Oklahoma Beats TCU In Big 12 Women’s Basketball Quarterfinal
Oklahoma outlasted TCU, 69-53, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on Saturday.
The Sooners (22-8), playing their first game of the event as the No. 1 seed, pushed their lead to 10 points on an Aubrey Joens buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter. From there, Oklahoma was never threatened.
While The Sooners won by double-digits, TCU (20-11) spent the first three quarters trying to keep the game close. At times the Horned Frogs, who were down 24-6 in the second quarter, had the score down to a single possession.
But the Sooners — who won the Big 12 regular-season title — were too much down the stretch.
Oklahoma will face Iowa State in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. on Monday. TCU’s season is complete. The Horned Frogs will wait to see if they’re invited to either the NCAA Tournament or the Women’ NIT.
TCU is currently not in ESPN Bracketology’s 68-team field.
The Sooners shot better than 40 percent for the game. Sahara Williams, one of the conference’s top freshman this season, led the Sooners with 17 points and eight rebounds, while guard Lexy Keys scored 11 points. Big 12 Co-Player of the Year Skylar Vann added six points, but also had seven rebounds.
TCU had trouble scoring all afternoon and played just six players due to depth issues caused by injuries all season.
The Horned Frogs’ top 3-point shooter, Madison Conner, finished with 19 points, but went 4-for-12 from the 3-point line. Center Sedona Prince added 14 points. TCU shot 29 percent for the game.
Aaliyah Roberson only had six points and but a game-high 14 rebounds.
OU led 30-24 at the break, but the Sooners could have been up more as TCU shot just 24 percent from the floor. But Oklahoma only shot 30% and saw its 16-point lead (24-8) shrink to six points by the break. Keys had nine first-half points for OU while Prince had eight first-half points despite being called for three fouls.
Saturday’s late session features Kansas facing No. 2 seed Texas at 5:30 p.m. and No. 6 West Virginia taking on No. 3 Kansas State at 8 p.m.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
