Big 12 Women's Tournament Tracker: Iowa State Survives West Virginia
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Baylor forward NaLyssa Smith wanted redemption. She and the Bears got that on Saturday, defeating Oklahoma, 91-76, in the Big 12 Women’s Tournament semifinal.
The Bears (27-5) were playing the only team that had beaten them twice this season. The Bears left nothing to chance, as they built a 20-point lead midway through the third quarter and never let up.
Baylor will face the winner of the Iowa-State Texas game in the Big 12 Championship Game, set for 1 p.m. Sunday. The winner will get the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Baylor is the defending champion.
The Bears have won their last 12 games, dating back to their loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 2.
Smith, the Big 12 Player of the Year, had her best game against Oklahoma in three meetings, and that’s saying something because she scored 30 points in the first meeting. But Smith passed 30 points by the end of the third quarter, on her way to 37 points and 11 rebounds for the game.
Backup forward Caitlin Bickle had 21 points as she benefited from the Sooners’ persistent defensive attention to Smith. Queen Egbo added 11 points.
Madi Williams had a huge game for the Sooners in the loss, scoring 31 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Taylor Robertson added 17 points, including four 3-pointers.
Game 5: Iowa State Beats West Virginia
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Iowa State overcame a brutally cold shooting stretch in the second half to defeat West Virginia, 66-60, in the Big 12 Tournament women’s quarterfinals on Friday.
The Cyclones had a 21-point lead early in the third quarter. But the Mountaineers chipped away the entire second half, and finally had the lead down to five points with 22 seconds left after a transition lay-up by A’riana Gray. Iowa State shot less than 20 percent in the second half.
The problem was that, as hard as the Mountaineers fought to get back into the game, they ran out of time. Down 56-50 with 4:42 left, Cyclones point guard Emily Ryan had two free throws to make after the media timeout. She made both to push it back to an eight-point game.
When West Virginia answered with a basket, so did Ryan. When West Virginia answered with another basket, so did Ryan.
Then both teams went cold for two minutes before Gray’s lay-up. After two timeouts — one by each team — the Mountaineers fouled the Cyclones’ Lexi Donarski, who made both free throws with 20 seconds left.
After a timeout, West Virginia’s Esmery Martinez nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 64-60 with 17 seconds left. West Virginia took its last time out and then fouled Donarski again. She made the second free throw.
West Virginia came to the other end, missed a shot after which Iowa State rebounded and finished off the Mountaineers.
The Cyclones (26-5) will face either Texas or Kansas State in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Emily Ryan and Lexi Donarski each had 14 points for Iowa State, while Ashley Joens added 13 points. Joens ended up with a double-double, grabbing 14 rebounds. Ryan had five rebounds, six assists and five steals, while Donarski added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Martinez had a big game for the Mountaineers, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. JJ Quinerly had 18 points and five assists, while Savannah Samuel added 10 points and six rebounds. Gray also had 10 rebounds to go along with nine points.
Game 4: Baylor Wins Easily
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Baylor Bears wasted no time taking care of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, cruising to a 76-36 victory in the Big 12 Tournament women’s quarterfinals on Friday.
The Bears (26-5) will now take on Oklahoma in the semifinals at noon on Saturday. The Sooners defeated Kansas, 80-68, on Friday. The Sooners are also the only team in the Big 12 to beat Baylor twice this season.
The Bears built a 23-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Cowgirls (9-19) failed to score a point, missing 13 field goals and two free throws. The Cowgirls also committed seven first-quarter turnovers in what became coach Jim Littell’s final game at the helm. He is leaving the program after the season.
Taylen Collins ended the drought for the Cowgirls with a field goal 20 seconds into the second quarter. But the Bears never came close to giving up control of the game.
Before the game Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby presented Baylor forward NaLyssa Smith with the conference’s player of the year award, her second straight. She finished the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Jordan Lewis had nine points, four rebounds and five assists less than a week after being named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
Guard Ja’Mee Asberry scored 16 points for Baylor. Center Queen Egbo added 13 rebounds, along with 15 points.
Cassidy De Lapp led Oklahoma State with nine points. Collins added seven points. Lauren Fields, OSU’s leading scorer, was held without a point.
Game 3: Oklahoma Outlasts Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oklahoma overcame an early 10-point deficit and then outlasted Kansas to win, 80-68, in the first Big 12 Women’s Tournament quarterfinal on Friday.
Oklahoma (24-7) advances to the semifinals at noon on Saturday, where the Sooners will face either Oklahoma State or Baylor.
