The Big 12 women’s basketball teams moved into the fifth round of league action on Saturday, with all 16 teams in action across the country.
Saturday’s game results included:
No. 11 TCU 69, Texas Tech 43
No. 12 Kansas State 92, BYU 65
Oklahoma State 64, No. 17 West Virginia 57
Iowa State 79, Arizona 58
Cincinnati 64, UCF 58
Baylor 78, Arizona State 59
The Big 12’s sixth round of league action gets underway on Tuesday with eight of the league’s team in action.
Here are five takeaways from the latest day of women’s basketball action.
Best Game
It wasn’t a “best game” kind of day for the Big 12. But the Kansas-Colorado game was certainly the most entertaining.
It was basically even for a half, and then Colorado went off in the third quarter behind Jade Masogayo, Lior Garzon and Frida Formann. That gave the Buffs a double-digit lead.
Kansas stormed back. Elle Evans dropped 3-pointers from deep. S’Mya Nichols and Regan Williams did all they could to equalize the game. The Jayhawks couldn’t finish climbing the mountain.
But, with seven players in double figures and the two teams combining for 18 made 3-pointers, the folks in Boulder got their money’s worth.
Best Performances
Alexia Smith gave Oklahoma State a lot of grit, as she had 11 rebounds to go along with seven points. Houston didn’t have much of an answer for Utah forward Maye Toure, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Utes bounced back from their blowout loss against Kansas State.
With UCF limiting Cincinnati’s Jillian Hayes to nine points, Tineya Hylton stepped up with 18 points and seven rebounds to help the Bearcats beat the Knights.
Elle Evans had an enormous game for Kansas in its loss to Colorado, with 28 points and seven 3-pointers. But the Buffaloes’ Jade Masogayo answered with 20 points. And Sara-Rose Smith had 19 rebounds, which is difficult to comprehend, if one is being honest.
And, while Arizona was busy trying to limit Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, well, Sydney Harris came off the bench and destroyed the Wildcats with 24 points, including five 3-pointers.
Aliyah Matharu, the in-season transfer who just got started for Baylor a few weeks ago, had 14 points off the bench for the Bears. She’s going to be the player that replaces what Jana Van Gytenbeek was supposed to give them before she was hurt.
Temira Poindexter dropped 24 points on BYU for Kansas State, but one would be remiss to not point out that guard Serena Sundell had 13 assists, along with 12 points.
TCU’s Big Three — Sedona Prince, Hailey Van Lith and Madison Conner — combined for 55 of the Horned Frogs’ 69 points. Prince also had 10 rebounds.
Most-Needed Win
Oklahoma State didn’t need to win against West Virginia. But, the victory put the Cowgirls among the true contenders in the Big. 12. The coaches pegged OSU at No. 11 in the preseason poll. The Cowgirls have emerged as one of the best shooting teams in the conference, they have more depth than anticipated and against the Mountaineers — renowned for their defensive pressure — the Cowgirls held them to 19 second-half points.
Under coach Jacie Hoyt, OSU has a reputation for scoring points. But the defense is starting to show its teeth.
Three of the Cowgirls’ four league wins are against teams that were voted among the Top 5 teams in the preseason. So, yeah, OSU is for real.
Worst Loss
UCF was in dire need of a win as it went to Cincinnati for Saturday’s game. On paper, it felt like a pretty even chance for the Knights. But, they fell by six points, losing a five-point halftime lead. UCF did all it could to slow down Cincinnati’s Jillian Hayes, but other players stepped up big.
The Big 12 now has two winless teams — UCF and Houston. Looking at the Knights’ schedule, they won’t face Houston until Feb. 1. It’s not hard to imagine the Knights and the Cougars still being winless when they face one another.
For the record, UCF’s game before that matchup are TCU, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Baylor.
Bracketology Update
Before the games started on Saturday, I checked out ESPN’s Bracketology. They’re moving to twice-a-week updates and Friday was their most recent update. The Big 12 had seven seeds:
Kansas State: No. 3
TCU: No. 3 (moved up one seed line)
West Virginia: No. 4 (moved up one seed line)
Utah: No. 7 (moved down one seed line)
Oklahoma State: No. 6 (moved up one seed line)
Baylor: No. 7 (moved up one seed line)
Iowa State: No. 11 (First Four)
Iowa State was one of the last four teams in. Kansas is now on the bubble as one of the next four teams out.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
