She gets to be a part of the action and bask in the fans' cheers at the basketball arena that she loves and has now known for almost a quarter of her life.
"It's an amazing feeling," Parks says. "I hear the fans yelling. Even in the middle of the game, I always hear, 'Let's go Mikayla,' or, 'Good job, Mikayla.' It's an indescribable feeling. It's something that whenever you're done playing basketball, it's something you'll always remember."
Mittie remembers Parks' perseverance, which brought her to this point in her career.
"It's great to see her out there, and great to see her in a moment like this, and great to see her help her team win, because she's probably spent half her time here at Kansas State in the training room, in physical therapy, and in the weight room, rehabbing as much as playing," Mittie says. "And she's stayed with the program, she's stayed with us, and she's stayed with Kansas State, and that says a lot about her."
The recovery process was hardly easy.
"My teammates being around me and pushing me through it helped," Parks says. "I mean, there are still a lot of dark days when it comes to the injuries and the long process of it, but being able to be with a group of girls who believe in you, and around basketball, and within community, it's fun.
"I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates and coaches believing in me, and also me believing in myself to get through the injuries that I've had. The training staff and strength and conditioning have helped me to be the player I am today."
Today, Parks sits as an inspiration and as a testament to perseverance and patience in overcoming two ACL injuries in her basketball career — and still smiling. Every walk onto the basketball court is a victory. The young player with a smile standing next to Mittie in front of a purple backdrop on her official recruiting visit at K-State nearly five years ago now sits with a smile behind a microphone and in front of a purple backdrop as a K-State senior sharing her story.
"Just being the person, I am, I push through," Parks says. "Having people behind me who are always going to stand behind me, and having girls come through the program to help me through it, has shaped me into the woman I am today.
"I've been around good people."
At a purple place 300 miles north of her hometown, and at the place where she knew she was meant to be, because it all comes down to what she's known all along.
K-State is a big, huge family.
Players Mentioned
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Wednesday, November 11
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