Texas and Big 12 Capsules: No. 9 K-State holds off No. 21 Baylor 82-75

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Standing along the baseline opposite the ball, Dominique Sutton raced to the other side of the rim and snatched on offensive rebound, setting up the decisive shot.

A single play, one of hundreds on the night made all the difference for Kansas State and set up what should be one of the biggest nights in Kansas City sports history.

Sutton grabbed a key offensive rebound that led to Jacob Pullen’s 3-pointer with 2:02 left, giving No. 9 Kansas State an 82-75 win over No. 21 Baylor on Friday night and setting up a monumental Big 12 title game matchup against rival Kansas.

"That’s a big-time play," Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. "That’s a guy making a play who has an unbelievable desire to win."

Pullen burned Baylor for the second straight game, finishing with 26 points, and Denis Clemente added 24 and seven assists to give Kansas State a school single-season record for wins.

Sutton was the difference, though, playing with the relentless energy he’d been missing over the final weeks of the season.

The junior provided the spark for listless Kansas State (26-6) early on and made the big plays when it got tight, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds to send the second-seeded Wildcats into their first conference title game since 1993.

"He had the will tonight," said Pullen, who had 25 points the first meeting with Baylor. "He decided he wanted to get every rebound that came off the rim."

If it weren’t for Sutton, Baylor (25-7) would likely be headed to a second straight Big 12 title game.

The Bears baffled Kansas State with their zone early, shot 54 percent overall and got big nights from LaceDarius Dunn (26 points) and Ekpe Udoh (18 points, 11 rebounds). Baylor’s biggest problem was keeping the Wildcats off the glass, giving up 17 offensive rebounds that led to 18 points, including eight by Sutton.

"He definitely was a difference-maker tonight," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

After dismantling Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals, Kansas State found itself in a steel-cage match against a Baylor team with similar traits: long, athletic, aggressive.

The Bears had the edge early, the Wildcats responded and the two latched on like rottweilers the rest of the way, neither willing to back down.

Kansas State grinded out a win, but it doesn’t get any easier from here.

Next up for the Wildcats is a shot at Kansas on Saturday in a super Sunflower Showdown that will likely go down in the annals of Kansas City sports, up there with the 2007 Border War at Arrowhead Stadium, the 1988 national title game at Kemper Arena and the 1985 "Show Me" World Series.

The top-ranked Jayhawks swept the season series, so, yeah, the Wildcats will be up for it.

"I’ve got to think it’s going to be the best environment of any conference championship in the country," Martin said.

Baylor made an improbable run in last year’s tournament, winning three straight games to reach the title game as the No. 9 seed. The Bears had a better season that led to a better seed this year, and had won five straight after beating Texas for the third time this season in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Bears are done in the Big 12 tournament, but are sure to get a good seed in the NCAA tournament after their taught battle with K-State.

"Everything they normally look for — high RPI, good road wins and strong conference performance we had — hopefully we get a good seed," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

Baylor had no trouble with Kansas State’s overplaying man defense early, hitting eight of its first nine shots.

Of course, the offense was pretty simple: get the ball to Dunn.

The Big 12’s second-leading scorer hit a postup and a 3-pointer in the first 60 seconds, and had 10 points in five minutes — even with Pullen waving a hand in his face like a windshield wiper.

Sutton put an end to Dunn’s run, hounding him all over the court for a scoreless final 15 minutes. But like any good shooter, he kept firing, finishing 9 of 17 from the floor.

Kansas State needed a little time to figure out Baylor’s 1-3-1 zone, keeping it close with nine offensive rebounds — four by Sutton — in the first 9½ minutes. Pullen and Clemente then solved the Bears’ zone; Pullen by shooting over it (four 3-pointers) and Clemente with his barely-in-control sprints through it.

They combined for 27 of Kansas State’s 36 points, leaving the Wildcats just one behind at halftime, and kept firing in the second half to set up one of the biggest games in program — and Kansas City — history.

"I just hope we’ve got some juice left in the tank to try and compete with the best team in the country tomorrow," Martin said.

