K-State Secures Season-Opener Over Wichita State - Kansas State University Athletics

Monday, November 2

Manhattan, Kan.

6:30 p.m.

Kansas State University

1-0,0-0Big 12

Wichita State

0-1,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Wichita St.	5	14	12	10	41
Kansas St.	13	15	11	22	61

K-State Women’s Basketball vs Wichita State, Mon, November 2, 2026, Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, KS Final Score: KSU 61, WSU 41

Photo by: ABBY KENNEDY PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo by: K-State Sports

Nov 02, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Highlights K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie Press Conference K-State Player Press Conference Box Score (pdf)Photo Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State opened its 59th season of women's basketball on Monday night, as the Wildcats fended off a third quarter charge from Wichita State to dominate the fourth frame and secure a 61-41 win at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (1-0) was led by senior guard Taryn Sides with a game-high 15 points and pulled in six rebounds, while freshman forward Shaila Nde added 12 points and nine rebounds. Nde's nine rebounds were the most by a K-State freshman in a career debut since Peyton Williams pulled in 12 boards to begin the 2016-17 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- After leading 28-19 at halftime, K-State would build a 14-point lead, 38-24, with five minutes remaining in the third quarter following a fastbreak layup from Téa Cléante. The Shockers would use a 7-1 run to end the quarter to pull to within eight, 39-31, at the end of the stanza.
- The Wildcats cracked the Shockers defense in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, dashing out to an 11-2 advantage and building a 17-point lead, 50-33, with 6:05 left.
- Nde started the quarter with a 3-pointer, followed by four straight points from Sides. A three-pointer from Cléante forced Wichita State to call a timeout. Cléante notched nine points and three assists in her K-State debut.
- The Wildcats would hold a 20-point lead for the remainder of the night.
- K-State shot 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the floor, including a 58.3 percent (7-of-12) effort from the floor in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats limited the Shockers to a 26.8 percent (15-of-56) performance from the field.

QUICK FACTS
- Monday's game was the earliest season-opener in program history.
- Kansas State is 50-9 (.847) in season openers and have won 24 of the last 26 season openers, including 16 straight.
- The Wildcats have won 32 of its last 34 home openers in Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats are 50-9 (.847) all-time in home openers and 35-4 (.897) in openers in Bramlage.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 692-396 (.636), including a mark of 238-161 (.596).
- K-State is 422-166 (.718) in its 39th-season inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 152-58 (.724) record under Mittie.
- The Wildcats are 172-60 (.741) in games played in the month of November. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 58-17 (.773) in games during the 11th month.

TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, and Taryn Sides, forwards Nastja Claessens and Shaila Nde and center Tzoana Tampakou. This was the first time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 37th career start for Sides. This was the 36th career start for Garcia. Claessens made her 34th career start. Nde and Tampakou made their first collegiate starts. This is the second straight season a freshman has started the season-opener, as Nde joins Brandie Harrod from a season ago.
- The Wildcats held a 28-19 lead at halftime on Monday. Under Mittie, K-State is 188-24 (.887) when leading at halftime.
- Since the start of the quarter-system in women's college basketball in the 2015-16 season, K-State is 178-77 (.698) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game. The Wildcats had 52 quarters in the 2025-26 season with 20 or more points scored.
- K-State is 68-1 under Jeff Mittie when allowing 49 or fewer points in a game and are 154-18 when limiting foes to 60 or fewer points. The Wildcats have held six straight season-opening opponents to 49 points or less and 10 of the last 11.

PLAYER NOTES
- Sides tallied 10 or more points for the 42nd time in her career. She has led K-State in scoring 16 times in her career.
- Sides connected on three 3-point field goals. This was the 56th game of her career with two or more connections from long range. Sides ranks ninth in program history for career 3-point field goals made with 195.
- Sides hauled in six rebounds on Monday. This was her 30th career game with five or more rebounds.
- Sides pocketed three steals on Monday. This was her 33rd career game with two or more steals.
- Gina Garcia handed out six assists. This was her 20th career game with five or more assists. She has led K-State in assists in 25 games in her career.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On what he saw in the 4th quarter…
"I think that we got to the free throw line a little bit. We got a little bit more of an open floor. We maybe ran some middle ball screen stuff that allowed our guards to kind of spread them out a little bit. It was such an ugly offensive game. I think for us, it's just good to get the season going. You k ow we've got a good portion of this roster that's never played a college basketball game with the lights on and people in the stands and we had three closed scrimmages but that's a very different experience and you know they were nervous and excited on Saturday so I knew there was going to be a lot of emotion. Now what surprised me about that is where it manifested itself in the game was that our shot selection was probably the poorest I'd seen it. I really liked what we'd done in practice. I really liked the way our team played together. We didn't really see that in this game. Saw glimpses, but we'll see more as the season goes on. Best thing we did is we didn't give too many drives to the rim. We did a decent job of walling that off, forcing them into some long shots. That was probably the best thing we did."

