Authoring Another March Story
Mar 07, 2026 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State isn't ready to return to the Little Apple. The bracket-busting, record-setting, hold-onto-your-seat Wildcats are having way too much fun during the most improbable run in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament.
On Wednesday, K-State hit a tournament-record 17 3-pointers in beating Cincinnati. On Thursday, the Wildcats held No. 21 Texas Tech in the fourth quarter to four points, the fewest points scored by a team in any quarter in tournament history.
On Friday, No. 12-seed K-State outlasted No. 4-seed Oklahoma State, 74-73, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, thus becoming the first No. 12 seed to advance to the semifinal round in tournament history.
"You know, I know it makes for a great story, and certainly you guys are all here for that," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, "so I'm glad that we can help you write it, or they could."
It's a story only K-State, 18-16, can author — only because no other team seeded so high in Big 12 Women's Tournament history has done what the Wildcats are doing.
And the Wildcats are writing their tale beautifully.
One day after K-State held No. 5-seed and No. 21-ranked Texas Tech scoreless for the final 7-plus minutes while going on a 21-0 tear in a 58-51 win, the Cardiac Cats used a 9-0 fourth-quarter run to take a 66-65 lead over the Cowgirls — their first lead since it was 17-14.
The back-and-forth game that amazingly featured just two lead changes and three ties never featured a double-digit lead by either team.
In the end, freshman Jordan Speiser saw her 3-pointer bounce high off the rim and into the hoop for a 73-68 lead with 15.5 seconds to go. Then, after a pair of Oklahoma State free throws and a Haleigh Timmer 3-pointer tied it at 73-73 with 4.5 seconds remaining, the Cowgirls mistakenly fouled K-State senior Tess Heal, one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, in the backcourt with 1.3 second to go.
Heal, who entered the game making 86.7% of her free throws this season, made the first foul shot for the lead, intentionally missed the second, and the final buzzer sounded on another higher-seeded foe sent home by this K-State squad, which began the season with 10 of 13 players having never scored a point for the Wildcats, but that has now become one of those March feel-good stories that certainly is near the top of year's best stories in all of K-State Athletics.
"We just have to keep it going," Speiser said, "and doing the same thing we are doing."
K-State faces No. 1-seed and 10th-ranked TCU at 3:00 p.m. Saturday in the Big 12 Women's Tournament semifinals. K-State suffered a 77-55 loss to the Big 12 regular-season champions in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 20.
Here in Kansas City, there's no secret formula for K-State. The Wildcats have gelled like never before, seemingly growing tighter together as each game wears on — now-familiar faces becoming stars behind dogged determination, unselfishness and an innate ability to step up when it matters most.
Speiser, who tied the school record with six 3-pointers against Cincinnati, came off the bench to drain five 3s while scoring a game and career-high 21 points. Junior Nastja Claessens scored 15 points and added five rebounds and five assists. Freshman Aniya Foy came off the bench for 11 points. Junior Taryn Sides added 10 points. Gina Garcia had nine assists to bring her season total to 173 for third-most by a freshman in school history and four helpers from passing Serena Sundell for second.
Then there was Heal, the senior leader who's scored more than 1,800 career points, and who more than anything wanted to play at least one more game during her first and only season with the Wildcats, standing at the free throw line at the end with it all on the line.
Heal finished with three points. Her lone free-throw punched K-State's ticket to history — and to Saturday.
"We're in rhythm," Claessens said. "We've had that game rhythm. We've been here three days."
This is the second time in K-State history and the first since 1997 that the Wildcats have won three games in a Big 12 Tournament.
Oklahoma State, 23-9, was the only team in the Big 12 to utilize the same starting lineup the entire season and ranked No. 15 nationally with both 81.7 points and a scoring margin of 18.7 points. Stailee Heard had 18 points and Jadyn Wooten added 16, but the Cowgirls, who suffered a 70-61 loss to the Wildcats on February 10 in Manhattan, saw the basketball court awash in celebratory Wildcats once again.
"Well, I'll just start by congratulating Kansas State," Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt said. "They are having a very magical thing going on right now, and they played a great game. They're playing really well."
K-State hasn't won three straight games since beating Omaha, SMU and Lamar in the first three games of the season. That was back in November.
Now it's March. And the bracket-busting, record-setting, hold-onto-your-seat Wildcats are going someplace no No. 12 seed has ever gone in the Big 12 Tournament — to the semifinals.
Three up. Three down. Let's go. Down to the final made free throw.
"Great game," Mittie said. "Finish was hectic, to say the least. Proud of my group for really fighting and hanging in there. We got down and thought we had a good response to that. We fought through some fatigue. The pace at one point at the end of the third period was really, really high level, both teams. It was high-level pace, high-level game, people making shots all over the place.
"I'm proud of our group for hanging in there and making big plays down the stretch."
Big plays. Big wins. One beautiful story.