Collins, Henry carry No. 1 Kansas past Texas A&M

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas does not often use a zone defense, and a shell-shocked Texas A&M must be wondering why.

Outplayed all night, the No. 1 Jayhawks went with a zone and a variation of a zone and embarked on a stunning 21-2 run that broke a tight game wide open Friday night and led them to a 79-66 victory over the No. 23 Aggies in a Big 12 semifinal.

Xavier Henry scored 11 points in the run, while Texas A&M went 8 minutes without a field goal.

"Maybe it just got them out of rhythm, and it was hard for them to get it back," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Whether it was the zone or our offense or whatever, we played pretty good the last 10 minutes. We got the ball where it needed to go and our first-shot defense was good and we rebounded the ball pretty well."

Texas A&M (23-9) led by as many as nine points early in the second half while the regular-season Big 12 champion Jayhawks (31-2) fouled and fumbled and committed turnover after turnover.

But when the Aggies went cold, the Jayhawks went hot, hitting seven straight shots at one point.

"I thought we were great for 32 minutes," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "My guys gave it everything they had. They executed, they defended. We’re not going to make any excuses. But for 32 we were really good."

Sherron Collins had six of his 26 points in the big run that made Kansas 16-1 all-time against the Aggies and sent them into the finals against the semifinal winner between No. 9 Kansas State and No. 21 Baylor.

Donald Sloan, playing in his school-record 136th game, hit a jumper at the 8:52 mark that put the Aggies on top 57-56. But A&M didn’t have another bucket until Sloan connected with 45.8 seconds left. Sloan led the Aggies with 24 points.

"They’re really good when they’re really physical like that," Texas A&M’s Bryan Davis said. "They hit three big 3s. The physicality of the game had been pretty much even until the last 8 minutes of this game and they were able to pull away from us."

Marcus Morris, the Jayhawks’ third-leading scorer, picked up his fourth foul with 11:58 to play and the Aggies holding a 51-48 lead. Less than a minute later, Cole Aldrich went to the bench with his third. With Morris and Aldrich both on the bench and A&M leading 55-51, Kansas coach Bill Self went with the zone and a small lineup with only one player over 6-foot-6.

Henry immediately drained a 3-pointer that ignited the game-turning run that gave Bill Self his 200th win as coach of the Jayhawks, one game after the storied program recorded all-time win No. 2,000.

"My 11 points, it was all my teammates finding me," Henry said. "They looked for me all the time and I just tried to find the open shot."

Officials called a double technical foul on Markieff Morris and Davis after the teams began jawing at each other while struggling for the ball under the Aggies basket. Coaches went on to the court to separate everyone.

Texas A&M, a 59-54 loser at home to Kansas in February, also got 14 points from Khris Middleton and 12 from B.J. Holmes. Henry had 15 points and Markieff Morris had 10, while Cole Aldrich, plagued by turnovers in the first half had nine points and nine rebounds.

The Aggies took advantage of an uncharacteristic 12 turnovers by Kansas to seize a 38-35 halftime lead.

Aldrich, the Jayhawks’ 6-11 all-conference center, was particularly fumble-fingered in the first half, committing four quick turnovers and was even benched for a few minutes.

After rebounding a miss by A&M, Aldrich had the ball simply slide out of his grasp into the hands of an Aggie, drawing a pained "what’s-the-matter?" expression from his close friend Collins.

"A&M controlled the game for the most part for the first 30 minutes and we were a basket or two behind the entire time," Self said. "I thought we tried real hard in the first half, but we had a few defensive breakdowns from a mental standpoint, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort."

-- Doug Tucker

Houston reaches conference final with 74-66 win

TULSA, Okla. — National scoring leader Aubrey Coleman certainly wasn't going to let a slow start get him down.

Coleman scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half and Maurice McNeil had two critical offensive rebounds down the stretch as the Cougars held off Southern Miss 74-66 Friday night to advance to the Conference USA championship game.

Coleman missed eight of his first 11 shots before finishing strong to guide seventh-seeded Houston (18-15) into Saturday's title game against top-seeded UTEP.

