K-State Rolls to Third Straight Win - Kansas State University Athletics

Sunday, November 8

Manhattan, Kan.

12 p.m.

Kansas State University

3-0,0-0Big 12

UTRGV

1-2,0-0Southland

Team	1	2	3	4	F
UTRGV	10	7	9	13	39
Kansas St.	18	16	15	19	68

K-State Women’s Basketball vs UT Rio Grande Valley, Sunday, November 8, 2026, Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, KS Final Score: KSU 68, UTRGV 39

Photo by: K-State Sports

Nov 08, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)Photo Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State saw its entire active roster register at least one field goal and used a solid defensive performance, as the Wildcats cruised to a 68-39 win over UTRGV on Sunday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (3-0) had three players reach double figures, as Tzoana Tampakpu (JOH-ana tah-BAH-koo) tallied a game-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 4-of-6 from the foul line in 15 minutes of action. The junior center from Lesvos, Greece, is 13-of-14 (.929) from the field in the last two games.

Joining Tampakou in double figures were senior forward Nastja Claessens and freshman forward Shaila Nde. Claessens, a native of Waregem, Belgium, provided an all-around line with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, five rebounds, tied her career-high with five assists, added two steals and a block.

Nde, a product of Barcelona, Spain, notched 11 points, six rebounds, two blocks, a steal and an assist.

The Wildcats have held its first three foes this season to under 49 points, which is the longest stretch since the start of the 2021-22 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State zipped out to a 10-3 lead with 7:13 to play in the first quarter, forcing UTRGV (1-1) into an early timeout. The Wildcats would keep the Vaqueros at arm's length for the remainder of the quarter, holding an 18-10 lead at the end of the stanza. Despite going without a field goal for the final 4:19 of the frame, K-State shot 53.8 percent from the floor in the opening quarter.
- The Wildcats would push its lead to 11 three times early in the second quarter including a fastbreak layup from Mikayla Parks, as she received a behind-the-back pass from Sides to energize the crowd.
- K-State ended the second quarter on 8-0 run, as Nde connected on a 3-pointer, Claessens followed with a jumper and Parks cashed in a corner 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 34-17 lead at halftime. Parks finished with a career-high six points.
- The Wildcats extended its lead to 21, 43-22, midway through the third quarter and increase the advantage to 48-22 following a three-pointer from Téa Cléante and a layup from Ivona Šćekić. K-State would hold a 49-26 lead at the end of the third.
- Tampakou took over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring 10 straight points for the Wildcats and increasing K-State's lead to 27, 62-35, with five minutes remaining in the frame.
- K-State shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field and recorded a season-high 21 assists.
- Defensively, the Wildcats limited UTRGV to a 25.9 percent (15-of-58) effort including 8.7 percent (2-of-23) from beyond the arc. K-State pocketed a season-high 11 steals and blocked a season-high five shots.

QUICK FACTS
- The Wildcats lead the series with UTRGV, 6-0. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 12-1 in his career against UTRGV. K-State is 21-3 in games against current members of the Southland Conference.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 694-396 (.637), including a mark of 240-161 (.599).
- K-State is 424-166 (.719) in its 39th-season inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 154-58 (.726) record under Mittie.
- The Wildcats are 174-60 (.744) in games played in the month of November. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 60-17 (.779) 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 third time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 39th career start for Sides. This was the 38th career start for Garcia. Claessens made her 36th career start. Nde and Tampakou made their third starts.
- The Wildcats held a 34-17 lead at halftime on Sunday. Under Mittie, K-State is 190-24 (.888) when leading at halftime.
- The Wildcats held UTRGV to seven points and nine points in the second and third quarters on Sunday. K-State is 125-31 (.801) when holding an opponent to single digits in any quarter in a game. K-State is 2-0 this season when limiting foes to nine or fewer points in any quarter.
- K-State is 70-1 under Jeff Mittie when allowing 49 or fewer points in a game and are 155-18 when limiting foes to 60 or fewer points.
- Over the last 18 years, K-State is 123-9 (.932) when handing out 20 or more assists in a game.