And the Wildcats will try to add to it on Saturday.
Kansas State isn't ready to return to the Little Apple. The bracket-busting, record-setting, hold-onto-your-seat Wildcats are having way too much fun during the most improbable run in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament.
On Wednesday, K-State hit a tournament-record 17 3-pointers in beating Cincinnati. On Thursday, the Wildcats held No. 21 Texas Tech in the fourth quarter to four points, the fewest points scored by a team in any quarter in tournament history.
On Friday, No. 12-seed K-State outlasted No. 4-seed Oklahoma State, 74-73, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, thus becoming the first No. 12 seed to advance to the semifinal round in tournament history.
"You know, I know it makes for a great story, and certainly you guys are all here for that," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, "so I'm glad that we can help you write it, or they could."
It's a story only K-State, 18-16, can author — only because no other team seeded so high in Big 12 Women's Tournament history has done what the Wildcats are doing.
And the Wildcats are writing their tale beautifully.
One day after K-State held No. 5-seed and No. 21-ranked Texas Tech scoreless for the final 7-plus minutes while going on a 21-0 tear in a 58-51 win, the Cardiac Cats used a 9-0 fourth-quarter run to take a 66-65 lead over the Cowgirls — their first lead since it was 17-14.
The back-and-forth game that amazingly featured just two lead changes and three ties never featured a double-digit lead by either team.
In the end, freshman Jordan Speiser saw her 3-pointer bounce high off the rim and into the hoop for a 73-68 lead with 15.5 seconds to go. Then, after a pair of Oklahoma State free throws and a Haleigh Timmer 3-pointer tied it at 73-73 with 4.5 seconds remaining, the Cowgirls mistakenly fouled K-State senior Tess Heal, one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, in the backcourt with 1.3 second to go.
Heal, who entered the game making 86.7% of her free throws this season, made the first foul shot for the lead, intentionally missed the second, and the final buzzer sounded on another higher-seeded foe sent home by this K-State squad, which began the season with 10 of 13 players having never scored a point for the Wildcats, but that has now become one of those March feel-good stories that certainly is near the top of year's best stories in all of K-State Athletics.
"We just have to keep it going," Speiser said, "and doing the same thing we are doing."
K-State faces No. 1-seed and 10th-ranked TCU at 3:00 p.m. Saturday in the Big 12 Women's Tournament semifinals. K-State suffered a 77-55 loss to the Big 12 regular-season champions in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 20.
Here in Kansas City, there's no secret formula for K-State. The Wildcats have gelled like never before, seemingly growing tighter together as each game wears on — now-familiar faces becoming stars behind dogged determination, unselfishness and an innate ability to step up when it matters most.
Speiser, who tied the school record with six 3-pointers against Cincinnati, came off the bench to drain five 3s while scoring a game and career-high 21 points. Junior Nastja Claessens scored 15 points and added five rebounds and five assists. Freshman Aniya Foy came off the bench for 11 points. Junior Taryn Sides added 10 points. Gina Garcia had nine assists to bring her season total to 173 for third-most by a freshman in school history and four helpers from passing Serena Sundell for second.
Then there was Heal, the senior leader who's scored more than 1,800 career points, and who more than anything wanted to play at least one more game during her first and only season with the Wildcats, standing at the free throw line at the end with it all on the line.
Heal finished with three points. Her lone free-throw punched K-State's ticket to history — and to Saturday.
"We're in rhythm," Claessens said. "We've had that game rhythm. We've been here three days."
This is the second time in K-State history and the first since 1997 that the Wildcats have won three games in a Big 12 Tournament.
Oklahoma State, 23-9, was the only team in the Big 12 to utilize the same starting lineup the entire season and ranked No. 15 nationally with both 81.7 points and a scoring margin of 18.7 points. Stailee Heard had 18 points and Jadyn Wooten added 16, but the Cowgirls, who suffered a 70-61 loss to the Wildcats on February 10 in Manhattan, saw the basketball court awash in celebratory Wildcats once again.
"Well, I'll just start by congratulating Kansas State," Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt said. "They are having a very magical thing going on right now, and they played a great game. They're playing really well."
K-State hasn't won three straight games since beating Omaha, SMU and Lamar in the first three games of the season. That was back in November.
Now it's March. And the bracket-busting, record-setting, hold-onto-your-seat Wildcats are going someplace no No. 12 seed has ever gone in the Big 12 Tournament — to the semifinals.
Three up. Three down. Let's go. Down to the final made free throw.
"Great game," Mittie said. "Finish was hectic, to say the least. Proud of my group for really fighting and hanging in there. We got down and thought we had a good response to that. We fought through some fatigue. The pace at one point at the end of the third period was really, really high level, both teams. It was high-level pace, high-level game, people making shots all over the place.
"I'm proud of our group for hanging in there and making big plays down the stretch."
Big plays. Big wins. One beautiful story.
And the Wildcats will try to add to it on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
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