"When I first started out and I missed shots, I never let it get to me because I always think the next shot's going in," said Coleman, who made five of his last six shots. "I don't call it struggling. I just say I'm going to keep continuing to play.

"And I had help, so I didn't need to take shots until they really needed me."

Houston coach Tom Penders brought his team to the conference tournament with the mindset that the most dangerous man in any fight is the one with nothing to lose. His players bought in and beat four-time C-USA tournament champion Memphis on Thursday, quite possibly bursting the second-seeded Tigers' NCAA tournament bubble in the process, and then followed it up by getting to the finals for only the second time.

The Cougars were the only team to beat 25th-ranked UTEP in conference play and can earn a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992 if they repeat that performance Saturday morning.

"I just want to thank coach Penders for not giving up on us even though we had a bad season and there were rumors around about coach Penders," Coleman said. "People don't really know him. He's a great man, and he never gave up on us."

Gary Flowers led sixth-seeded Southern Miss (20-13) with 24 points and 10 rebounds after learning just before the game that his grandfather had passed away. R.L. Horton scored 12 points and Angelo Johnson added 11 for the Golden Eagles, who were coming off a 58-44 upset against third-seeded UAB in the quarterfinals.

But the league's stingiest defense — ranking ninth in the nation with 59.2 points allowed per game — couldn't clamp down on the Cougars.

"I just thought we were kind of beat down," coach Larry Eustachy said. "We usually are a lot more physical, a lot harder and it just wasn't us."

Among Horton's baskets were a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half from three-quarters court to get Southern Miss within 31-30 and a banked in 3-pointer with 29.9 seconds left that proved to be the Golden Eagles' last gasp.

"They throw in a 60-footer at halftime and then another one went off somebody's head, I think, and then the banker," Penders said. "It didn't look like our game. It didn't look like the basketball gods were on our side, and somehow we overcame it."

Kelvin Lewis put Houston ahead to stay when he made a jumper in the lane off a baseline inbounds pass with 13:24 remaining and then hit the ensuing free throw to make it 42-40. That sparked a 12-4 run that included seven points from Coleman.

Sai'Quon Stone's two free throws got Southern miss back within 69-51 with 2:48 left, but McNeil was fouled after offensive rebounds on Houston's next two possessions. He converted three of his four foul shots to give Houston just enough cushion to hold on.

Coleman, who averages 25.9 points, had a steal and five free throws in the final minute to clinch it for the Cougars. He played the full 40 minutes for a second straight day after playing 36 minutes in the Cougars' opener.

The championship game was due to start less than 15 hours after Houston's semifinal ended.

"Our team's full of workhorses," Coleman said. "I know I'm the No. 1 workhorse on the team. I never get tired and I don't get winded, and that's why I never worry ... Our legs are still under us. No excuses, baby. We're in it now. No excuses."

-- Jeff Latzke

UTEP bounces Tulsa 75-61

TULSA, Okla. — Playing on short rest did not slow down No. 25 UTEP in the Conference USA tournament.

UTEP finished its second-round game against UCF late, which concerned coach Tony Barbee about an early afternoon semifinal against host school Tulsa on Friday.

But the Miners came out ready and defeated the Golden Hurricane 75-61.

The Miners had no problem with their offense and their defense also forced Tulsa into off-target shooting.

The win was the 16th straight for UTEP (26-5), which has not lost since Jan. 13. UTEP advances to the league championship game Saturday against Houston, which beat Southern Mississippi 74-66.

"That was really a hard feat to accomplish to beat a team as good as Tulsa three times in one year," Barbee said. "They've got a really good team, but my team has been special all year long and it's really clicked for us defensively and I've been preaching it since I've been at UTEP and these guys have finally grown to understand what defense and toughness and rebounding can do for a team because offense is going to come and go."

Randy Culpepper led the Miners with 21 points, two steals and a blocked shot. Arnett Moultrie added 18 points, Christian Polk scored 13 points and Derrick Caracter added 10.

Tulsa, seeded fifth in the tournament, had rallied for wins over Rice and Marshall. But it could not come back against UTEP.

