Texas takes down Baylor to claim Big 12 women's basketball tournament title

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The last time the Longhorns won the Big 12 women's basketball tournament was in 2003 and it was not quite 2 months old. She was born in January of that year.

She was named the most outstanding player of the tournament on Sunday as the Longhorns upset the top-seeded Bears to win the Big 12 title.

The Longhorns beat the Bears for the second time in four years and kept them from winning their 12th Big 12 tournament title. It could have cost the Bears a top seed in the NCAA tournament. The selection show airs on the sports network.

The game changed in the second quarter when he took a charge on NaLyssa Smith. Smith left the game for the rest of the first half with a knee injury, but returned in the second half. The tone of the game would be set by the Texas defense after her third foul.

The 5-foot-8 Harmon said that the Smith was pretty big and he was small. I took the charge and got right back up because they are probably going to take her out. I am not worried about it. I will give up my body for my teammates.

The Texas coach beamed after taking Mississippi State to two national championship games. He has been known for his defense. The Longhorns sent a message to the upcoming NCAA tournament and next season after snapping a 12-game winning streak by the Bears.

The only other victory by the Longhorns over the Bears was in the year 2017. After the 2020 season, Schaefer took over because of a lack of success against the Bears. Mulkey left for LSU in April of last year, while Collen left the Atlanta Dream to take over in Waco. If it had won Sunday, the Bears would have been the top seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Bears are trying to recover from the loss. Smith said that she never considered not playing the second half because she thought she might have hyperextended her knee. She had 21 points and 10 rebound.

Smith said that it would stick with him for a while, but he knew that they had to move on to the tournament.

The goal with Smith playing in the second half was to see how she felt, and that if she felt bad, Baylor would have pulled her.

It hurts because we wanted to be out there celebrating. I think we played well for the last two months, but we didn't play well tonight. Texas ball pressure made us uncomfortable. We did not get many clean attacks. I told the team in the locker room that sometimes they have to throw games in the trash.

Smith's injury is not more significant. The team has jelled down the stretch. We put ourselves in a good position, and now we have to move forward.