Matching up for the first time, the 2-seed Kansas State Wildcats matched up against the California Golden Bears during the second round of the WBIT. While it wasn’t the outcome any team wants during the month of March, the Wildcats finished with fight.

“We did a lot of good things down the stretch,” Head coach Jeff Mittie said. “I thought for a really young basketball team, you could really see a lot of growth, both individually and collectively as a group.”

Starting off for the Wildcats was the duo of Brandie Harrod and Taryn Sides, both contributing four points, but they would trail Cal 10-8 at the 5:56 mark.

Cutting to the baseline, Jordan Speiser received a bounce pass, where she made a reverse layup. This was one of three plays that Speiser would make before closing out the first quarter. The playmaker found herself behind the three-point arc for the next two shots, splashing the first from the top of the key and the other from the left corner to put K-State up 23-21 at the end of the first quarter.

The Golden Bears scored 20 points in the quarter, while the Wildcats scored 13.

With 5:03 remaining in the second quarter, Harrod froze in the air as she made a putback shot and got fouled in the process. Harrod wasn’t able to convert the three-point play, however, leaving the Wildcats with a close two-point lead.

Cal would go on a six-point run with 1:58, extending their lead to 41-36 as both teams went to the break.

Halftime leaders for K-State included Speiser with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. Harrod would contribute eight points, going 4-for-4 from the field goal and also snagging five rebounds. Sneaking right behind was Sides with seven points and one assist.

Kicking it up a notch after halftime, the Golden Bears would have a high-scoring 25-point quarter. 

Right before Cal hit a double-digit lead at the 6:52 mark, the Wildcats went on their only scoring run of the quarter with five points, to trail 49-45.

The Golden Bears would continue to hit shots and make layups. Rounding out the third quarter, K-State found itself in a 2:22 scoring drought, while Cal went on a seven-point run and extended their lead to a double-digit lead, 66-51.

The last 10 minutes of play were a dogfight both ways. As the Golden Bears defended their lead, the Wildcats tried to cut the marginalized deficit to move on to the quarterfinals. 

“We weren’t really able to stay in some things consistently enough,” Mittie said. “I was proud that they continued to fight. In one of the timeouts, I said, ‘We owe it to ourselves to give our very best. We owe it to our fans to give our very best for 40 minutes here. Let’s finish this strong,’ so I was proud that they did that.”

Cal went on a 10-0 run out of the gate, pushing their lead to a game-high 25 points. K-State responded right after and got to work. Across five minutes of play, the white-and-purple jerseys went on a 15-1 scoring run and cut the deficit to 12 points. 

“We can be proud of that effort,” Tess Heal said. “We didn’t give up. It would have been easy to, you’re down 20 in the last quarter with five minutes to go. Like it’s very easy to let that go out to 30, but I’m glad that we got it back to eight and showed some fight, and it’s the right way to finish.”

Possessions switched quickly, and the Wildcats’ fight would get them within nine points, and then within eight, with 10 seconds remaining on the clock.

 “[At] the beginning of the season, it’s crazy how much these girls have grown individually, and we’ve grown as a team,” Sides said. “It’s just been such a fun year. I mean, obviously, we want to keep playing, but so cool to see the growth of everyone.”

The Golden Bears would take the second-round win, 83-75, from the Wildcats, ending K-State’s 2025-26 women’s basketball season.

“I think that over the last three, four weeks, we’ve really shown a really good collective fight in some DNA that can be good for us going forward,” Mittie said.

The K-State Wildcats end their season with a winning record, 19-18 overall and 8-10 in conference play.

“But the season ends quickly. It ends in a moment like that, and it’s sometimes hard to process.”