Justin Hurtt led Tulsa with a game-high 22 points. Jerome Jordan had his 12th double-double of the season and 30th of his career with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

"It was really a hard-fought game," Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said. "Give UTEP a lot of credit. I thought Arnett Moultrie played a brilliant game. He made shots that were really hard to defend. Sometimes offense is better than defense. During the course (of the game) we dug ourselves a hole with our turnovers and our free throws. I felt those were the three things that did us in."

UTEP shot 51.9 percent in the half and limited Tulsa to 39.6 percent.

Turnovers and free throws hurt Tulsa. Tulsa finished with 18 turnovers, with 13 steals by the Miners, nine in the first half.

Tulsa finished with a 39-30 rebounding advantage.

UTEP jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first 4:37.

The Hurricane got within five points with a 6-0 run. That would be the closest they would get. UTEP made it 35-19 when Moultrie had a lay-up, after grabbing a rebound at the rim from a missed 25-foot jumper by Culpepper.

Tulsa's Joe Richard rebounded a missed shot from teammate Hurtt and scored off a dunk to bring the Hurricane within 35-25 at halftime. UTEP increased the lead to 45-29 early in the second half with a pair of 3s from Polk and Culpepper in 6-1 run.

UTEP's largest lead was 20 points. A dunk by Moultrie made it 49-29 with 13:50 left. He also hit a jumper that made it 59-39 with 9:19 to go. A lay-up by the Hurricane's Bryson Pope capped an 11-1 run to cut UTEP's lead to 69-61 with 2:14 remaining.

Texas Southern knocks off Grambling 60-57

BOSSIER CITY, La. — Junior Treasure scored 21 points and DeAndre Hall added 20 as fifth-seeded Texas Southern topped eighth-seeded Grambling State 60-57 in the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament on Friday night.

The Tigers (17-15) will face Arkansas-Pine Bluff (16-15), the No. 2 seed, in Saturday’s championship game.

Grambling trimmed a 10-point halftime deficit to two on back-to-back dunks from 6-foot-9 senior George Akpeld. The second cut the lead to 43-41 with 12:45 remaining.

Grambling had two possessions with a chance to tie the game — or take the lead with a 3-pointer — midway through the second half, but could not breakthrough.

Texas Southern’s lead moved to 10 with 7:48 left.

Grambling fought to within 60-57 and had the ball with 1:23 remaining, but the Tigers shot an air ball and then threw the ball into the seats on a 2-on-1 the next trip.

State Women

No. 11 Texas A&M tops No. 15 Texas 77-64

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Aggies’ big three came through again.

Tanisha Smith scored 21 points and Danielle Adams and Tyra White added 18 apiece as No. 11 Texas A&M used a big second-half run for a 77-64 victory over No. 15 Texas in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal Friday.

Smith, White and Adams entered the game accounting for 54 percent of Texas A&M’s scoring this season. But in their first game of the Big 12 tournament, the trio from the Kansas City area one-upped themselves by providing 74 percent of the Aggies’ offense.

"These Kansas City kids — 57 points between the three of them — it’s very special to be able to bring them back home," Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.

The Aggies advanced to a semifinal Saturday against undefeated and third-ranked Nebraska, which got 24 points from Kelsey Griffin in a 63-46 victory over Kansas State.

Smith, White and Adams sparked a 20-2 run to build a double-digit lead midway through the second half that put Texas A&M in control.

The Aggies (23-7) shot only 40 percent, but were picked up by timely scoring and efficient guard play. The trio accounted for 35 of the Aggies’ first 40 points, including the final 27 of the first half.

"It was like a home game for us," Adams said.

After Ashleigh Fontenette’s two free throws gave Texas a 40-38 lead early in the second half, the Aggies responded with their run to build a 16-point lead with 9 minutes left. Smith, White and Adams combined for 13 of the 20 points.

Sydney Colson hit a big 3-pointer during the Aggies’ 20-2 run before getting a steal and converting a layup to give Texas A&M a 62-45 lead with 8:07 left.

The Aggies had 20 assists on 29 field goals.

