The program is classified in the NCAA Division I, and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference.

[3] Kansas State began offering women's basketball as an organized intercollegiate sport in the 1968–1969 school year,[4] under head coach Judy Akers.

[5][6] The longest-tenured and winningest head coach in team history is Deb Patterson.

Patterson spent eighteen years at Kansas State and compiled a 350–226 (.608) record.

[7][8] In 1971, Kansas State also appeared in the even earlier tournament sponsored by the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW), advancing to the Elite Eight.