All higher-seeds advance in day one of the Big 12 tournament

In the first day of the Big 12 Championship, the higher-seeded team won all four first-round games and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. Attendance for the first session totaled 4,415 and for the second session 3,257 for a combined 7,672.

#8 Kansas 71, #9 Colorado 45

• Kansas Statistical Leaders: Monica Engelman (17 points), Carolyn Davis (16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks)
• Colorado Statistical Leaders: Brittany Spears (21 points, 9 rebounds), Julie Seabrook (8 points, 8 rebounds)
• Officials: Lisa Mattingly, Bev Roberts, Brian Hall
• Technical fouls: Colorado-None. Kansas-None.
• Largest lead-CU by 4 1st-16:52, KU by 26 2nd-00:28.
• Box Score

Under the helm of a new coach, Colorado came into the tournament with a record that surpassed the expectations of fans and media. Many were not expecting a team led by a coach with no head coaching experience at the Division I level to have more than one or two Big 12 victories. Linda Lappe, a 2033 graduate of CU and former Buff standout, helped the previous season’s cellar dwellers earn six conference victories and compile a 15-14 overall record going into the matchup. Eighth-seeded Kansas, under sixth-year coach Bonnie Henrickson also had six conference wins under their belt but a better overall record (19-11) than the Buffs.

The Jayhawks prevailed in the first game of the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Led by Monica Engelman and Carolyn Davis, Kansas had a more balanced offensive outing than the Buffs even while finishing the contest with less rebounds than their opponent. Colorado managed to stay within ten points during the first half. Both teams had low-scoring outings early on. Kansas led at the half, 29-22. After the break, the Jayhawks spurred by Engelman and with a stifling defense, shut down the Buffs.

“In the first half, we were kind of in a little hole for ourselves,” said Engelman. “I built momentum and kind of dug ourselves out a little bit. It was a little bit of a spark player. In the second half I think we did a good job defensively getting a stop and getting deflections and running in transition.”

The Jayhawks held Colorado standout Chucky Jeffery held to just four points on 2-of-9 shooting.

“Well, you gotta give Kansas a lot of credit,” said Lappe. “I thought they came out and executed very, very well. They did what they needed to do to win that game. We didn’t play our best by any stretch of the imagination.

Kansas is set to face No. 1seed Baylor at 11 .a.m CT on Wednesday.

Kansas says that they are ready to face the Lady Bears and will look to not repeat mistakes made in their loss 76-37 to Baylor during the season in Lawrence.

“I think we were very passive the first game,” said Engelman. “First things first, you have to be aggressive whatever you’re doing.”

Kansas last reached the quarterfinal round in 2009, and it will be the Jayhawks’ fourth appearance in five seasons.

For Colorado Brittany Spears finished with 21 points, the only player in double figures on her team. For Kansas, Engelman had 17 while Carolyn Davis scored 16 and pulled down 11 rebounds. The game marked Colorado’s last game in the Big 12 conference. The Buffs move to the Pac-10 next year.
KU Press Conference
CU Press Conference

#5 Iowa State 69, #12 Nebraska 61

• Iowa State Statistical Leaders: Lauren Mansfield (23 points, 5 rebounds), Kelsey Bolte (15 points, 4 rebounds), Chelsea Poppens (10 points, 11 rebounds), Anna Prins (8 rebounds)
• Nebraska Statistical Leaders: Lindsey Moore (13 points, 4 rebounds), Jordan Hooper (16 points, 7 rebounds)
• Officials: Scott Yarbrough, Laura Morris, Michael Price
• Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Iowa State-Poppens, Chelsea.
• Box Score

In the span of a year, Nebraska went from first to worst in the Big 12. Bereft of senior stars and bogged down by injuries, Connie Yori’s Huskers struggled this season and came into the tournament as the only Big 12 team with an overall losing record (13-17). However, the Huskers went toe-to-toe with nationally-ranked Iowa State for the first half. At the break, Jordan Hooper led the Huskers with ten points. The teams went back and forth for much of the second half but the last five minutes was the turning point for Iowa State. The squads were tied at 57 with 5:22 left on the clock. At that point, the Cyclones led by Chelsea Poppens began to pull away for the victory. Poppens scored eight-straight Iowa State points and grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds resulting in a 65-60 Cyclone lead with 1:14 left in the game.

Lauren Mansfield had a career-high 23 points for ISU.