"We have outstanding guards," Blair said. "And you win with outstanding guards. They made great decisions tonight."

Texas, meanwhile, went nearly six minutes without a point during Texas A&M’s spurt.

Fontenette scored 21 points for Texas (22-10), but the Longhorns committed 26 turnovers and struggled to score against the Aggies’ aggressive defense.

"That was the name of the game," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "You can’t score if you don’t have the ball. We just gave them too many opportunities and they took advantage of it."

For 24 minutes stretching from the first half into the second, only Smith, White and Adams scored for the Aggies. They combined for 29 of Texas A&M’s 34 first-half points.

The trio propelled fourth-seeded Texas A&M past the fifth-seeded Longhorns for the eighth consecutive time, including three meetings this season.

"Every time we play A&M they give us their best game and we give them our worst," said Texas’ Brittainey Raven.

The Longhorns, who had pulled away from 12th-seed Missouri in the final minutes on Thursday, routinely turned the ball over and never appeared comfortable offensively against A&M.

The Longhorns actually a higher shooting percentage than the Aggies, but they took 19 fewer shots because of their turnovers.

"We tightened up our defense," Smith said. "We had a couple of steals and looked up in transition. That’s basically where our points came from."

The Aggies last won the Big 12 championship in 2008, the last time the tournament was played in Kansas City.

"If Nebraska is going to lose," Goestenkors said, "I think it’s going to be tomorrow."

Oklahoma beats Griner, Baylor 59-54

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nyeshia Stevenson showed up just in time for Oklahoma.

KATY — Lamar is heading to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991 and just the second in school history.

Darika Hill had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and top-seeded Lamar (26-7) cruised to an 86-59 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Conference tournament championship Friday night. The Lady Cardinals won the tournament title for the first time in their second try.

"This is the first time since 1991 that Lamar has been in any postseason basketball play," coach Larry Tidwell said. "We’re very, very proud of that."

The Lady Cardinals built a big lead in the first few minutes and were up by 21 in the second half before a run by the Islanders pulled them within nine points. Lamar responded with a 12-6 run, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers, to fight off the rally and dominated in the last few minutes for the win.

"It was a time where we said: ‘OK we’re not going to let this get away,"’ Tidwell said of the Islanders’ comeback attempt.

Elisa Beagle was one of three players with 11 points and she had 14 rebounds for Corpus Christi (22-10, 12-5).

Kalis Loyd added 18 points for Lamar, Ashley Crawford had 15 and conference player of the year Jenna Plumley added 13 points, 12 assists and five steals.

The Lady Cardinals were helped by their 3-point shooting. Lamar made 10 3-pointers and Hill was 4 for 4. Plumley made three from long-range to extend her conference record for 3-pointers to 107.

Hill was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

"I just really wanted to win," she said. "I knew I had to hit my shots so we could win this championship."

Corpus Christi made just three of its 21 3-point attempts and shot just 30 percent overall while Lamar hit 48 percent of its shots.

"We played as a team," Tidwell said. "We were very pleased. We attacked, we attacked, we attacked."

The Islanders trailed by 21 points before going on a 16-4 run to pull to 52-43 with 11 minutes left. Corpus Christi had three steals in that span and took advantage as the Lady Cardinals struggled with their shooting for a few minutes.

Aside from that spurt, the Islanders couldn’t keep pace with Lamar’s speed and energy. They often looked tired as the Lady Cardinals raced down the court.

"I thought their athleticism and their speed hurt us the whole game," Corpus Christi coach Robert Robinson said. "They came ready to go."

The Islanders were encouraged by getting to the final after being picked to finish near the bottom of the league.

"I’m going to take a lot from it," Beagle said. "It didn’t end the way we wanted but I think our team made a good run."

It was the first trip to the title game for the third-seeded Islanders and Lamar’s second appearance after losing in 2008.

Lamar led by one point before going on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers, to push the lead to 20-9 about 11 minutes before halftime. The Lady Cardinals’ lead was still 11 a few minutes later before they scored eight straight points to make it 36-17 with four minutes left in the first half. Plumley had a layup, a steal and two assists in that span.

