Kansas State women’s basketball stuns Oklahoma State, moves on to Big 12 semis

Kansas State women’s basketball’s fairytale run will continue.

A day after rallying to keep their Big 12 Tournament run alive, the 12th-seeded Wildcats got hot in the fourth quarter to upset fifth-seeded Oklahoma State in a 74-73 quarterfinal win on Friday, March 6, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

After Oklahoma State made a game-tying 3-pointer with five seconds left, it accidentally fouled Tess Heal with 1.3 seconds remaining, sending her to the line. She split her free throws, missing the backend, leading to a Cowboys miss on a desperation heave.

The Wildcats will play in Saturday’s 3 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Friday afternoon’s matchup between league-champion TCU and ninth-seeded BYU.

Kansas State got a special shooting performance from freshman Jordan Spieser, who showed why she was considered a five-star prospect, as she finished with 21 points and five made triples. After Oklahoma State cut the Wildats’ lead to two with 46 seconds left, Speiser made her final 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.

This came after the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to overcome a four-point deficit with 4:41 left in the fourth. Taryn Sides’ layup with 1:48 left put the Wildcats up by five. Kansas State’s largest deficit was 13 points early in the third quarter.

With the win, Kansas State became the first 12-seed to beat a four-seed since 2008. It came a day after the Wildcats scored the final 21 points to overcome a 14-point deficit against No. 21 Texas Tech.

Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com