Now that Texas Southern is back at full strength, the Tigers take aim at winning the SWAC tournament.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Baylor coach Kim Mulkey knew folks wondered if her team could win a big game after losing its starting point guard.
The Lady Bears answered emphatically. Freshman point guard Alexis Morris stepped in and scored 19 points to help No. 2 Baylor beat No. 8 Texas 77-69 in the Big 12 championship game on Monday night.
Morris became the starter after senior Kristy Wallace, an all-conference selection, tore her right ACL in the regular-season finale. Morris had one turnover in the title game and played all 40 minutes.
“It’s just kids gutting it out, and then you go out there and do it with a freshman,” Mulkey said.
Mulkey wasn’t worried about the Lady Bears earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, yet she’s not sure they could have done more to earn one.
“We ran the table in the Big 12,” she said. “We won the Big 12 Tournament. We did it without Kristy Wallace. Our only loss was to UCLA, who was ranked at the time.”
Kalani Brown scored 20 points in the final. The 6-7 center was named the tournament’s most outstanding player after averaging 24.7 points in three games. Lauren Cox had 13 points and 12 rebounds or the Lady Bears (31-1), who won their 28th straight game.
Lashann Higgs scored 20 points and Brooke McCarty added 16 for Texas (26-6).
With Baylor leading 65-64 with 1:41 remaining, Cox was fouled by Joyner Holmes on a rebound. Aston didn’t like the call, and her argument drew her first technical foul of the season. Cox made four free throws to make it a five-point game.
“I felt like there was a lot going on at times that it just seemed to maybe in that moment — it felt like a nit-picky call based on everything that was going on, and it was a timely call, but also a timely technical, no question,” Aston said.
Azura Stevens scored 21 points to lead No. 1 Connecticut to a 75-21 rout of Cincinnati in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament at Uncasville, Conn.
The Huskies (31-0), who have now won 100 games against AAC opponents without a loss since the league began play in 2013, will play No. 19 South Florida in the final. Kitija Laksa scored 20 points a to lead South Florida past UCF 74-59. METRO ATLANTIC
Roland Griffin scored a career-high 29 points, and Iona beat Fairfield 83-71 at Albany, N.Y., to capture the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament title for the third consecutive time and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
SOUTHERN
Jordy Kuiper and Demetrius Troy each scored 13 points, and UNC Greensboro pulled away from East Tennessee State at Asheville, N.C., to win the Southern Conference championship 62-47 and earn its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001.
WEST COAST
Killian Tillie scored 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting to lead No. 7 Gonzaga past San Francisco 88-60 in a West Coast Conference tournament semifinal at Las Vegas.