Kansas, K-State to open Big 12 women’s basketball tournament
The Kansas State women’s basketball team will face a familiar opponent in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament on Friday in Dallas.
The No. 8 seed Wildcats will play the No. 9 seed Kansas Jayhawks at 6 p.m. in a game that will give the winner a shot against top-seeded Baylor in Saturday’s quarterfinals and send the loser home.
It will be the third game of the season between the Sunflower Showdown rivals, and the Wildcats hope it ends as successfully as the first two, both K-State victories.
K-State coach Jeff Mittie thinks a good showing in Dallas could push the team into the NCAA Tournament.
“We are one of the 10 or 12 teams that’s being talked about (on the bubble),” Mittie said in a news conference Tuesday after a victory against West Virginia. “We know we are on the outside right now and that we have to do more.”
K-State, 17-12 overall and 7-11 in the Big 12, may need to beat Kansas and Baylor to feel good about its chances. ESPN does not currently list the Wildcats on its NCAA Tournament projection. Nor does it label them as a bubble team. The WNIT seems like a more realistic postseason destination for the Wildcats.
But they were competitive in the Big 12, and they have won two of their last three, including a win at Allen Fieldhouse against the Jayhawks.
Another victory against Kansas would put K-State a step closer to where it wants to be.
Meanwhile, Kansas, 15-16 and 6-12, enters the Big 12 tourney after back-to-back victories against Iowa State and Oklahoma. The late-season surge has kept the Jayhawks’ slim postseason hopes alive, but they will likely need a prolonged run in the conference tournament to be an attractive candidate for the WNIT.
Senior forward Chelsea Gardner, who was selected first-team All-Big 12 after averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game, could be playing her final game in a KU uniform.
“Win or go home,” said senior guard Natalie Knight, a graduate of Olathe South. “So we got to win.”
| Kellis Robinett, krobinett@kcstar.com, and Rustin Dodd, rdodd@kcstar.com
Big 12 women’s tournament schedule
At Dallas
Friday’s first round
(8) Kansas State vs. (9) Kansas, 6 p.m. (Fox College Sports)
(7) West Virginia vs. (10) Texas Tech, 8:30 p.m. (Fox College Sports)
Saturday’s quarterfinals
(4) Oklahoma State vs. (5) Iowa State, 11 a.m. (Fox Sports KC)
(1) Baylor vs. Kansas State-Kansas winner, 1:30 p.m. (Fox Sports KC)
(2) Oklahoma vs. West Virginia-Texas Tech winner, 6 p.m. (Fox Sports KC)
(3) TCU vs. (6) Texas, 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports KC)
Sunday’s semifinals
Quarterfinal winners, 1:30 and 4 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Monday’s championship
Semifinal winners, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Kansas, K-State to open Big 12 women’s basketball tournament."