Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Taryn Sides, basketball
Dec. 27, 2023
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
The women’s college basketball team is on the road, trailing the No. 2 ranked team in the nation by five points with 2:40 to play in the game. The visiting team begins a furious comeback and claims a one-point lead with just over a minute to play.
At right: Taryn Sides, K-State basketball
After a defensive stand, a true freshman guard grabs a rebound and is fouled. She calmly steps to the free throw line and sinks both pressure free throws, giving her team a two-possession lead that they would hold for the win.
In this particular scene, it was a homegrown rural Kansas athlete who made that winning play.
Taryn Sides is a freshman point guard on the Kansas State University women’s basketball team. Her parents are Keith and Robin Sides, who are teachers at Phillipsburg High School.
Keith Sides grew up in Norton County in the rural community of Almena, population 363 people. Now, that’s rural.
After graduating from Northern Valley High School, Keith played basketball at Cloud County Community College. He went on to K-State and earned a degree in business education.
Keith also met and married Robin, who is originally from Paxico and attended Wabaunsee High School. She played volleyball at Hutchinson Community College and then studied journalism and marketing at K-State.
Keith is a business teacher and head basketball coach, as well as coaching football and golf at Phillipsburg High School. Robin earned a teaching degree at Fort Hays State and now teaches English and journalism at Phillipsburg. She coached as well, but gave that up after Taryn graduated so that she could go to Taryn’s college games.
Robin and Keith had two sons, Trey and Ty, and daughter Taryn. Trey played basketball at Jacksonville University and then Central Missouri. Ty is studying finance at K-State.
“Taryn always had a basketball in her hands,” Keith Sides said. She attended her older brother’s games when her father was coaching.
“She didn’t have a girl around to play dolls with; she was always interested in sports,” Sides said.
Taryn played volleyball and track but gravitated toward basketball. “She’s had the drive to be good,” Keith Sides said. “She loves being in the gym and since her mom and I are coaches, she could spend extra time there.”
“She was learning the game when she was little,” Robin Sides said. “She wasn’t one of those little kids running around in the bleachers, she was actually studying the game.”
This led to what has been described as her high basketball IQ.
Taryn Sides came to K-State basketball camp as a seventh-grader and developed her skills with elite AAU teams. By her senior year at Phillipsburg, she claimed school records for career points, assists, steals and three-point field goals made, plus the single-season school records in those categories.
Among many other accolades, she was rated the No. 64 player in the nation by Blue Star Basketball and was a 2023 McDonald's All-American nominee. Taryn was a four-time Kansas Basketball Coaches Association All-State recipient and two-time 3A Player of the Year, plus many other honors.
Sides joined the Wildcat basketball team in fall 2023. Only 5-foot-6 in height and a true freshman, she has played a surprisingly high number of minutes in her first season.
“She understands that she’s not the tallest player, but she’s not afraid to get in there (against bigger players),” Robin Sides said. “She’s quick to the ball and has a good eye for where the ball’s going to go.”
Such athletes provide a rallying point for small town schools. “The support our community gives the school is tremendous,” Robin Sides said. “People in our community really care, and (athletics) unifies our community.”
That support has carried on to the collegiate level, where fans enjoy following homegrown talent. “We probably had 100 people from Phillipsburg at K-State’s game against Wisconsin,” Robin Sides said.
This true freshman point guard from small town Kansas makes her clutch free throws and is making her mark at the collegiate level. We commend the Sides family and all small town athletes for making a difference by unifying their communities.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
At a glance
Former Phillipsburg High School basketball standout Taryn Sides has found her niche on the college basketball scene, highlighted by a pair of clutch free throws she made to help defeat the No. 2 ranked team in the nation.
Website
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Written by
Ron Wilson
rwilson@ksu.edu
785-532-7690
