K-State Paced by Claessens in Win Over BYU

Saturday, February 7

Manhattan, Kan.

4 p.m.

Kansas State University

13-12,6-6Big 12

BYU

16-8,5-7Big 12

BYU

Kansas St.

K-State National Girls and Women in Sports Day, February 7, 2026.

Final: K-State 77, BYU 52

Photo by: Gabriella Whisler/K-State Sports

Photo by: Reece Bachta Photography

Feb 07, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)Photo Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kansas – Behind a career-high performance from Nastja Claessens, K-State registered a 77-52 win over BYU on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (13-12, 6-6 Big 12) was led by Claessens with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting including 4-of-6 from long distance. She added four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Claessens, a product of Waregem, Belgium, is the second international player in program history with three or more game with 20 or more points scored.

Joining Claessens in double figures was freshman guard Gina Garcia with 12 points, three assists and three steals. Senior guard Tess Heal added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Junior guard Taryn Sides handed out 13 assists to go with seven points and five rebounds. She is the only player in the nation this season with two or more games with 12 or more assists and zero turnovers.

BYU (16-8, 5-7) was led by Delaney Gibb with 11 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- K-State held a four-point advantage at the end of the first quarter and scored the first six points of the second stanza to build a 10-point margin, 24-14, with 8:22 remaining following a Garcia layup.
- The Wildcats maintained a 10-point lead following a Jordan Speiser 3-pointer with 3:15 left to send the score to 32-22.
- BYU would narrow the K-State lead to five, 35-30, on five quick points from Marya Hudgins but free throws from Claessens and Heal sent the Wildcats into halftime with a 38-30 lead.
- With a 14-2 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter, K-State improved its lead to 20, 52-32. During the run, Brandie Harrod carded six points, while Heal and Garcia added four apiece.
- The Wildcats would hold BYU to nine points in the third quarter on 1-of-14 shooting (.071) from the field, as K-State would hold a 57-39 lead entering the final quarter.
- The Cougars forced K-State into a timeout less than a minute into the fourth frame, as BYU scored four quick points to narrow the game to 14, 57-43.
- K-State responded with an 18-3 run over the next six minutes to push its advantage to 29, 75-46, following a jumper from Ivona Scekic with 3:43 remaining.
- The Wildcats held BYU to 21.4 percent (6-of-28) shooting for the entirety of the second half, as K-State outscored BYU in the last 20 minutes, 39-22.
- For the game, K-State shot 47.6 percent (30-of-63), including 40.0 percent (8-of-20) from three-point range. The Wildcats dished out 22 assists on its 30 made field goals.

QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series, 6-0. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 10-8 in his career against BYU. The Wildcats are 3-0 in games played in Manhattan.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 685-390 (.637), including a mark of 231-155 (.598).
- In its 30^th season of play in the Big 12, K-State owns a record of 251-253 (.498) in Big 12 action.
- K-State is 419-163 (.720) in its 38th-season inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 149-55 (.730) record under Mittie.
- The Wildcats are 239-204 (.540) in games played in the month of February. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 42-45 (.483) 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 second time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 24^th career start for Sides. This was the 23^rd career start for Garcia. Heal made her 12^th start this season and her 86^th career start. Claessens made her 21^st career start. This was the Harrod's 21^st career start.
- The Wildcats held a 37-24 lead at halftime on Sunday. Under Mittie, K-State is 182-22 (.892) when leading at halftime, including a 6-1 mark this season.
- Since the 2011-12 season, K-State is 211-93 (.694) when three or more players reach double figures in scoring in the same game. The Wildcats are 11-6 this season when this occurs.
- Since the start of the quarter-system in women's college basketball in the 2015-16 season, K-State is 171-72 (.704) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game, including an 11-7 mark this season. The Wildcats have 32 quarters this season with 20 or more points scored.
- This season, K-State owns 35 quarters with an effort of 50.0 percent or better shooting from the field, including the first (53.8) and third (61.5) quarters on Saturday.
- K-State owns a record of 121-31 (.796) when holding an opponent to single digits in any quarter in a game, including a 7-2 record this season. The Wildcats held BYU to nine points in the third quarter on Saturday. This was the 11^th quarter this season holding an opponent to single digits in a quarter.
- K-State carded a 30-7 advantage in points off turnovers. This was the third time this season K-State has scored 30 or more points off turnovers.

PLAYER NOTES
- Claessens reached double figures in scoring for the 13^th time this season.
- Claessens tied her career-high with 4 three-pointers. This was her fifth game this season with two or more connections from long range.
- Sides dished out a career-best 13 assists. Her 13 assists are tied for third in program history for a single game. She moved into 18^th on the K-State career assists list with 288 assists. She carded her third career game, including her second this season, with 10 or more assists. This was her 25^th career game and her 10^th this season with five or more assists.
- Brandie Harrod tied her career-high with 10 rebounds on Saturday, including five offensive boards. She tallied her second career game with 10 or more boards. This was her 15^th career game with five or more rebounds. She ranks fourth in program history for offensive rebounds in a freshman season with 59.
- Heal reached double figures for the 86^th time in her career, including her 12^th time this season. Heal's collegiate career point total now stands at 1,699 points.
- Heal hauled in seven rebounds on Saturday. This was her 37^th career game, including her eighth this season with five or more rebounds.
- Garcia reached double figures in points for the fifth time this season and third time in Big 12 action.
- Ivona Scekic sent back a career-high four shots on Saturday. This was her second career game with two or more blocks.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the overall completeness of the team's performance…
"I think at both ends for sure. I would say that we played very well together, very connected all day long. And I thought the start was a good, solid start. Sometimes the start doesn't from a results standpoint, everybody's always caught up in the score, but from a coaching perspective, you want to get things established. You want to get ball movement established. You want to get your attack established. Defensively, you want to see how connected your team is in the game plan. And from that standpoint, I felt like we were solid. I felt that we were getting better as the game went on. And that's what you want to see."

