Six lead changes, five ties and a last-second scenario.

The Kansas State Wildcats found themselves down by two against West Virginia in the fourth quarter after the Mountaineers made a jumper in the lane. K-State head coach Jeff Mittie called a timeout with 19.7 seconds on the clock, drawing up a specific play. 

“We had two options on that play,” Mittie said. “We wanted to see if we could free Jordan [Speiser] up for the three with Nas [Nastja Claessens]. If we couldn’t, we wanted to go inside to Nas for the post-up.”

Speiser caught the ball by the sideline of the Wildcats’ bench, but her heel touched the out-of-bounds line, inevitably giving up K-State’s chance to win the game.

Turning over the ball to West Virginia, the Wildcats needed to stop the clock and fouled. Sending a Mountaineer to the stripe, both free throws were made, putting West Virginia up 60-56 with 7.9 seconds left. 

With the ball being inbounded by the K-State bench, Claessens found Taryn Sides at the baseline, where she would try for a layup but miss. Eager to get the rebound, Claessens grabbed the ball and put it up against the glass to be down two points.

Despite the Wildcats’ effort, the game clock was not on their side and ran out before the purple and white could do anything, giving West Virginia the victory, 60-58.

“We knew we were down and we had to get it back,” Tess Heal said. “I was proud of the team’s fight. Didn’t quite get it done, but the effort and the intentionality was there.”

By the end of the game, Heal led the team with 16 points, three steals and one assist. Claessens was close behind with 13 points, one steal and one assist, along with Jordan Speiser, who had 12 points, two assists and one steal.

The whole game was a back-and-forth battle between the Wildcats and Mountaineers, going point for point. 

Claessens would start K-State off hot by swishing a three-pointer for the first points of the game.

Then Sides got a steal at the Wildcats’ three-point line, made a quick bounce pass to Claessens for an easy two points to put K-State back in the lead 5-4.

Coming out of the first quarter, Speiser splashed a three-pointer on the wing to put the Wildcats up 15-11.

“I’m definitely a rhythm shooter,” Speiser said. “When I’m feeling it, I’m feeling it. And my teammates, they noticed that. So in transition, they were making sure they found me.”

With 1:41 remaining before halftime, Aniya’ Foy hit a three from the top of the key to extend the lead 31-25. K-State would allow West Virginia one more basket before the end of the first half.

Going into halftime, Speiser led the board with nine points, two rebounds and one steal, along with Sides close behind with eight points, three assists and three steals.

With 6:52 on the clock in the third, Sides got a steal and found Claessens at the rim for an easy two points on the fastbreak. The Mountaineers got the score within three points until Heal made a pair of free throws to send the Wildcats up 38-34.

During a K-State scoring drought for 4:22, West Virginia took advantage and went on a 9-0 scoring run, taking the lead 45-41 at the end of the third quarter.

“There were some plays in that stretch in the third where we didn’t play very well,” Mittie said. “We didn’t get very good looks in that stretch. So we were forced to take some really, really hard shots.”

Speiser splashed a contested three to get the deficit to one. With the Wildcats in a scoring drought over 2:22, the Mountaineers took advantage and got a seven-point lead. But thanks to a drive to the lane and a layup by Heal, she cut the deficit to five, 51-46.

After another lead change, K-State was able to go on an 8-0 run over 3:24 before West Virginia made a three-pointer, tying the game at 52-52.

The ‘Cats found themselves in another scoring drought of 2:45, which was not ideal when the game clock is not on your side, along with being down two points. Even though K-State fought, West Virginia was able to seal the win after gaining possession of the ball and making a pair of free throws.

Although this purple and white lineup is quite young, acknowledging mistakes and making changes is something the team knows they need to improve on. 

“We left too many points on the table,” Speiser said. “That was winnable. We should have won it, but I think we’re there. We just have to know ourselves that we’re there, and we have to take ownership of that and win some games.”

The Wildcats move to 8-8 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Their next matchup will be on the road against Houston at 6:30 on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

“There’s tangible evidence of, if you commit to this, we can play with some pretty good teams and have an opportunity,” Mittie said. “We missed some layups, we missed some plays that we’d like to have back, but I saw a group that played to the scout pretty well and was pretty connected most of the day.”