The Kansas State Wildcats women’s basketball team starts its season with an abundance of effort and unselfishness. In the Wildcats’ home opener at Bramlage Coliseum, K-State took down the Omaha Mavericks in a 100-35 smackdown.
The Wildcats got the first quarter going by demolishing three-point shots. Shooting at 58.3 percent from beyond the arc, that would be the team’s highest shooting percentage of 3-pointers for the night. At halftime, K-State would explode to a 50-9 lead over the Mavericks. As the night developed, the white and purple jerseys kept speeding up and down the court, pushing pace and getting layups in transition. By the end of the night, K-State racked up 36 points just off of fast breaks.
Even though Omaha was in the dust, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie left the game feeling that the team was somewhat out of sync.
“I think watching us tonight, it would be hard to gauge in the half-court what we’re good at,” Mittie said. “I don’t mean that critically of our team. I just don’t think we were in it enough to really get a gauge of what kind of rhythm that was going to take.”
Tallying points on the board was not the concern for the Wildcats since they shot 55 percent from field goal range. An area of concern and need for discipline is on the defensive side of the floor.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on just the fundamentals defensively,” Mittie said. “From that standpoint, I was a little disappointed, because way too many fouls, way too many hand checks. That’s an area that we’ve invested time in, so that’s disappointing.”
While there is always room for improvement, five Wildcats were offensively sound and hit double figures.
Izela Arenas, a sophomore guard, led the team in points for the evening. Arenas scored 18 points, four rebounds and three assists.
“I thought Arenas played really well,” Mittie said. “I liked her defense better tonight. It’s an area that we’ve asked her to be peskier and more disruptive. And I thought she was pretty good tonight.”
Almost getting a triple-double, junior guard Taryn Sides tallied her second career double-double and her first with points and assists, having 15 points, 7 rebounds and led in assists with 12.
“It’ll be interesting as we progress as a basketball team, whether she’s off the ball more or with the ball more,” Mittie said. “That’s something that we’re still experimenting with, but really good performance by her.”
Attributing to all three sections of the stats, junior forward Nastja Claessens had 12 points, six rebounds and one assist.
Sophomore forward Janessa Cotton attributed 11 points, going 5-for-5 and eight rebounds.
“I really thought she got off to a nice start,” Mittie said. “I thought she had a good couple of days at practice. It looked like she was starting to see things better, and it looked like the game was slowing down for her.
The transfer from Duke has a solid skill set already, but needs time to refine them.
“She just needs time,” Mittie said. “She needs minutes, she needs reps. She’s gonna be a heck of a player.”
Rounding out the double-digit scoring, freshman guard Aniya Foy swiftly dropped 13 points, three rebounds and one assist.
“I think through practice and through just this early fall, we’re starting to get some answers,” Mittie said. “When we’re going into these games, it’s important that we get these players minutes together.”
K-State makes its first regular-season road trip of the 2025-26 season, as the Wildcats visit SMU on Saturday at 4 p.m.