“It was a game that we kind of anticipated it would be,” said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. “First tournament game, a little bit of jitters, but like I told the kids after the game, and everyone hears it, is just move to the right, survive the game, forget anything bad you did because it doesn’t matter and we get to stay in Kansas City and be part of what I think is the best conference tournament in the country.”

Iowa State faces No. 4 seed Kansas in the second game of the second round at 1:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday advancing to the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal round for the eighth-consecutive year. ISU head coach Bill Fennelly improved to 20-3 in opening-round Big 12 Championship games.

Nebraska’s loss was their last matchup as a part of the Big 12. They join the Big Ten conference next season.

“It’s been an honor to coach against Connie Yori,” said Fennelly of Nebraska’s coach. “She’s a class act. They’ve represented our league in an amazing fashion.”

Yori praised the league.

“I feel like the Big 12 has been a great league for us,” said Yori, “and there’s so many people in this league that I respect. Bill Fennelly is one of them. I think it’s interesting that we ended up playing our last game in the Big 12 against someone who I have great respect for.”
ISU Press Conference
NU Press Conference

#7 Texas 79, #10 Missouri 66

• Texas Statistical Leaders: Kathleen Nash (16 points, 9 rebounds), Yvonne Anderson (12 points), Ashley Gayle (11 points, 10 rebounds), Chassidy Fussell (13 points), Ashleigh Fontenette (11 points)
• Missouri Statistical Leaders: RaeShara Brown (18 points, 9 rebounds), Shakara Jones (14 points), Christine Flores (13 points).
• Officials: Tina Napier, Cameron Inouye, Jesse Dickerson
• Technical fouls: Missouri-None. Texas-None.
• Box Score

Texas’ win over Missouri was the ultimate gift for Longhorns junior guard Yvonne Anderson who turned 21 on Tuesday. With her father Mike Anderson, the coach of the Missouri’s men’s team in the audience, Anderson and Texas defeated the Tigers 79-66, coming out the gate aggressive and all over their opponents defensively.

“I’m so glad we won and we were able to just play the way we did,” said Anderson. “Because not only did we win, but we won playing the way we feel that makes us the most successful.”

Every starter for Texas scored in double figures. The Longhorns became the 14th team in Big 12 Championship history to have five players in double figures in a single tournament game.

Missouri, under new head coach Robin Pingeton, who is pregnant and due in July, put up a good fight but in the end it was not enough to overcome the No. 7 seed.

Down the stretch, Texas’ assertiveness cooled any plans Missouri had for advancing to the quarterfinals. Spurred by the memory of an overtime loss at Missouri in January, Texas players made sure to come out on top.

“I think that a lot of it was revenge,” said junior post Ashley Gayle on her team’s play “and being able to come back and beat a team that—I mean, they were the first game we played in conference and being able to show how much we’ve grown as a team and beating a team that beat us initially.”

Texas improves to 8-2 in Big 12 Championship first-round contests and 18-13 overall in Big 12 Championship games.

Texas takes on nemesis Texas A&M in the third game of day two of the tournament at 5:00 p.m. CT.
UT Press Conference
MU Press Conference

#6 Texas Tech 75, #11 Okla. State 52

• Texas Tech Statistical Leaders: Christine Hyde (12 points, 7 rebounds), Kierra Mallard (13 points, 7 rebounds), Monique Smalls (15 points, 4 rebounds), Chynna Brown (13 points, 7 rebounds)
• Oklahoma State Statistical Leaders: Vicky McIntyre (21 points, 9 rebounds)
• Officials: Eric Brewton, Bryan Enterline, Felicia Grinter
• Technical fouls: Oklahoma State-None. Texas Tech-None.
• Box Score

Oklahoma State had no answers for Texas Tech Tuesday night. While Oklahom’s defense managed to stifle Texas Tech’s top scorers for much of teh first half, the lack of any offensive firepower from the Cowgirls doomed their chances of advancing in the tournament effectively ending their season.

Texas Tech held Oklahoma State’s leading scorer Toni Young to eight points.

Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, Chynna Brown scored 13 points to lead the Lady Raiders bench, outscoring OSU 24-5.

“They’ve learned a lot along the way,” said Texas Tech Kristy Curry about her team’s performance at the end of the year. “We want to make sure that we do all the little things against the zone from out ball reversal, shot fake, pass fake, still dribble — we were patient and poised and patience is a virtue sometimes and it really paid off for us tonight.”

Texas Tech leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 29-18, and 4-1 in Big 12 Championship meetings.

Texas Tech takes on Oklahoma in the last game of the night on in the quarterfinals. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m.
TTU Press Conference
OSU Press Conference