Coming off a 72-62 road loss against Arizona, the Kansas State Wildcats were ready to return to Bramlage Coliseum and secure their sixth Big 12 win.
“When we play hard, when we pass the ball really well, I think we’re a really good team,” Nastja Claessens said. “He [Jeff Mittie] said that in practice, and I think we were ready for this game, because the feeling after the game against Arizona was not the greatest, so we really wanted to come out today and have a great game.”
Truly working together as one unit, several Wildcats had the stats book looking impressive.
Claessens had a spectacular game, accumulating 25 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals on the day.
“I think we’re just starting to see her best basketball,” K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said. “We’re just starting to see her be more assertive in that area.”
The duo of Gina Garcia and Tess Heal had a combined 23 points, along with Taryn Sides putting up seven points with 13 rebounds. Dominating on rebounds, Brandie Harrod grabbed 10 for herself and contributed nine points as well.
Claessens made K-State’s first three-pointer of the game from the left corner to put the ‘Cats up by two. Sustaining the energy, Sides would find herself a deep shot from beyond the arc, giving K-State a four-point lead.
While BYU went over four minutes without any field goals, the Wildcats took advantage and led the first quarter 18-14.
Over 1:43 in the second quarter, the Cougars turned the ball over three times before making a shot, still trailing K-State 29-22.
With 3:15 remaining in the half, Tayrn Sides found a ready-to-shoot Jordan Speiser, who knocked down a three-pointer and pushed the Wildcats to a 10-point lead.
K-State went into the break with three free throws — one by Claessens and two by Heal — to lead the Cougars 38-30.
“I thought the start was a good, solid start,” Mittie said. “Felt like we were getting better as the game went on, and that’s what you want to see.”
Coming back from halftime, the Wildcats found their groove, going on a 10-0 run across 3:27. While the ‘Cats were dropping points, BYU struggled to score, ending the third quarter with nine points compared to K-State’s 19.
The Wildcats became unstoppable in the fourth quarter, going on a 16-0 run over 4:41 as the clock ran down to the final minutes. While the Cougars would get six points over the remaining 3:28, K-State’s large lead early would be no match for BYU, and the ‘Cats would come out on top, 77-52.
“Today, I thought we played together very, very well,” Mittie said. “Probably the best we’ve seen all year of players not forcing things, [and] taking what the defense gave them.”
K-State stays at Bramlage Coliseum for its next matchup at 6:30 p.m. against Oklahoma State University on Feb. 10.
