This year’s Big 12 women’s basketball tournament champion now departs for the SEC
In Iowa State’s first two games of the Big 12 Women’s Championship, freshman front-liner Audi Crooks stepped outside to bury a 3-pointer. Both times she wore a sheepish grin as she retreated to play defense.
In Tuesday’s championship game against Texas, Crooks again attempted an early 3-pointer. This one air-balled. It was that kind of night for the Cyclones.
The Longhorns (30-4) are departing the Big 12 with a championship trophy after a dominant 70-53 triumph at T-Mobile Center. Texas heads to the SEC with its third tournament title.
The Longhorns’ prized freshman, Madison Booker, played her best game of the tournament. The Big 12 Player of the Year finished with 26 points and took home the event’s MVP.
Iowa State (20-11), seeded fourth, sought the same magic that carried it to last year’s Big 12 title against the Longhorns. But Texas’ physical defense smothered the Crooks and the Cyclones’ shooters that had carried them to victories over ranked Baylor and Oklahoma in Kansas City.
After Hannah Belanger made her second straight 3-pointer to cut the Texas lead to 14-10, Iowa State didn’t score again for nearly 10 minutes. The Longhorns scored the next 16 and it was over.
Iowa State got as close as 12 late in the third quarter, and Crooks heated up after her slow start. She finished with 25 points and nine rebounds.
Next stop for the Longhorns and Cyclones — plus Oklahoma, Baylor, Kansas State, West Virginia and Kansas — is the NCAA Tournament. The field will be announced on Sunday.
The all-tournament team: Booker and Aaliyah Moore, Crooks and Emily Ryan of Iowa State and Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee.
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 10:41 PM.