The Big 12 women’s basketball teams continued conference play on Wednesday, with seven games across the country as the game’s best conference concluded the second round of conference action.
Wednesday’s game results included:
No. 18 West Virginia 80, UCF 58
Cincinnati 72, BYU 63
No. 12 Kansas State 74, Houston 55
Iowa State 78, Kansas 64
Oklahoma State 84, Baylor 61
Arizona State 79, Texas Tech 61
Also, on Tuesday, Utah defeated Arizona, 69-48.
The Big 12 swings back into action this weekend
Here are five takeaways from the latest day of women’s basketball action.
Best Game
There wasn’t a truly compelling down-to-the-wire game, but Cincinnati’s win over BYU featured a compelling comeback. Entering the fourth quarter, the Cougars led the Bearcats, 57-46. Cincinnati then pulled off a huge rally, outscoring BYU, 26-6, to claim the victory.
It was a tremendous rally for the Bearcats, who went 13-of-17 from the free-throw line, getting seven points and five rebounds from their top player, Jillian Hayes. She finished the game with a double-double, 16 points and 13 rebounds, and went 12-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Three different Cougars fouled out late in the game, including leading scorers Amari Whiting and Delaney Gibb, each of which had 14 points.
Best Performances
Iowa State’s Audi Crooks made sure Kansas didn’t come back, as he dropped in 33 points, along with seven rebounds. It was a bravura performance inside.
Meanwhile, in West Virginia, JJ Quinerly nearly destroyed UCF single-handedly with 31 points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals and three 3-pointers. There’s a theme there.
Both were get-right games for ISU and WVU after losing their conference openers.
Most-Needed Wins
Plenty of teams needed a win, but two stand out. Iowa State went back to the comfort of Hilton Coliseum, after falling to Oklahoma State on the road in its opener, and beat a quality Kansas team, controlling the entire second half. ISU’s overall offensive balance won out over the Jayhawks’ 22 points from S’mya Nichols.
Arizona State took it to Texas Tech to get back to .500 and win their first Big 12 game. Six different Sun Devils were in double figures, including former Oklahoma State guard Kennedy Fauntleroy, who had 17 points. Jasmine Shavers had 24 points for Tech, but Bailey Maupin’s 3 points in 22 minutes really hurt the Lady Raiders.
Worst Losses
Texas Tech and BYU are both bubble teams, and the games each lost can help determine whether the bubble bursts or not. Those were 50/50 games and when you’re that close to the bubble, you need to win as many of those games as possible. On paper, I would have favored both teams even though they were on the road. Dropping those games could hurt come selection Sunday.
Bracketology Update
Before the games started on Wednesday I checked out ESPN’s Bracketology. They’re moving to twice-a-week updates starting this week, so it was their most recent update. The Big 12 had seven seeds:
Kansas State: No. 3
TCU: No. 3
West Virginia: No. 5
Baylor: No. 7
Utah: No. 7
Oklahoma State: No. 9
Iowa State: No. 10
Iowa State received one of the last four byes, which means the Cyclones are close to the bubble. Texas Tech was among the next four out, which is the second set of bubble teams.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