On how Taryn Sides performed…
"I thought we missed her quite a bit early in this game. I thought there were opportunities early, and we missed her, so it took her a while to get going. That was part of the flow of the game that I just didn't like. You know we found some windows. Taryn made them pay. She got some fast breaks as well. Got herself going defensively. So I mean it's good to see her play well."

On recruiting international prospects
"Over time you just develop. The world's a lot smaller place from a recruiting standpoint than it was 10 years ago. There's so many avenues that you can find players, more than the TV screens that I watched growing up. Now you can get the games online, and it's almost as good as the TVs I watched. You're watching pretty good basketball online overseas, and you can watch it all. So, to answer your question, it really comes through one contact. It's starting to come more through agents. You're talking to agents constantly about, and they've got players, and they're saying, you know, I've got a player here. But then, really, it boils down to Gina Garcia being here helps us with Shaila and Cristina (Osazuwa). Yeah, it's a very small elite niche in their countries. When it's not like here where you have thousands of players playing. When it gets to the elite, and you're talking about the 12 that are chosen for the U20s, and the 12 that are chosen for the U19s, and the 12 that are chosen for that. You're talking about 50 players across the country, and they all know each other. So the players from Spain know the players from Italy. The players from Italy know the players from Greece. They just do. Recruiting Cristina, they almost feel like they know each other. Recruiting Joe, yeah, I know some of your players already. So that's kind of how it goes."

On how their defense affected their offense…
"Wichita State's got a lot of new players, so they're going through similar stuff that we're going through. You know, if the game's just not very smooth and players are struggling a little bit. I'm always cautious to judge games good or bad, particularly early in the year, because none of us have attained a level of consistency yet. If you have, then you're probably really elite, or you've really got you know a good group back and playing well. I think just going back to what I said, I thought our group got in a better rhythm defensively. I thought they started defending their shuffle cut, their staggers getting better as the game went on. I thought we defended the high low better in the second half than we did the first half, and then we felt all along if we kept them off the free throw line, we would have some success defensively."

FROM THE COURT
K-State Senior Guard Taryn Sides
On what led to K-State pulling away with the game…
"I think the biggest thing was us just getting back to playing together. I think we did a good job of that for the most part, but there were times where we could tell it was just off for all of us. So I think when we got back playing together and then stopped fouling so we could get in transition and just stop turning the ball over, that always leads to good things."

On being back playing at Bramlage for K-State…
"It's the best time of the year when we get to be back in Bramlage, playing in front of our fans. I think we were all super excited to get going. It's been a super quick off season, but also the last few weeks have been like, 'When can we play?' So just super excited to be back. Excited for what this group can accomplish this year too."

On the defense late in the game and how working on it in the offseason helped…
"I think the most important thing is following our scout and being disciplined in that area. We knew we wanted to play off of them a little bit and make them shoot it and not give them easy layups and easy jumpers. So I think we did a good job of that for the most part today."

On Shaila Nde's impact on the team and her potential this season…
"I think one of the special things about [Nde] is that every day she comes in and is super consistent. We know what we're going to get out of her, and she's just a good teammate, good player. She can do a lot of different things, whatever the coach asks of her. So, I'm just really proud of her, and I know she'll have a good year."

On playing four games in eight days…
"It's a lot of fun that you get to play four games in eight days. I mean, it's just exciting, and it's exciting that we get to play them all in Bramlage too. So we always love game days, getting to play in front of our fans. So we're looking forward to it."

K-State Freshman Forward Shaila Nde
On her first impressions playing college basketball in America…
"I love being here. I love the people, the community, and the first game in Bramlage. I think we had fun playing together. So yeah, I had fun. I love our fans and the way that we played today."

On what worked best for her on the glass…
"I still want to improve on my rebounding. I think we're doing a great job in practice with rebound drills and improving every day. So yeah, I just want to keep improving on that."

On how playing with Gina Garcia and Taryn Sides have helped her to adjust…
"First, I'm very happy to have them on my team. They are always helping me. First of all, it was difficult for me to play here in the U.S. Everything is different, and they help me a lot. And every question that I have, they are always there for me. Not just them, every single player in the team. So yeah, I'm happy to be here."

On what about her game she prides herself on the most…
"That I'm a player that can play different positions. I can help the team with whatever they need. If the team needs me to play the five, I can play the five. If they need me to play the four, I can play the four."

K-State Sophomore Guard Gina Garcia
On how long she's known Shaila Nde…
"I think we have known each other for four years. Well, we played together for four years, but yeah, it's so exciting to play together again, and it's so much fun."

On her reaction to learning that Shaila committed to K-State…
"I think she did her visit in May, and I was so happy. I was telling her good things, everything is good here. And then when she decided to come here, she called me, and I was so excited."

UP NEXT
K-State returns to action on Thursday, as the Wildcats will face first time opponent Southern Indiana at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday's game will air on ESPN+, as Brian Smoller, Missy Heidrick and Addison Lowe will have the call.

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.