Lamar led 42-27 at halftime.

-- Kristie Rieken

Sawyer leads Utah past No. 1 seed TCU 69-57

LAS VEGAS — Halie Sawyer scored a career-high 24 points and tied her career best with 15 rebounds as fourth-seeded Utah upset No. 1 seed TCU 69-57 in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament Friday.

Kalee Whipple added 14 points and eight rebounds and Iwalani Rodrigues scored 13 points for Utah (22-10), the defending tournament champion.

The Utes, who will be playing for their fourth Mountain West tournament title since 2000, will face San Diego State on Saturday.

TK LaFleur led TCU (22-8) with 15 points.

After leading 27-22 at halftime, Utah put the game away with an 18-0 run to start the second half.

The Utes avenged a regular-season sweep by the Horned Frogs, including a 105-96 decision in four overtimes Feb. 10 in Salt Lake City. Since that loss, Utah won eight of nine.

Sawyer, a 6-foot-1 forward, also had three blocks for Utah, which won the conference tournament in 2009, 2006 and 2000.

Eboni Mangum had 13 points and Helena Sverrisdottir 12 for TCU, which was outrebounded 41-24 and shot 29.3 percent from the field. The Horned Frogs, who were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 earlier this season, must now wait to see if they earn an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. TCU has advanced to the NCAAs in eight of the last nine seasons and as of Monday had an RPI of 39.

After the score was tied at eight early, the Utes went on an 11-3 run and never trailed again. TCU went scoreless for first 6:52 of the second half, and Utah built its largest lead at 50-26 with 11:12 to play.

Southern U. defeats Texas Southern 67-55

BOSSIER CITY, La. — Hannah Kador scored 25 poiints and top-seeded Southern University defeated Texas Southern 67-55 in the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament on Friday night.

The Jaguars (22-8) pulled away from the Lady Tigers (13-18) after taking a one-point lead into halftime.

Southern will face seventh-seeded Alabama State in the championship game Saturday. The Jaguars swept the regular-season series from the Lady Hornets.

Freeda Allen added 12 points and Ashley Augerson chipped in 10 for Southern.

Jasmine Cannon led Texas Southern with 17 points. Gabrielle Rosigi scored 13 points and added 10 rebounds while Nadosha Strickland collected 12 points for the Lady Tigers.

Big 12 Men

Kansas State, Kansas romp in Big 12 quarterfinals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State is one win away from getting one last shot at its archrival.

Both the Wildcats and No. 1 Kansas advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday, keeping alive hopes for a Sunflower State showdown for the conference title.

The Jayhawks, after surviving a scare by Texas Tech, will meet No. 23 Texas A&M in Friday’s semifinals while No. 9 Kansas State takes on No. 21 Baylor.

An all-Kansas affair in the title game would be the first in the history of the tournament and give the Wildcats an opportunity to make up for a two-game sweep at the hands of the hated Jayhawks.

It would also help attendance — the other two semifinalists are more than 600 miles from Kansas City.

In the other quarterfinals on Thursday, Donald Sloan scored 23 points and Khris Middleton had 17 to lead the Aggies past Nebraska 70-64, and Baylor got 25 points from Epke Udoh in an 86-67 win over Texas.

Second-seeded Kansas State romped past Oklahoma State 83-64 behind Jacob Pullen’s 19 points.

"Our guys were phenomenal in practice the last three days," said coach Frank Martin, whose Wildcats had ended the regular season with a disappointing upset loss to Iowa State. "And we got back to some of the things that make us a good basketball team."

Baylor’s LaceDarius Dunn got in quick foul trouble and had only two points in the first half, but scored 17 in the second half as the Bears beat Texas for the third time this year. Tweety Carter had 20 points for Baylor.

"I wanted to come out and just provide for my team," he said. "Score the ball, rebounding, whatever it takes to get the victory. So I think I did a great job of it."

Damion James had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Texas but fouled out in the final minutes. Going back to last year, it was the fourth straight victory for Baylor over the team that used to dominate them.

