A New Record to Begin a New Season
Mar 05, 2026 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
After watching his team scorch the nets from long range better than any team in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament and witnessing the continued growth of the nation's youngest Power 4 squad as No. 12 seed Kansas State coasted to a 91-66 victory over No. 13-seed Cincinnati on Wednesday, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, "That was a lot of fun to watch."
K-State, 16-16, broke an 18-year Big 12 Women's Tournament record and tied the school record by sinking 17 3-pointers behind the soft touch of several players, including a school record-tying six 3-pointers by freshman Jordan Speiser, and the Wildcats rolled to a 40-29 halftime lead while sending the Bearcats, 11-20, to a forgettable finish at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Wildcats face No. 5-seed and 21st-ranked Texas Tech, 25-6, at 11:00 a.m. Thursday on the same shiny basketball court where they shot 50.8% (33-of-65) from the floor, including 53.1% (17-of-32) from 3-point range — emphatically lighting it up while holding the Bearcats to just 33.3% (23-of-69) shooting.
"Our shot decisions are better overall as a group," Mittie said. "They know who they are better than they did two months ago. They've gone through the hills and valleys of the season. When you're a young team — I think we're the youngest in the Power 4 — it's hard to see growth when you're not getting the results that you want all the time.
"I can tell you when I watch film, I see a lot of growth, and I see a lot of good things from all of them."
Speiser, the No. 4-rated high school shooting guard by 247Sports who arrived at K-State as the highest-rated signee in school history, put on a show while coming off the bench to nail six 3-pointers en route to a career-high 20-point performance in 21 minutes. Junior Taryn Sides scored 20 points with five 3-pointers. Nastja Claessens also hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points.
It was the first time in history that three players made at least five 3-pointers in a game for K-State, which became the 11th team in the nation and the first Big 12 team since at least 1999-2000 to reach such a feat.
Speiser became the first K-State player in 23 years to hit six 3-pointers in a Big 12 Tournament game. K-State great Laurie Koehn did so against Baylor on March 12, 2003. Speiser made 3-of-4 3-pointers while the Wildcats made seven as a team to outscore the Bearcats 27-13 in the third quarter. The Wildcats ran away with a 29-point lead in the fourth.
"I don't even know what to think, honestly," said Speiser, who has hit 14 3-pointers in her last three games and has now hit at least two 3-pointers in 17 games. "It's really awesome to hear (about the record), but I owe it to my teammates. All my shots came off one-more passes. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to get it done.
"Just the energy that we gave each other, that really helped to go into the way I played today."
Claessens had eight rebounds, Sides added five rebounds, five assists and two steals, and freshman Gina Garcia had a career high-tying 10 assists. Freshman Brandie Harrod added nine points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
K-State's feat in scoring 91 points for its most points ever in a Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament game should not be taken lightly. This was a squad that features 10 of 13 players on the roster who are either true freshmen or sophomores. Ten players hadn't even played a game at K-State entering the season.
The Wildcats are finding star power behind some of their newcomers. That includes Garcia, who entered Wednesday leading all Big 12 freshmen and ranked fourth in the nation for assists by a freshman with 151. Now she has 161 behind her career high-tying 10 against the Bearcats.
"Gina is the player on the floor that has great awareness to who needs the ball when they need to get it," Mittie said. "When Jordan hit her stretch, she's got the fun play right in front of the bench. You can see that coming at half court. Gina knows Jordan is trailing her. She's just got to get deep enough to get Jordan a play behind her, which Jordan has such great range. She doesn't have to get too deep.
"Gina has continued to grow throughout the year."
Mya Perry made four 3-pointers and scored 23 points for the Bearcats, Destiny Thomas added a season-high 13 points and All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection Caliyah DeVillasee had 10, but K-State improved to 5-0 all-time against Cincinnati.
The win that gave K-State's season at least one more day in Kansas City also snapped a 3-game losing streak by the Wildcats. The win also marked the Wildcats' first victory away from Manhattan since a February 18 win at UCF.
Such trends sometimes don't matter when it comes to playing in March.
"We came in with the mindset that it's a new season," said Sides, who entered the season as the only returning player to score a point last season in a K-State uniform. "We're going to take it one game at a time, but we want to be here all weekend. The preparation from this year, from this summer, it all comes to fruition right now."
It starts up again at 11:00 a.m. Thursday. That's when K-State looks to take another step against a very familiar foe in Texas Tech. K-State leads the all-time series 32-17 and is on a four-game winning streak over the Lady Raiders.
That includes arguably K-State's biggest win of the season — a 65-59 win on January 17 at Lubbock, Texas, that snapped Texas Tech's 19-0 undefeated start to the season.
"We are coming in with the mindset of a new season," Speiser said. "We're going to give it our all, that's for sure."
After watching his team scorch the nets from long range better than any team in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament and witnessing the continued growth of the nation's youngest Power 4 squad as No. 12 seed Kansas State coasted to a 91-66 victory over No. 13-seed Cincinnati on Wednesday, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, "That was a lot of fun to watch."
