Kansas Jayhawks bow out of Big 12 Championship women’s tourney in KC: Scores, schedule
The Kansas Jayhawks had a short run at the Big 12 Championship women’s basketball tournament.
No. 14 seed Texas Tech beat 11th-seeded KU 57-53 on Wednesday evening at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. With the win, the Red Raiders will play sixth-seeded Utah in Round 2 Thursday evening.
Bailey Maupin led 14th-seeded Texas Tech (16-16) with 12 points and Jasmine Shavers and Denae Fritz added 11 apiece.
KU’s Brittany Harshaw of Andover, Kansas led all scorers with 15 points. Regan Williams from Park Hill South/Link Academy added 13 and Laia Conesa 12 for the 11th-seeded Jayhawks (16-14).
“I was proud of the way we defended,” Kansas coach Brandon Schneider said. “We just didn’t have enough offensive punch to win the game.”
KU went cold in the third quarter, shooting just 2-of-13 from the field (15.4%). The Jayhawks were 10-of-23 (43.5%) in the first half and 37.5% for the game.
“We started moving the ball more and we were getting more open shots,” said Harshaw, who also had four steals. “It was just having the confidence to take those and having to believe in myself and knowing that my team has believed in me, too.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair. At halftime, the Red Raiders led 33-29. But the action was only starting to heat up and the second half would be just as closely contested.
The Jayhawks forced 13 of Texas Tech’s 20 turnovers in the second half.
Sophomore Jayhawks guard S’Mya Nichols appeared to suffer or aggravate an injury late in the third quarter. That was a blow for KU — the product of Shawnee Mission West High limped off the court and did not return to action.
Still, Kansas hung around and even crept ahead 46-45 with just over 5 minutes remaining. Freshman forward Williams drove the lane for a lay-up and the go-ahead points.
Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich spoke about her team’s struggles to take care of the ball down the stretch.
“We turned it over consecutive possessions and we weren’t getting great shots,” she said, “and they started knocking down some shots.”
Junior guard/forward Kilah Freelon hit a jumper and pair of free throws as part of a Red Raiders run and KU trailed 51-46 with a minute to go. The stage was set for a thrilling day one finish.
Williams scored again and Tech led 51-48 with 36.2 seconds left. Then Freelon made a lay-up, but Conesa was able to answer for Kansas with a pair of free throws; that made it 53-50 with 16.2 seconds remaining.
Maupin sank two free throws for Tech and it was 55-50 at the 15.8-second mark. Schneider drew up a brilliant inbounds play for Conesa, who turned and fired an on-the-mark 3-pointer.
That made it a two-point game again, but only briefly. Maupin canned two more at the line to ice it.
In earlier first-round games Wednesday at T-Mobile Center:
- UCF beat BYU 81-69
- Colorado beat Houston 66-58
- Arizona State beat Cincinnati 82-75.
The Big 12 women’s hoops tournament continues Thursday with the following second-round games:
- K-State vs. UCF, 11 a.m.
- Colorado vs. Arizona, 1:30 p.m.
- Arizona State vs. Iowa State, 5:30 p.m.
- Utah vs. Texas Tech, 8 p.m.
The conference’s men’s tournament is next week, also at T-Mobile Center.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 10:25 PM.
