Beyond Baylor: Big 12 teams fight to stand out from the pack
There are ten teams in the Big 12 conference, but you might not know it this season, as the Baylor Lady Bears are the subject of pretty close to one-hundred percent of the chatter.
And fair enough: in their win against Texas Tech on Saturday, the team clinched a share in the conference championship and moved to 27-0 (14-0 Big 12). Baylor isn’t just winning—the team, led by junior center Brittney Griner, is routing opponents, winning by an average of 29 points per contest.
Outside of the spotlight, the rest of the Big 12 has been battling it out for the number 2 slot in conference standings. Almost half of conference games have been close games, decided by less than ten points.
Currently nine Big 12 teams boast records of .500+ overall. It’s a tired sports truism that any team can win on any night, but it really does seem to ring true here. What’s the break down?
#2 TEXAS A&M (10-4, 19-6)
The Aggies won two games this week and six of their last seven, losing only to Baylor in the past few weeks.
Tuesday saw them pull out a close game over Missouri, effectively stealing the team’s first conference win opportunity. The Aggies, who trailed by five with four minutes in the game, scored 11 straight points without answer. Alexia Standish contributed critical free throws and a game-high 11 points in the contest.
By this weekend the team had shaken off the after effects of a Baylor beat-down. Both Adaora Elonu and Tyra White posted double-doubles in points and rebounds in a 63-49 win over Oklahoma State at home. Freshman Kelsey Bone added 18 points.
This week the Aggies defend their spot at the de facto top of the conference (since Baylor seems untouchable at #1), heading to Oklahoma on Tuesday and squaring up against Texas Tech on Saturday the 25th.
#3 OKLAHOMA (9-5, 17-9)
Can the Sooners differentiate themselves from the rest of the around-.500-club? That will be the question of the week as the team heads to Texas, playing the Aggies on Tuesday and Texas on Saturday.
Last month’s matchup between Texas A&M and OU was a decisive home win for the Aggies, who broke a conference losing streak, taking the game 75-58.
The Sooners sometimes seem to wax and wane with the slump or success of leading scorer Aaryn Ellenberg. The sophomore guard came off the bench on Wednesday against K-State to lead OU to a turn-around win. Ellenberg had 11 of her 12 points in the second half. Whitney Hand’s swift shooting added a team-high 16.
Saturday, though, another strong second half push from OU wasn’t enough against a hot-shooting Iowa State. The Cyclones had 8 baskets from behind the arc in the first half and shot 11-21 (52%) from that range on the night.
#4 KANSAS STATE (8-6, 17-9)
Kansas State and Iowa State are eyeing each other as both teams head into games against Missouri (1-13) and Oklahoma State (5-9).
The Wildcats can feel good about strong performances by numerous players after their 65-45 win over Texas on Saturday. In that game three players pulled in double-digit points, Tasha Dickey with 18, Brittany Chambers with 15 and Jalana Childs adding 14. Boards were also a big factor: the team out-rebounded the Longhorns 43-30, 16 of those were offensive rebounds.
In their loss at OU earlier in the week, the Wildcats held the lead for much of the game but saw that lead fade as the Sooners went on a 13-1 run with five minutes to go. Unable to regain composure, the team was 0-4 on their final four shots and turned the ball over in five crucial end-game possessions.
#5 IOWA STATE (7-7, 16-9)
The Cyclones will look to extend their winning streak this week as they host Missouri on Tuesday before heading to Oklahoma State. Two wins this week could build vital confidence ahead of their second meeting with Kansas State on February 29.
On Tuesday the team took advantage of Kansas’ weak spots, showing strong in the second half to defeat the Jayhawks 66-47. The Cyclones started the second half by scoring 14 unanswered points, largely due to the efforts of senior Chassidy Cole who had 8 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds in the game.
Though KU went on a bit of a scoring streak with three minutes to play, it wasn’t enough to topple the Iowa State lead. That win moved the team into a tie for fifth place with Kansas, who have since fallen to 6th place.
Lauren Mansfield’s 6-for-8 three-pointer performance and 22 game points helped the team hold off Oklahoma on Saturday in a 77-71 win. Nikki Moody also contributed a career-high 11 assists in the contest.
#6 KANSAS (6-8, 17-9)
Kansas saw the biggest change in status this week as the team fell to 6th behind Iowa State in conference standings and saw their losing streak grow to 3 straight games.
The Jayhawks struggles came in part after the loss of junior All-America candidate Carolyn Davis, who suffered a torn ACL at K-State last weekend. Unable to answer a strong second half performance by Iowa State on Tuesday, KU went on to give Missouri its first win in fourteen games of conference play.
They have now lost six of their last seven games and have Baylor to look forward to on Saturday. Which puts the pressure on their Tuesday match-up with Texas Tech, who the Jayhawks defeated 62-43 in their last meeting.
#7 TEXAS TECH (5-9, 17-9) / TEXAS (5-9, 15-11) / OKLAHOMA STATE (5-9, 13-10)
How will a three-way tie for seventh shake out in the final two weeks of conference play?
TEXAS TECH’s last meeting with Kansas resulted in a 63-43 loss for the Lady Raiders. But in that contest, the win came as a result of Carolyn Davis’s 34-point performance. With Davis out for the season, the game could look very different indeed.
And while Baylor’s win over Tech on Saturday clinched them at least a share of the conference title, the Lady Raiders made them work for it. During the contest, the Lady Bears trailed by as many as nine points before they pushed ahead to win 56-51—the slimmest margin of victory the still-undefeated team has seen in conference play.
TEXAS lost its winning momentum as it fell to Kansas State 65-45 on Saturday, its lowest scoring performance of the season. In the previous week, however, the Longhorns took down both its seventh-spot mates, defeating Tech and OSU. Sophomore Anne Marie Hartung contributed a career-high 17 points to each win.
The bad news is the Longhorns head to Waco on Tuesday to try Baylor. The good news is that everyone else will also have to meet the Lady Bears again and with that out of the way, the team might find its momentum again moving toward the playoffs.
OKLAHOMA STATE has lost three in a row now, falling on Saturday to #14-ranked Texas A&M. To regain its footing, the Cowgirls would need vastly different results from its second match-ups with Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas.
#8 MISSOURI (1-13, 11-14)
After having what seemed like it might be their first conference W snatched from them earlier this week by Texas A&M, the Tigers demanded satisfaction, getting it instead at the cost of Kansas.
Mizzou held out in the tight match, which ended with the team spending a bit of time at the charity stripe as the Jayhawks scrambled for the lead. The team was 9-10 overall from the line and Christine Flores netted seven of her game-high 24 points there.
The Tigers 57.4% field goal percentage in the contest – the highest in seven years-- certainly didn’t hurt them, nor did going 6-8 from three point land in the first half.
Though they are decidedly the rung the bottom of the Big 12 ladder, the team started the season 10-1 and has given several of their conference opponents a tough time. Could be that this week’s win marks the beginning of the end of the only clear numbers in the conference standings right now.
