AMES, Iowa – K-State battled (rv/25) Iowa State to the final whistle on Sunday at Hilton Coliseum, but the Cyclones captured a 76-72 decision to begin the final two-game road trip of the season for the Wildcats.
K-State (14-13, 7-7 Big 12) was led by junior guard Taryn Sides with a game-high 23 points, including 20 in the second half, on 8-of-17 shooting, including 3-of-6 from long distance. She added four assists and two steals to her final line.
Joining Sides in double figures were freshmen Gina Garcia and Jordan Speiser with 11 points each. Speiser added seven rebounds to her stat line.
Iowa State (20-6, 8-6) saw Jada Williams pace their scoring with 22 and added nine assists despite eight turnovers. Audi Crooks carded 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Aniya Foy would stake K-State to a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 20-19, as she scored seven points in the frame including a 5-of-5 effort from the foul line. The Wildcats shot just 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the field in the opening frame, buy carded a 91.7 percent (11-of-12) effort at the foul line.
- Iowa State would win the second quarter, 18-10, as the Wildcats shot 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the field and were limited to 50.0 percent (1-of-2) at the foul line. The Cyclones were held to 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from the floor but carded a 50.0 percent (3-of-6) effort from beyond the arc.
- In a disjointed first half, K-State shot 26.7 percent from the floor (8-of-30) with just seven turnovers, but had five players with two or more fouls. Iowa State shot 44.0 percent (11-of-25) but tallied 12 turnovers and had four players with two fouls each.
- The Wildcats closed to within two, 44-42, as Taryn Sides scored five points during an 8-2 run over a one-minute stretch in the third quarter. The Cyclones would push the lead to 10, 54-44, with two minutes remaining.
- Iowa State pushed the margin to 13, 62-49, with a 6-0 run to open the fourth quarter. K-State answered with an 8-0 run to pull to within five, 62-57, and force an Iowa State timeout with 5:57 remaining following a Sides 3-pointer.
- K-State used an 11-2 run to close to one, 69-68, with 1:20 left in the fourth. A Kenzie Hare 3-pointer would push the Cyclones in front, 72-68, with 56 seconds remaining.
- The Cyclones would seal its win from the foul line in the final 30 seconds, going 4-of-4 from Williams.
- K-State shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field including 35.0 percent (7-of-20) from long distance.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series, 55-51. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 9-21 in his career against Iowa State. The Wildcats are 18-30 in games played in Ames.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 686-391 (.637), including a mark of 232-156 (.598).
- In its 30th season of play in the Big 12, K-State owns a record of 252-254 (.498) in Big 12 action.
- The Wildcats are 304-334 (.476) in road games during its 58-season history. Under Mittie, K-State is 55-77 (.417) in road games.
- The Wildcats are 240-205 (.539) in games played in the month of February. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 43-46 (.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 fourth time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 26th career start for Sides. This was the 25th career start for Garcia. Heal made her 14th start this season and her 88th career start. Claessens made her 23rd career start. This was the Harrod’s 23rd career start.
- Since the start of the quarter-system in women’s college basketball in the 2015-16 season, K-State is 172-73 (.702) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game, including a 12-8 mark this season. The Wildcats have 36 quarters this season with 20 or more points scored.
- This was the 16th time (10-6) this season K-State has scored 70 or more points in a game. Since the 2014-15 season, K-State is 141-26 (.844) when scoring 70 or more points in a game.
- This season, K-State owns 38 quarters with an effort of 50.0 percent or better shooting from the field, including the fourth (53.3) quarter on Sunday.
- K-State carded a 30-26 advantage in points in the paint. The Wildcats have had the edge in the paint in 15 games and have tallied 30 or more points in the paint in 15 games.
PLAYER NOTES
- Sides notched her eighth career game with 20 or more points, including her sixth this season. She has tallied 10 or more points for the 34th time in her career and 16th time this season.
- Sides buried three 3-pointers on Sunday. Sides garnered her 19th game this season and the 50th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range. She remains in 11th in program history for career 3-pointers with 175.
- Sides dished out four assists. She is tied for 17th on the K-State career assists list with 294 assists.
- Speiser tallied 11 points on Sunday. This was her 13th game this season with 10 or more points.
- Speiser connected on two 3-pointers on Sunday. This was her 12th game this season with two or more connections from long distance.
- Speiser pulled in seven rebounds. This was her ninth game this season with five or more rebounds.
- Claessens pulled down nine rebounds on Sunday. This was her ninth career game with five or more rebounds.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the difference today…
“One or two of our better defenders got in a lot of foul trouble early in this game, it put us in a difficult spot in terms of just our rotations. Proud of the group for battling back. We battled back. We had a double-digit deficit in the second half that we battled back from, gave us a chance. And ultimately, you know, Williams hits the free throws that she's got to hit. And I thought we did a lot of really good things. I thought the bench gave us a lift. I thought where Ramiya White battled all day defensively gave us a lift there. It just came up a little bit short.”
On defense on Crooks…
“I thought it was pretty good early. I thought we were late on some things, too deep post position, but I did think that Ramiya made a difference there. I thought our backside help was getting there better as the game went on. I thought that was a positive force. But certainly (Audi) Crooks caused you a lot of problems. You got to give up something, and the deeper you get in help, the more those shooters are open. I thought for us, it boiled down to us offensively at times getting pretty stagnant. I thought we were too one on one in times of this game. And I thought when we played better together and our spacing was better, we played pretty well.”
UP NEXT
K-State ends its a two-game road trip on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (CT), as the Wildcats visit UCF.