K-State Comes Up Short in Dillons Sunflower Showdown

Saturday, February 21

Manhattan, Kan.

4 p.m.

Kansas State University

15-14,8-8Big 12

Kansas

17-11,7-9Big 12

Kansas

Kansas St.

Photo by: K-State Sports

Photo by: Reece Bachta Photography

Photo by: K-State Sports

Photo by: Reece Bachta Photography

Photo by: K-State Sports

Photo by: Reece Bachta Photography

Feb 21, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)Photo Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State squared the game at halftime with a furious last second quarter run, but Kansas used the free throw line to down the Wildcats on Saturday evening in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, 75-68, at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (15-14, 8-8 Big 12) was paced by senior Tess Heal with 19 points, including 13 in the first half, while adding seven assists and four rebounds.

Junior forward Nastja Claessens added 13 points and four rebounds, while freshman guard Brandie Harrod tallied a career-high 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, four rebounds and tied her career-high with four steals.

Kansas (17-11, 7-9) was led by S'Mya Nichols with 17 points and four assists, while Jaliya Davis added 16 points and nine rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Kansas built a 14-point lead, 33-19, with 3:06 remaining in the second quarter. K-State responded with a 14-0 run to end the half to square the game at 33. Heal registered nine points during the run, including the final seven points of the quarter in the last minute and a half.
- The game was tied five times in the third quarter, as Kansas captured a 48-47 lead entering the final quarter on the strength of a 9-of-11 effort from the free throw line. The Jayhawks made two field goals over the final 8 minutes of the quarter. The Wildcats were paced in the frame by Brandie Harrod with six points.
- The Jayhawks captured a six-point lead, 53-47, with 8:33 remaining in the fourth, but a Jordan Speiser 3-pointer cut the margin in half, 53-50, with 8:09 left.
- K-State pulled to within one, 62-61, with 4:05 remaining in the fourth quarter on a pair of Harrod free throws. An 8-1 run by the Jayhawks pushed the advantage to 70-62 with 2:33 left. Nichols would send Kansas into a nine-point lead, 73-64, with 1:46 left. The Jayhawks would shoot 9-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter to card an 18-of-21 (.857).
- K-State shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field but were held to a 21.1 percent (4-of-19) effort from 3-point range.

QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with Kansas, 82-53. Over the last 54 meetings, K-State is 41-13 against the Jayhawks. The Wildcats are 40-17 in games played in Manhattan. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 22-12 in his career against Kansas, including a 19-7 record at K-State.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 687-392 (.637), including a mark of 233-157 (.597).
- In its 30^th season of play in the Big 12, K-State owns a record of 253-255 (.498) in Big 12 action.
- K-State is 420-164 (.719) in its 38th-season inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 150-56 (.728) record under Mittie.
- The Wildcats are 241-206 (.539) in games played in the month of February. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 44-47 (.484) in games during the second month.

TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Tess Heal, and Taryn Sides and forward Nastja Claessens. This was the sixth time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 28^th career start for Sides. This was the 27^th career start for Garcia. Heal made her 16^th start this season and her 90^th career start. Claessens made her 25^th career start. This was the Harrod's 25^th career start.
- Since the start of the quarter-system in women's college basketball in the 2015-16 season, K-State is 173-74 (.700) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game, including a 13-9 mark this season. The Wildcats have 39 quarters this season with 20 or more points scored.
- This season, K-State owns 41 quarters with an effort of 50.0 percent or better shooting from the field, including the fourth (53.8) quarter on Saturday.

PLAYER NOTES
- Heal reached double figures for the 89^th time in her career, including her 15^th time this season. Heal's collegiate career point total now stands at 1,749 points.
- Claessens reached double figures in scoring for the 16^th time this season.
- Harrod recorded a career-high 13 points. This was her fifth career game with 10 or more points.
- Harrod tied her career-high with four steals on Saturday. She has six games this season with two or more steals, including two games with four or more.
- Speiser connected on two 3-pointers. This was her 14^th game this season with two or more connections from long distance.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the biggest changes between the last minutes of the first half and the entire second half…
"They got really deep, whether it be off the drive or off of the post ups. A lot of those rebounds were just really in tight and hard to rebound that way, because it boils down to positioning, and they're already in there. They're already in tight. I thought they got really deep on post ups, I thought they got really deep on dribble penetration. Those are hard areas, once they get in there to really rebound effectively."

On the challenges when game planning for a player of Jaliya Davis' calliber…
"We're not overly big, if we play certain lineups we're not overly big. And then it turned into a little more small ball to find some offense. But [Davis] is a really good player, she's a heck of an athlete. She does a great job of getting position down there. They do a really good job in their pick and roll that they can also get in their high low game. So they do a good job with all of that stuff. We just, defensively, kind of have to pick our battles right now. The shot of the game was [Lilly Meister] from three. Picked our battle to sag off her a little bit. She hit it, I think they were up three at the time, took it to six. But we're having to do that because we can't physically inside match. So you come out and guard Meister, now they open inside a little bit. So we're not the type of defensive team that can just, for lack of everybody understanding my age, out John Wayne, John Wayne. For those of you that don't understand that reference, Chat GPT is a great reference that will explain it to you."

On the change in strategy after the 22 point loss in the previous meeting against Kansas…
"We played more man to man. We played a little more zone there. Played more man to man this game. Offensively, we were ready for them to really do a better job on [Taryn Sides]. We were going to try to free her up a little differently. This time, we had trouble getting her looks. They did an excellent job on her. We did get some back doors with her in a couple stretches, but those would be the two biggest things that offensively, we tried to get a little more attack from the elbows. We were average offensively today. We needed to be better. KU is a really good offensive team. We needed to be able to match that and we just weren't able to."

