Baylor women in Big 12 final
The second-ranked Lady Bears top Kansas State 88-71, but West Virginia denies Texas a shot at the league title, upsetting the No. 12 Longhorns 62-59.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Baylor point guard Kristy Wallace set a Big 12 Tournament record with 15 assists to help the secondranked Bears defeat No. 24 Kansas State 88-71 on Sunday in the tournament semifinals.
“She gets pretty much all the credit, 99.1 percent,” said teammate Nina Davis, who contributed 24 points. “The other half is us finishing the shot. We go as Kristy goes. All season long, she’s been our Energizer Bunny. She never gets tired.”
Wallace matched her career high for assists in a game.
“She is just a great player,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “She can play through fouls. She can play through blood. She can play through a turnover, and she just is somebody you would sure like to be on the receiving end of her passes because she just gives it to you where you can finish.”
Alexis Prince and Kalani Brown each scored 18 points for the Lady Bears, who will seek their seventh consecutive tournament title when they play West Virginia on Monday night.
Baylor boosted its case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with its 11th victory over a ranked team this season.
W. VIRGINIA 62, TEXAS 59
Tynice Martin scored 29 points, Chiana Ray sank two clutch free throws and the Mountaineers held on to topple the 12th-ranked Longhorns in the Big 12 tournament semifinals at Oklahoma City.
West Virginia (22-10) has won its last three games, including tournament upsets of No. 19 Oklahoma and UT.
Martin made 10 of 21 shots, including four from 3-point range, and her 3-point play with 4:45 left put the Mountaineers ahead for good at 53-51.
Martin sank two free throws to make the lead 60-56 with 14 seconds left, but the Longhorns roared back with a Brooke McCarty 3-pointer to make it a one-point game at just under 10 seconds. Ray made her clinching free throws with six seconds left, and McCarty missed a final trey.
McCarty led Texas (23-8) with 13 points.
STANFORD 48 OREGON ST. 43
Alanna Smith scored 18 points, Karlie Samuelson added 14 and the No. 10 Cardinal overcame an early 13-point deficit to defeat the sixth-ranked Beavers in the Pac-12 tournament final at Seattle.
Stanford (28-5) won its 12th tournament title and captured the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal shut down Oregon State and Sydney Wiese, who led the Beavers (29-4) with 13 points.
SOUTH CAROLINA 59 MISSISSIPPI ST. 49
The No. 5 Gamecocks won their third consecutive Southeastern Conference tournament title behind Kaela Davis’ 23 points and A’ja Wilson’s dominant fourth quarter to rally past the sixth-ranked Bulldogs at Greenville, S.C.
Wilson had seven of her 15 points in the final period as South Carolina rallied from 45-40 down.
Mississippi State (29-4) closed to within 50-49 on Roshunda Johnson’s bank shot with 4:42 left. The Bulldogs did not score again in losing their second consecutive SEC tourney final to the Gamecocks.
NOTRE DAME 84, DUKE 61
Arike Ogunbowale scored 21 points and the No. 3 Fighting Irish beat the 13th-ranked Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game at Conway, S.C.
Notre Dame (30-3) became the second team in ACC history to win the conference regular-season and tournament titles in four consecutive seasons.
Lexie Brown scored 16 points for Duke (27-5).
MARYLAND 74, PURDUE 64
Brionna Jones had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and the No. 4 Terrapins beat the Boilermakers at Indianapolis to win the Big Ten tournament title.
Maryland (30-2) gets the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
CONNECTICUT 78 CENTRAL FLORIDA 56
Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier each scored 16 points as the topranked Huskies won their semifinal in the American Athletic Conference tournament at Uncasville, Conn.
Crystal Dangerfield added 14 points for Connecticut (31-0), which extended its NCAA record win streak to 106 games and will play for their fourth consecutive AAC tourney title Monday night.
Central Florida’s Zykira Lewis led all scorers with 22 points.