Seeing an opportunity for a backdoor cut, Jordan Speiser dove to the lane, immediately made contact with a Georgia Tech defender and was called for a charge. The timing of the foul was not ideal, as Kansas State led 66-62 with 45 seconds remaining on the clock.
K-State head coach Jeff Mittie would challenge the call to determine if the foul was legitimate. Many spectators and players disagreed with the call, as there were concerns that the Yellow Jackets’ player didn’t have her feet planted before taking the charge. Despite the Wildcats’ efforts, the call was withheld, setting up Georgia Tech for a possible game-tying shot.
On the inbound, Gina Garcia was able to cause havoc by irritating the Yellow Jackets and scooped up a steal for K-State. After getting the ball into the hands of Taryn Sides, Georgia Tech was quick to foul and stop the clock at 30 seconds remaining. Sides knocked down the pair of free throws to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 68-65.
The Yellow Jackets would push down the floor, sinking a three-pointer at the 12-second mark. But it wouldn’t be enough as they would commit another foul, this time on Garcia, who went 1-for-1 at the stripe, finishing the matchup at 69-65.
“I think we knew coming in, it’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be a grind and they didn’t stop,” Sides said. “… We made a few mistakes, and they took advantage of it, but thankfully, we closed it out.”
While the Wildcats led at the break 30-27, the Yellow Jackets took the lead 35-34 with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter. Not backing down, K-State responded with an 8-0 run with 4:40 remaining in the frame, building the lead to 42-35. Several Wildcats contributed to the run, including a pair of free throws by Tess Heal and three layups by Sides, Nastja Claessens and Anyia’ Foy.
“I’m proud of our group,” Mittie said. “We continue to get good production from a lot of people. It’s not just one player, it’s not just two players, it’s different people. And so I thought our group did some good things tonight.”
Georgia Tech would tie the game 52-52 on two back-to-back three-pointers by Catherine Alben to conclude the third quarter.
Even though the Yellow Jackets closed the scoring gap, K-State opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run out of the gate — extending their lead 60-52 with 5:52 remaining in the game.
Claessens would sink two free throws to extend the Wildcats back to eight points, 66-58 at the 2:40 mark. Georgia Tech responded as Talayah Walker also knocked down a pair at the stripe, cutting the deficit to four points.
With 30 seconds left on the game clock, Sides sank more free throws before Walker hit a shot from beyond the arc to cut the gap to three points. Garcia would seal the first-round win, 69-65 for K-State, as she made one of two free throws.
After not playing for two weeks, players were excited to get back on the court and reflected on how Big 12 play contributed to the win against Georgia Tech.
“The Big 12 was kind of the push for us,” Claessens said. “I think we also learned to play together and how fun it actually is when a ball moves and when everybody touches the ball. And I think we are trying to put that in our game right now, too. In the beginning, the ball moved really well, so it was just really fun playing like that.”
K-State will host California in the second round of the 2026 WBIT on Sunday, March 22, at 6 p.m.
