MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State begins its 42nd season of women’s basketball with the first of two exhibition games, as the Wildcats welcome in Fort Hays State on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The contest can be found on the K-State Sports Network as the award-winning Brian Smoller provides the play-by-play and Kristin Waller gives the color analysis.

Last season, the Wildcats registered the 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. The Wildcats tied for the third-highest win total since the 1999-00 season with a 25-8 overall mark and a 10-6 record in the Big 12 and concluded the season ranked 20th in the final USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and 21st in the final Associated Press Poll.

Returning to the Bramlage Coliseum sidelines for her 14th season is head coach Deb Patterson. The all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in school history with a record of 265-146 (.645), Patterson has guided the program to 22 or more wins in seven of the last eight seasons and eight consecutive postseason appearances (six NCAA Tournaments and two WNITs), which is the longest current streak by any head coach at K-State.

K-State will look to make its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance and third straight with the return of seven letterwinners, including two starters and an All-Big 12 first team selection from the 2008-09 squad. The Wildcats also added three newcomers to the backcourt to help replace the graduation of honorable mention AP All-American and two-time first team All-Big 12 selection, Shalee Lehning.

Leading the charge for the Wildcats will be a pair of seniors, forward Ashley Sweat and guard Kari Kincaid. Sweat, a Preseason Wooden Award candidate and 2009-10 Preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention selection, is the Wildcats’ top returning scorer at 16.5 points per game and top returning rebounder at 5.1 per contest. The product of McPherson, Kan., has tallied 1,291 points in her career to rank 15th in school history and has hauled in 441 rebounds to rank 28th.

Kincaid is K-State’s top returning distributor with 1.6 assists per game and the second-leading scorer at 8.0 points. The native of Andover, Kan., needs just 10 three-point field goals made and six 3-point field goal attempts to move into the top-10 on the respective lists.

Joining Sweat in the frontcourt will be sophomores Branshea Brown and Jalana Childs. Brown carded 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 31 games during her first season in Manhattan, while Childs recorded 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 33 games last season.

Teaming up with Kincaid in the backcourt are juniors Kelsey Hill and Shalin Spani, sophomore Alina Voronenko and freshmen Brittany Chambers, Taelor Karr and Mariah White. Of the returning group, Spani has the most game experience with 25 games played last season and a 3.9 points per game average.

Streaks, Trends, Milestones, Etc.

Kansas State recorded the 21st 20-win season in school history and the seventh in the Deb Patterson era (13 seasons) during the 2008-09 season... K-State has made at least one 3-point field goal in 75 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 7, 2007... K-State led the Big 12 for the second straight season with eight players selected to the Academic All-Big 12 first team, setting a school record for first team selections... Senior forward and Wooden Award candidate Ashley Sweat ranks 15th in school history for career points with 1,291... Ranks 28th in school history for career rebounds with 441... Sweat scored in double figures in 30 of 33 games in the 2008-09 season, including a current streak of 17 straight... Sweat has scored in 99 consecutive games, every game of her career, and is the only Wildcat on the current roster to achieve this feat... Sweat has started 79 straight games and has started 84 games in her career... Last season, she became the seventh junior in school history to score 500 points in a season... Her 545 points in the 2008-09 season rank third for points scored by a junior in school history... She is the first player since Nicole Ohlde in the 2003-04 season to make at least 100 free throws in a season (132 -158, .835)... Sweat ranks fourth for free throws made in a season with 132 made in 2008-09... Kari Kincaid made a career-high 59 3-point field goals during the 2008-09 season... Made two or more 3-point field goals in 16 games... During the last seven games of the season, Kincaid was 18-of-41 (.439) from beyond the arc.