"I think it sums up our whole season in the last couple of months," said Texas coach Rick Barnes. "This game pretty much sums up the inconsistencies we’ve had all year."

Kansas, playing for the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA field to be announced Sunday night, led Texas Tech by only two points at halftime. But Cole Aldrich had 12 points and 18 rebounds and senior guard Sherron Collins put in 19 points, one of four Jayhawks in double figures.

It was also the 2,000th victory in Kansas’ storied program. They’re just the third school to reach that number.

"It means a lot to us right now," Collins said. "We don’t want to put too much focus on it. But it means a lot to people who support us and people who played before us."

-- Doug Tucker

ISU’s Brackins to turn pro

AMES, Iowa — Iowa State coach Greg McDermott says junior forward Craig Brackins will skip his final year of eligibility and enter the NBA draft.

Brackins, a 6-foot-10 forward from Palmdale, Calif., averaged 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this season as the Cyclones finished 15-17.

Brackins nearly left for the NBA last spring before deciding to return to school.

In Friday’s announcement, Iowa State also says center Justin Hamilton and guard Dominique Buckley will transfer.

Big 12 Women

Griffin, No. 3 Nebraska top Kansas State 63-46

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nebraska’s shots weren’t falling, and the third-ranked and unbeaten Cornhuskers were feeling the pressure against Kansas State.

Enter Kelsey Griffin, who scored 16 of her 24 points in the first nine minutes of the second half to help the Huskers overpower Kansas State 63-46 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament Friday.

"Yeah, she kind of has a way of doing that," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. "Kelsey can dominate a game. I felt like we didn’t get her the ball enough in the first half, and we talked a little bit about that."

The Big 12 player of the year scored in the low post, off the dribble and off the offensive glass to send the Huskers (30-0) into a Saturday semifinal against 11th-ranked Texas A&M.

More important, the win might have locked up a No. 1 seed for Nebraska in the NCAA tournament.

"I’m not on the committee, but I do think this was an important game for us and puts us in a great position," Yori said. "Regardless of who we play tomorrow, we’re going to play a top-20 RPI team, so this game, I thought, was very important."

The ninth-seeded Wildcats (14-18) gave the Huskers all they could handle early. Nebraska led 27-26 at the half despite shooting 33 percent and missing all 12 of its 3-pointers.

The halftime conversation wasn’t pleasant.

"It was basically that that wasn’t us out there," Griffin said. "We were playing hard defense, and we were happy about that. But we know we are a better shooting team than we showed, we can take care of the ball better and we have better chemistry on offense. We went out there and tried to prove it."

The Huskers ended up missing 18 3-pointers in a row before Cory Montgomery scored from long distance with 7:44 left in the game.

Because of Griffin, those shooting problems weren’t an issue.

The senior forward scored nine points during an 11-5 run that turned a 32-31 Nebraska lead into a 43-36 bulge.

"I think in the first half we did a great job of defending her," K-State’s Ashley Sweat said. "Great players are going to have halves like that."

A 13-2 spurt all but finished off the Wildcats, and the lead grew to 21 points in the last three minutes.

Kansas State suited up just seven players. Kelsey Hill, Shalin Spani and Alina Voronenko sat out with injuries, and Kari Kincaid limped off the court in the second half

The Huskers’ uptempo game took a toll on the Wildcats, who were playing for the second straight day after beating Texas Tech 59-51 on Thursday.

"Obviously, depth was a really big factor today, especially once Kari got a little nicked up," K-State coach Deb Patterson said. "At that point, I think the game had run away from us a bit."

The game played out much like Saturday’s regular-season game in Manhattan, Kan., where Griffin scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Huskers to an 82-72 victory after they had trailed 45-38 at halftime.

"I don’t feel like I have to take anything upon myself," Griffin said. "My teammates do a great job of putting me in successful positions. ... There were defensive stops that people were coming up with, and defensive rebounds, and it might have looked like I was going on a run. But it was a team-concerted effort to be able to do that."

Griffin also had 10 rebounds, giving her 18 double-doubles for the season.