On Nastja Claessens' performance…
"Yeah, well, it makes a big difference, right? Makes a big difference. And I thought [Nastja Claessen's] aggressiveness was really good. I did think it started at the defensive end on [Delaney Gibb], she drew a tough assignment there. I thought she did an excellent job with it. I thought [Brandie Harrod] had an excellent start defensively. I thought those two because they were involved in the trap on Gibb early, and then they were involved in some switching action. And I thought those two really were connected defensively all day long. And then I think it carried over to the offense. I think she had a good rhythm. I think her focus was really good activity. And the ball moved. The ball moved to her well today."

On Taryn Sides' 13-assist performance…
"Well, the 13 assists are pretty special. People have to make shots, but you're finding the right player. The zero turnovers is really what I'm really impressed with, because we're coming off of a couple games where we've had trouble with that as a team, so [Taryn Sides] really protected the ball well today."

On the quick turnaround between games…
"Yeah, I was really concerned. We were a really tired team yesterday. Yesterday's practice was really tired, and we had some players that normally aren't tired. [Gina Garcia], we have team dinner the night before games, so we had that at six o'clock, and I asked her, I said, 'you get a nap this afternoon?' She goes, 'I did two hours, and I feel a lot better.' And the season's a grind. Sometimes it hits players differently, but our group overall was pretty tired. I'm glad we didn't play yesterday. Today, we had good energy at the shootaround. Looked to be refreshed a little bit, but certainly glad to have a good bounce back game."

On how they were able to take advantage of turnovers…
"I think we just passed the ball to the right player today. I feel at times that we haven't moved the ball very well. We haven't played together very well. Today, I thought we played together very well, probably the best we've seen all year, of players not forcing things, taking what the defense gave them when we got turnovers. I thought our spacing was really, really good, but you're right. We haven't converted those plays very well, and today, hopefully, is a big step forward to us, because today we certainly did."

BYU Head Coach Lee Cummard
Opening Statement…
"Overall, they were really, really spectacular today. They were on it defensively. I was equally as impressed with them offensively. I thought they had us in rotation. Most of the night kind of had us flying around because they create an advantage and then defensively, see what the film says. Maybe we're easy to guard, but they did a tremendous job guarding as well, and credit to them, scary team. You know, as we come down this stretch, glad we don't have to play them a second time and in conference play."

On how K-State affected their game…
"I mean, it's kind of been us most of the year. Some of it was sloppy, some of it was them defensively, and then even giving up turnovers. We shouldn't give up those points. They were just on it. Number four, Claessens got it started early, and she kept it going all night, and just kind of seemed like every one of their players did a great job of keeping the ball in an advantageous situation, and did a good job of letting the defense dictate whose turn it was to shoot. And I know Sides didn't score a whole lot tonight for her, but she was tremendous, you know, just distributing and making plays for her team."

On the third quarter….
"Almost every other thing, every other quarter, we didn't make as many shots as why it was so drastic between that quarter and others. But there were a couple positions where we missed some of our assignments and it just turned into us in rotations or layup or turnover to a layup that we need to fix, and we have to get back to some of the little things you know that make us good guarding who we're guarding and being in our position defensively to help as a collective unit."

FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Junior Forward Nastja Claessens
On how she feels postgame…
"Really good to get the win after last week, it was a team effort. We played well, passed the ball well. So, to end the game like this, it just feels amazing."

On round of applause after leaving the game…
"It's just nice that the fans come and we deliver something to the fans and play well, it really means something. They keep cheering you on, so it's really nice to end the game like that."

On coach's message after the Arizona loss…
"I think just playing hard. When we play hard, we pass the ball really well. I think we're a really good team, and he said that in practice, and I think we're ready for this game, because the feeling after the game against Arizona was not the greatest. So we really wanted to come out today and have a great game. And I think we did that."

On having this game as an example moving forward…
"It is nice, but we had different games this season like that, so we just have to keep focusing and trying to keep working hard and winning games."

On sharing the ball…
"Yes, I think Coach Mittie really focuses on that, and really tells us that every practice that we have to share the ball, look for the easiest options. And we did that today, and we won. So I think that's a good thing."

On the impact Tess has and her return…
"Yeah, Tess is a great leader on and off the court, and just having her in the team and being able to play, she brings like a competitive aspect to the team, I feel like, and she always gives great, great advice and is always positive. So it's really nice to have her back."

UP NEXT
K-State ends its two-game homestand on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., as the Wildcats host Oklahoma State. For tickets call (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com/tickets.

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.