MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State women’s basketball head coach Jeff Mittie has added a decorated backcourt piece to the 2025-26 roster, as Tess Heal has signed with the Wildcats.
Heal is a product of Melbourne, Australia, and is the second player in program history from Australia (Rebekah Dallinger, 2021-24).
The 5-10 guard played the 2024-25 season at Stanford, where she was the only player in NCAA Division I last season to card a field goal percentage of 50.0 percent or better (.503) and a three-point percentage of 45.0 percent or better (.493) (min. of 2 three-point attempts per game; 30 or more games played).
Heal tallied 239 points (8.0 ppg) with 11 games in double figures including a season-high 24 points at Wake Forest on January 26. She hauled in 60 rebounds (2.0 rpg) and dished out 35 assists (1.2 apg) while pocketing 14 steals and blocked eight shots.
Prior to her season at Stanford, Heal played her first two seasons of collegiate basketball at Santa Clara in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. During her time with the Broncos, Heal was a two-time All-West Coast Conference (WCC) First Team selection, the 2023 WCC Newcomer of the Year and named to the 2023 WCC All-Freshman Team. She was a six-time WCC Player of the Week recipient and set the conference-record as a 12-time WCC Freshman of the Week.
While with Santa Clara, Heal averaged 18.6 points on a .472 field goal percentage, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 32.2 minutes of action. Over her two seasons at Santa Clara, Heal was one of three players in the nation (Caitlin Clark, Iowa; Rachael Rose, Wofford) to shoot at least 45.0 percent from the field and average 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.
She ranks 11th in Santa Clara women’s basketball history for career points (1,225), second in scoring average (18.6), fifth in free throws made (332), second in free throw percentage (.867) and 10th in assists (296).
Before coming to the United States, Heal played for the Australian U19 and U18 national teams. In 2023, Heal averaged 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Madrid, Spain. In 2022, Heal helped Australia to a gold medal at the FIBA U18 Asian Championship. Division A in Bengaluru, India, where she averaged 7.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
She played with the Victoria Metro at the U18 2021 Grand Final in the Australian Junior Championships, where she registered a double-double of 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the final. She captained the Victoria Metro at three Junior National Championships, where she led the squad to two gold medals and a silver.
K-State concluded the 2024-25 season with its 19th NCAA Tournament bid and the fourth Sweet 16 appearance in program history. The Wildcats registered the second-most wins in a season in school history with 28 and tied for the second-most wins in a two-season span (54). K-State was ranked in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls for the entirety of the season.