FORT WORTH, TEXAS – K-State opened its 30th season of Big 12 women’s basketball on Saturday evening at (9/7) TCU and the homestanding Horned Frogs downed the Wildcats 77-55 at Schollmaier Arena. TCU improved its home court win streak to 34 straight games.
K-State (7-7, 0-1 Big 12) was paced by junior guard Taryn Sides and sophomore forward Jenessa Cotton with 10 points each.
The Horned Frogs were led by graduate transfer guard Olivia Miles with a game-high 29 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– TCU (12-1, 0-1) had entered Saturday’s matchup trailing in its previous 12 games for just 6:13 of game action. The Wildcats were able to hold the lead for 4:39 in the first quarter with its final advantage of the opening frame coming with 2:23 remaining on a Jenessa Cotton baseline jumper. Cotton would pace the Wildcats with six points in the quarter.
– The Horned Frogs would cap the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 20-15 advantage into the second quarter.
– TCU extended its run to 15-2 and built its lead to 12, 29-17, and force a K-State timeout with 5:57 to play in the second quarter following a three-pointer from Marta Suarez.
– K-State cut the deficit to seven, 29-22, as freshman guard Aniya Foy finished an offensive rebound with a putback layup with 4:38 remaining. The Horned Frogs quickly pushed the advantage back to 15, 37-22, with 50 seconds remaining. The Wildcats pulled back to with 13, 39-26, at halftime as freshman Brandie Harrod beat the halftime buzzer with an acrobatic layup.
– K-State was held to 32.3 percent shooting (10-of-31) from the field including 22.2 percent (2-of-9). TCU shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field in the first half.
– The Wildcats were limited to 27.8 percent (5-of-18) shooting in the third quarter, as TCU outscored K-State, 20-11, in the frame to build a 59-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
– K-State cut into the margin in the fourth quarter, pulling to within 17 three times midway through the stanza. A 7-1 run from the Horned Frogs increased the margin back to 23, 74-51, with 2:18 left.
– K-State and TCU would split the fourth quarter, 18-18, as the Wildcats shot 42.9 percent (6-of-14)
– For the evening, K-State checked in a 33.3 percent (21-of-63) from the field and were held to 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from long distance.
QUICK FACTS
– TCU leads the series with K-State, 13-12. The Wildcats are 4-8 in games played in Fort Worth. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 12-10 in his career against TCU.
– K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 679-385 (.638), including a mark of 225-150 (.600).
– In its 30th season of play in the Big 12, K-State owns a record of 245-248 (.497) in Big 12 action.
– The Wildcats are 301-331 (.476) in road games during its 58-season history. Under Mittie, K-State is 52-74 (.413) in road games.
– The Wildcats are 253-105 (.707) in games played in the month of December. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 52-20 (.722) in games during the 12th month.
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Taryn Sides and forwards Jenessa Cotton and Nastja Claessens. This was the seventh time this lineup has started together this season, the most of any combination this season. This was the 14th career start for Harrod. This was the 13th career start for Sides. This was the 12th career start for Garcia. Cotton made her 10th career start. Claessens made her 10th career start.
PLAYER NOTES
– Cotton recorded her third game this season and of her career with 10 or more points.
– Sides reached double figures for the 27th time in her career and the ninth time this season including her sixth in the last seven games.
– Sides buried two 3-pointers on Saturday. This was her 11th game this season and the 42nd of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range.
– Brandie Harrod hauled in seven rebounds on Saturday. This was her ninth career game with five or more rebounds. She has led K-State in rebounding a team-high five times this season.
– Gina Garcia registered seven assists. This was her eighth career game with five or more assists. She has led K-State in assists in 10 games this season.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the team’s player overall…
“I think too spotty at times. (Olivia) Miles got way too deep, too many layups, too many easy layups. Offensively for us, we seem to have good spots and not good spots. What I liked was probably I thought our freshman did some good things. I thought
Aniya Foy had a really good game. I thought (Brandie) Harrod really battled in some areas. I thought that Gina (Garcia), while she had some struggles today, she did some things well enough that, you know, she ends up with seven assists. So she really does some things well there. I thought Jordan (Speiser), while she had a rough offensive game. I thought she did do some better things defensively down the stretch. They’re really good. They’re very veteran. They play that way, and we don’t play that way right now. We got to grow up quicker. We got to play beyond our years right now, and we have not done that well enough, particularly against a team like them.”
On Jenessa Cotton…
“I thought Jenessa (Cotton) had really good moments in today’s game, and really did. I thought she battled in some stretches. I thought she really knocked that baseline jumper down that we spent some time on coming into this. I thought she had some really good moments.”
On Aniya Foy…
“I would agree with that. I thought she played really well, some of the things she’s still struggling with is when we move her around, and that is kind of giving us some challenges. But you certainly saw, I loved her effort today. I loved her rebounding. I think you really saw the athleticism play. I thought she played faster today, and then as soon as you know, boy, I’m really excited about the break to get her even more comfortable, because we’re seeing more and more of what she can do.”
UP NEXT
K-State starts the home portion of its Big 12 Conference schedule on Wednesday, December 31, as the Wildcats host Cincinnati at 1 p.m. Advance general admission tickets and select concession items are available for just $5. The first 500 fans will receive a free hand fan.
The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard online at kstatesports.com, on the K-State Sports app and the flagship stations of K-State women’s basketball in Manhattan, Sunny 102.5 and 1350 KMAN.