Oklahoma was down by 10 points after an 11-0 Kansas run in the first quarter, propelled by the eight points of Jayhawks forward Ioanna Chatzileonti. But, the Sooners regrouped, slowly chipped away the lead and had nine different Sooners scoring points in the first half.
Oklahoma turned that 10-point deficit into a 45-32 halftime lead, with Taylor Robertson scoring eight first-half points. Kelbie Washington and Madi Williams each had seven points, as the Sooners ended up making eight first-half 3-pointers.
From there, Kansas (20-9) tried everything to get back into the game, and at one point had the lead cut to six points, thanks to guard Aniya Thomas. Her layup, followed by a baseline 3-pointer, cut the Sooner lead to 69-63 with 5:30 left in the game. But OU responded with a Robertson layup and regained control of the contest.
Williams led the Sooners with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Robertson added 19 points. Liz Scott scored 11 points and had eight rebounds.
Zakiyah Franklin led Kansas with 15 points, along with five assists. Chatzileonti finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Taiyanna Jackson added eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.
The Sooners entered the game coming off a regular-season ending loss to Kansas, 73-67, in Norman. That ended a three-game winning streak for the Sooners, but it also demonstrated the unevenness of their final stretch of the regular season. The Sooners, after beating West Virginia, 101-99, in double-overtime on Feb. 3, lost four of their final seven games.
Kansas (20-9) entered the game with head coach Brandon Schneider earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors and signing a long-term extension to remain with Kansas. While the Jayhawks lost on Friday, this is still their best season under Schneider and they’re pointed toward the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Game 2: WVU blows out TCU
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The No. 7 seed West Virginia Mountaineers wanted no part of any drama, as they took care of No. 10 TCU, 68-48, in the first round of the Big 12 Women’s Tournament.
In fact, by halftime the Mountaineers (15-14) were up 34-11. No one for TCU had more than two points, and Jayla Hemingway already had nine points for the Mountaineers.
TCU did make a surge in the fourth quarter, thanks to an 11-0 run, to cut the Mountaineer lead to 53-40 with about four minutes left. But that was as close as the Horned Frogs got.
With the win, West Virginia earns another shot at Iowa State in the Big 12 quarterfinals at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Cyclones beat the Mountaineers twice this season.
The Mountaineers will go into that game having won four of their last five games. The one loss was the Mountaineers’ regular season finale to Iowa State, 74-57, in Morgantown.
TCU (6-22) ends the season on a 14-game losing streak and its worst season under head coach Raegan Pebley. The Horned Frogs have now won 16 games in their last two seasons.
West Virginia won both regular-season meetings with the Horned Frogs, winning 66-54 on Jan. 25 in Morgantown and 70-62 on Feb. 2 in Fort Worth.
The Mountaineers were up 17-5 after the first quarter as TCU struggled to hit anything, shooting 15.4 percent for the first half.
Madisen Smith finished with 29 points for West Virignia. JJ Quinerly scored 16 points and Hemingway finished with nine points.
Okako Adika scored 17 points for the Horned Frogs. Lauren Heard, in what was her final game at TCU, finished with 14 points. Heard leaves the Horned Frogs as the all-time leading scorer in men’s and women’s basketball, and as the all-time leader in games played in the Big 12 Conference. She was a fifth-year senior.
Game 1: Oklahoma State Beats Texas Tech
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lauren Fields and the rest of the Oklahoma State Cowgirls ensured that they would have at least one more game left with their outgoing head coach, Jim Littell.
Fields scored 22 points, one of three Cowgirls in double figures, as Oklahoma State defeated Texas Tech, 73-58, in the first game of the Big 12 Women’s Tournament on Thursday.
The Cowgirls (9-19) must now face No. 1 seed Baylor at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
Littell and Oklahoma State announced earlier this week that they had agreed to part ways after the end of the season. That means every game Littell coaches in Kansas City could be his last at OSU.
So, Fields, Lexy Keys and Taylen Collins ensured that didn’t happen against the Lady Raiders (11-19).
Texas Tech led at halftime, 34-28, the product of an 11-point half by All-Big 12 guard Vivian Gran. But, in the second half, the Cowgirls roared back, putting together an early 11-0 run that pushed them to a 3-point lead before Texas Tech took a time out.
From there the lead only grew. Oklahoma State outscored Texas Tech, 22-11, in the third quarter and it was never threatened after that.
Fields had four rebounds and three assists to go along with her team-high in points. Keys had 19 points, along with two rebounds and three assists. Collins had a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Gray finished her final college game with 20 points and six rebounds. She also finished as one of the few players in history to claim All-Big 12 honors in four different seasons. Bryn Gerlich added 11 points.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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