PLAYER NOTES
- Claessens tallied her 23^rd career game with 10 or more points, including her second this season.
- Claessens hauled in five rebounds on Sunday. This was her 18th career game with five or more rebounds.
- Claessens pocketed two steals. This was her 16th career game with two or more steals.
- Nde carded her second game this season with 10 or more points.
- Nde registered her third game this season with five or more rebounds.
- Taryn Sides connected on one 3-point field goals. She ranks ninth in program history for career 3-point field goals made with 200.
- Sides dished out eight assists on Sunday. With her total, she improved her career number to 342 and moved into 13th on the K-State career assists list. This was her 30th career game with five or more assists.
- Sides pocketed three steals on Sunday. This was her 35th career game with two or more steals.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the defensive growth shown in this game…
"The most growth from our team has just occurred in how sound we've gotten. We've gotten more sound in each game, more disciplined each game, a better understanding, better trust. That has been the biggest improvement. It hasn't been anything schematically. It hasn't been anything that we've changed. It's just that we were playing really hard, but not very disciplined two weeks ago, and I think there is a positive out of playing a lot of games. It's kind of testing if you can stay disciplined because you're playing a variety of different teams. But I've been pretty pleased with that aspect of it."

On the offensive performance from the bigs…
"[Tzoana Tampakou] got off to a good start, and obviously we're rotating centers right now. So, in the rotation of that, you know, I think Jo came back in each time and made a big difference. You saw, I thought, a good stretch of a couple minutes there with [Ivona Scekic] as well. [Cristina Osazuwa] is struggling right now, and her confidence is down, but she just needs to stay the course. I think we've got a decent rotation there. They have to continue to improve, but I like that Jo has really finished at a high level the last couple games and is making good progress."

On the offensive balance shown without Taryn Sides being a major part of the offense…
"I think it's good to see some balance with Taryn [Sides] not being one of those players. It's rare for us, and we don't want that to be a habit. But we're also going to need to have some games where we can score without her scoring. We need to do a better job of getting Taryn more looks, but I liked her patience today and not forcing too many shots. Doing the other things, I think she ended up with eight assists, only three turnovers, which three may be a little high, but she had the ball in her hands a lot today. So I think that that balance is pretty solid. With where we're at as a team, I think we just got to get more players that are capable of doing that. We need Tea [Cleante] to be more capable of being one of those that on a given night goes for 15, 16, 17 [points]. This is going to be a balanced scoring team, but right now we're definitely not as sharp as we need to be. Not playing as well, but it's better than it was a week ago."

On carrying the momentum throughout the season…
"Well, the best way to do that is to practice well. I keep saying that, but the best way to develop good habits is to come in ready to do everything. It's showing up ready to learn in film, show up ready to work in the weight room, show up ready to work in individual work. Showing up ready. If you're on that roller coaster ride of not showing up engaged in film, then you've wasted an opportunity to get better. If you show up not ready to get better in individual work, you've wasted that opportunity. We need to be more consistent there, and we'll see where we go."

On playing Tuesday morning in the kids game…
"I mean, that's always a unique buzz in the arena at 11 a.m. It's a fun game. I've already bumped into some people yesterday at the football game who were telling me that their kid was really excited because they're coming on Tuesday. So it's a big day for those kids to get out of school, come to a game. We need to perform well and have some fun with it. The kids have fun either way. But it is a unique game, and I think for women's basketball, this has been, across the country, a big emphasis on playing non-conference games early so that kids get this opportunity. So, yeah, looking forward to it."

UP NEXT
K-State completes its home stand on Tuesday morning, as the Wildcats host Montana at 11 a.m. Tuesday's game is K-State's annual Education Day game. For tickets, call (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com/tickets.

Tuesday's game will air on ESPN+. The game 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.