Montgomery had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Dominique Kelley added 11 points for Nebraska, which won a conference tournament game for the first time since 2006.

Jalana Childs and Kari Kincaid led K-State with 10 points apiece.

K-State had chances to tie or take the lead early in the second half. But Brittany Chambers missed two free throws when the Wildcats were down by a point, and Griffin drew charges from Sweat and Childs.

The Wildcats played Nebraska tough in the first half despite committing 15 of their 23 turnovers and missing 11 of their first 14 shots.

K-State shot 42 percent the first 20 minutes but just 27 percent the second 20.

"Well, I liked the first half," Patterson said. "Obviously, in the second half, we just didn’t establish any firepower on the offensive end of the floor. The magnitude of any make by Nebraska in the second half is really intensified when we’re not making conversions on the offensive end."

-- Eric Olson

Riley’s 43 points lead Cowgirls’ 62-59 upset

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andrea Riley missed 17 shots in a row during one stretch Friday — and her coach still wanted her to keep firing away.

Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke has seen her act before.

The streaky Riley scored 43 points to set the Big 12 tournament single-game record for the second straight game and 20th-ranked Oklahoma State upset No. 14 Iowa State 62-59 in the quarterfinals Friday.

Riley made 6 of her first 7 shots, then missed those 17 in a row before warming up again late in the game to carry the seventh-seeded Cowboys into a Saturday semifinal against Baylor or Oklahoma.

Riley also became the Big 12’s career leading scorer and set the conference’s single-season scoring record.

"In the game of basketball, it’s always up and down, and sometimes you’re not going to stay hot," Riley said. "So I had to listen to my coaches and teammates who continued to be in my ear, and I’m glad and appreciate how much they support me and how they have so much confidence in me. They really made me push in the end."

Riley scored 19 of the Cowgirls’ last 23 points to hold off Iowa State, which came back from a 15-point first-half deficit to lead.

Riley finished 16 of 44 from the field, with most of her shots coming on pull-up jumpers in and around the lane as Iowa State packed in its defense.

"I never think about how many times I shoot," Riley said. "Coach Budke told me if they’re going to give you that shot, I don’t care if you take 50 shots — and I got close."

Said Budke: "That’s true. That’s what I told her."

Anna Prins had 15 points, Kelsey Bolte 12 and Whitney Williams had 11 for Iowa State.

Riley, who scored 37 points against Kansas on Thursday, came into the game tied with Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris as the league’s career scoring leader. Riley now has 2,772 points.

Riley has 846 points for the season, breaking the conference mark she set two years ago.

Riley hit jumpers to tie it at 50-all and to put the Cowgirls (23-9) up 54-50, and she drove to the basket to make it 58-55 with 45 seconds left.

She hit four free throws in the last 13 seconds to hold off the second-seeded Cyclones (23-7).

"There is nobody more valuable to their team than what she’s done the last four years for resurrecting this program," Budke said. "I know we have a deserving MVP in this league (Nebraska’s Kelsey Griffin), but there is no way I would vote for anybody else but Andrea."

The loss ended the Cyclones’ streak of making it past their first Big 12 tournament game every year since 2003. Riley hit three 3s to help Oklahoma State get out to a 19-7 lead.

Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said he figured Riley would be a "volume shooter," but that his team would have had a chance to win if it had shot better than 33 percent.

"We held Oklahoma State to 62 points. I don’t care who scores," he said. "There is no way you’re going to stop her from scoring. She’s a great player and certainly someone who has had a great career, and certainly someone that all of us will be glad to see graduate."

When the 6-foot-7 Prins knocked down a 3-pointer at the top of the key, Iowa State led for the first time at 28-27.

The teams went back and forth from there, with Iowa State taking its last lead at 50-48 with 5:39 to play.

Iowa State’s All-Big 12 point guard, Alison Lacey, didn’t play because of her continuing battle with a bronchial illness. She missed last week’s 78-70 loss at Oklahoma State and was on the floor for just two seconds last weekend against Colorado so she could have a ceremonial start on Senior Day.

Fennelly said he expects Lacey to be ready to play in the NCAA tournament.

-- Eric Olson