On the turnover difference in favor of K-State…
"I think they had a lot of strategy to pack it in. So they weren't harassing a lot of things. Now, they were challenging [Taryn] Sides. They were trying to challenge our guards more than the forwards. But our guards did an excellent job of taking care of the basketball, we did an excellent job there. We did not have the offensive fouls that have plagued us, the illegal screens, those kinds of turnovers. So I thought we played a pretty good game from that standpoint."

On losing to a rival on senior night…
"Nobody wants to lose on senior night. Nobody wants to lose to their rival on senior night. But I think that any of the players, not just the seniors, if they got family in here, they should go have a good meal and enjoy that part of it. The result isn't what you wanted, but can we get better tomorrow? Can we keep our focus there? I kind of equate it to when I was a young coach, and you'd take a tough loss and you'd get home and your three kids would just want to spend some time with you, that was a good thing. It was a good thing for me. It's probably a good thing for them to have some family and some friends around. I told them in the locker room after the game, we all wanted this. We all wanted to compete at the highest level. We all wanted to coach at the highest level. There's pain involved with that sometimes, but it's worth it. I hate it too, but I'll get to work on Baylor tonight, turn the page. You get to work on what I think we can do to get better. And there's a lot of basketball left, so I'm excited about that."

On Brandie Harrod…
"I thought she battled all day long. Offensively, she was a factor. She's making good improvements at the free throw line. She was involved with a lot of plays today and had some good moments. Defensively, I thought she had the best positioning on [Jaliya] Davis. I thought, particularly in that stretch in the first half, I thought she was pretty good. In the second half, maybe they did a better job of getting her deeper. But all in all, I thought Brandie had a good day."

Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
On K-State's guards Gina Garcia and Tess Heal …
"[Gina Garcia] is a terrific player. I watched her a lot, even on the international scene prior to coming here. I've always respected her as a player. And [Tess] Heal didn't get to play in the first matchup, and I thought she played really well today, especially in the first half, she was really a big factor."

On the challenges of game planning since Tess Heal didn't play in their previous matchup…
"We didn't know until the night before in the first game, so we'd already prepared for her to play. So it was just kind of going back to some of the points that we made in terms of her game. She's a crafty player and really uses her body well and is important for their team, for sure."

On how this win affects their postseason hopes…
"Well, today was step one. We're very much in the process of playoff basketball already. We understand that we have a chance to demonstrate to the committee that we're a worthy team but we've got to play well and we have to go win ball games."

On how big winning the rebound battle, 38-19, was….
"That was important, especially when you lose the turnover battle as badly as we did in the first half. We had a pretty good rebound game all night. We got the turnover battle under control. And then I thought we got the free throw battle under control in the second half as well."

FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Senior Guard Tess Heal
On the emotions after the loss on senior day…
"It wasn't the result that we wanted. Obviously, we wanted to get that game because we felt that we didn't play as well as we could when we went to Kansas. So this was a really important one for us and it's extremely disappointing. And I think it was a winnable game, I think we were right there. A couple plays go differently, we rebound the ball a little better. I don't feel like they came out and were just substantially better than us, I think we let ourselves down a little bit. So yeah, it's disappointing, but I appreciate everything everyone did today to make senior day special, despite the loss."

On the shift that occurred between the end of the first half and the last two quarters…
"We amped up our pressure. I thought we moved the ball a little better. I thought we got out and ran. We got some fast break opportunities. We finished the ball really well in those minutes. And then KU made adjustments at halftime, they came out, they moved the ball, they played really good defense, they rebounded really well, and we were just a step behind."

On what was said by Coach Mittie going into a rivalry game…
"He inspires us every game. There's a passion there with the rivalry. It means a lot to him, and it means a lot to some of our players who have been here, like [Taryn Sides] and [Mikayla Parks], but he didn't say anything special, other than let's get it back."

On there being two games left in the regular season…
"It's a huge driver. We're hungry. But like I said, I think we were right there today. A couple things go differently and this game goes the other way. But yeah, Baylor is going to be tough, at Baylor it's always hard. They're a great team, but we're hungry, and we really, really want it, and we all want to play in the postseason. It'd be a first time for me, it would be a first time for most of our team, I think. [Taryn Sides] has obviously been there, [Mikayla Parks] has obviously been there. But other than that, none of us have had the opportunity to play in the NCAA and in a Big 12 tournament, so we really want that opportunity."

K-State Freshman Guard Brandie Harrod
On defense against Jaliya Davis…
"I'm probably most proud of my physicality with her. Last game when we played KU, I felt like I wasn't as physical as I should have been, and her rebounding ability and being able to get off the ground whenever she misses, just really got me off of my game."

On what led to the season-high in points…
"My defense carries over to my offense, so just being aggressive on defense just helped me get to my offense, and even my teammates got the ball to me whenever I was open or available."

Kansas Junior Guard S'Mya Nichols
On getting the season sweep on K-State…
"It was very cool. Honestly, I was just really excited, I was looking forward to it. As soon as we beat them the first time, it was like, that'll be my first time beating them twice. And I really installed the determination factor into my teammates that this is really a big deal, and I think they really showed up and played today."

On her big 4th quarter…
"I was just really comfortable. I don't know why, but it just takes a while for the game to come to me. And I like to say every court that I step on is a court that I can hoop on and I just play freely."

UP NEXT
K-State closes out the road portion of its Big 12 schedule on Monday night at 7 p.m., as the Wildcats visit (15/14) Baylor.

The game will air on ESPN2 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.