MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State women’s basketball head coach Jeff Mittie has added a frontcourt piece to the 2025-26 roster, as Jenessa Cotton has signed with the Wildcats.
White, a 6’2” forward from Orange, California, played her first collegiate season in 2024-25 at Duke. She saw action in eight games with 44 minutes played. Cotton carded eight points (1.0 ppg) on a .286 field goal percentage (4-of-14), hauled in six rebounds (0.8 rpg), dished out two assists and blocked two shots.
She made her collegiate debut against K-State on November 25 in Henderson, Nevada. In the following game against Oklahoma, she played a season-high 13 minutes and scored a season-high four points and hauled in a season-high three rebounds.
In her high school career at Mater Dei High School, ranked 80th in the nation in the espnW Top 100 for the class of 2024 and was a four-star prospect and an Elite 150 member by Prospects Nation. She was the 2024 Orange County Register Player of the Year and 2024 Trinity League MVP by averaging 17.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals while leading Mater Dei to a 25-8 overall record and the CIF-SS semifinals. She was a two-time CIF All-Trinity League First Team selection (2023, 2024).
In her junior season, she averaged 12.4 points and 6.1 boards while helping Mater Dei to the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs. She was named a 2023 Cal-Hi Sports All-State Second Team, a 2023 Orange County Register Girls Basketball First Team and a 2023 All-CIF SS Open Division First Team. In her sophomore season, she was a 2022 CIF All-Trinity League Second Team honoree.
K-State concluded the 2024-25 season ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll and 15th in the USA Today Coaches poll and were ranked in both polls for the entirety of the season. The Wildcats achieved the 19th NCAA Tournament bid and the fourth Sweet 16 appearance in program history. K-State 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).