K-State, 16-16, broke an 18-year Big 12 Women's Tournament record and tied the school record by sinking 17 3-pointers behind the soft touch of several players, including a school record-tying six 3-pointers by freshman Jordan Speiser, and the Wildcats rolled to a 40-29 halftime lead while sending the Bearcats, 11-20, to a forgettable finish at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Wildcats face No. 5-seed and 21st-ranked Texas Tech, 25-6, at 11:00 a.m. Thursday on the same shiny basketball court where they shot 50.8% (33-of-65) from the floor, including 53.1% (17-of-32) from 3-point range — emphatically lighting it up while holding the Bearcats to just 33.3% (23-of-69) shooting.
"Our shot decisions are better overall as a group," Mittie said. "They know who they are better than they did two months ago. They've gone through the hills and valleys of the season. When you're a young team — I think we're the youngest in the Power 4 — it's hard to see growth when you're not getting the results that you want all the time.
"I can tell you when I watch film, I see a lot of growth, and I see a lot of good things from all of them."
Speiser, the No. 4-rated high school shooting guard by 247Sports who arrived at K-State as the highest-rated signee in school history, put on a show while coming off the bench to nail six 3-pointers en route to a career-high 20-point performance in 21 minutes. Junior Taryn Sides scored 20 points with five 3-pointers. Nastja Claessens also hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points.
It was the first time in history that three players made at least five 3-pointers in a game for K-State, which became the 11th team in the nation and the first Big 12 team since at least 1999-2000 to reach such a feat.
Speiser became the first K-State player in 23 years to hit six 3-pointers in a Big 12 Tournament game. K-State great Laurie Koehn did so against Baylor on March 12, 2003. Speiser made 3-of-4 3-pointers while the Wildcats made seven as a team to outscore the Bearcats 27-13 in the third quarter. The Wildcats ran away with a 29-point lead in the fourth.
"I don't even know what to think, honestly," said Speiser, who has hit 14 3-pointers in her last three games and has now hit at least two 3-pointers in 17 games. "It's really awesome to hear (about the record), but I owe it to my teammates. All my shots came off one-more passes. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to get it done.
"Just the energy that we gave each other, that really helped to go into the way I played today."
Claessens had eight rebounds, Sides added five rebounds, five assists and two steals, and freshman Gina Garcia had a career high-tying 10 assists. Freshman Brandie Harrod added nine points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
K-State's feat in scoring 91 points for its most points ever in a Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament game should not be taken lightly. This was a squad that features 10 of 13 players on the roster who are either true freshmen or sophomores. Ten players hadn't even played a game at K-State entering the season.
The Wildcats are finding star power behind some of their newcomers. That includes Garcia, who entered Wednesday leading all Big 12 freshmen and ranked fourth in the nation for assists by a freshman with 151. Now she has 161 behind her career high-tying 10 against the Bearcats.
"Gina is the player on the floor that has great awareness to who needs the ball when they need to get it," Mittie said. "When Jordan hit her stretch, she's got the fun play right in front of the bench. You can see that coming at half court. Gina knows Jordan is trailing her. She's just got to get deep enough to get Jordan a play behind her, which Jordan has such great range. She doesn't have to get too deep.
"Gina has continued to grow throughout the year."
Mya Perry made four 3-pointers and scored 23 points for the Bearcats, Destiny Thomas added a season-high 13 points and All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection Caliyah DeVillasee had 10, but K-State improved to 5-0 all-time against Cincinnati.
The win that gave K-State's season at least one more day in Kansas City also snapped a 3-game losing streak by the Wildcats. The win also marked the Wildcats' first victory away from Manhattan since a February 18 win at UCF.
Such trends sometimes don't matter when it comes to playing in March.
"We came in with the mindset that it's a new season," said Sides, who entered the season as the only returning player to score a point last season in a K-State uniform. "We're going to take it one game at a time, but we want to be here all weekend. The preparation from this year, from this summer, it all comes to fruition right now."
It starts up again at 11:00 a.m. Thursday. That's when K-State looks to take another step against a very familiar foe in Texas Tech. K-State leads the all-time series 32-17 and is on a four-game winning streak over the Lady Raiders.
That includes arguably K-State's biggest win of the season — a 65-59 win on January 17 at Lubbock, Texas, that snapped Texas Tech's 19-0 undefeated start to the season.
"We are coming in with the mindset of a new season," Speiser said. "We're going to give it our all, that's for sure."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballROW | Ava Werner Senior Video
Thursday, March 05
K-State Women's Basketball | Postgame Highlights vs Cincinnati (Big 12 Tournament First Round)
Wednesday, March 04
K-State Women's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference vs Cincinnati (Big 12 Tournament First Round)
Wednesday, March 04
K-State Football | Jeremy Jacobs press conference
Wednesday, March 04
