TCU women reach milestone with trip to Big 12 semifinals
Sixth Man of the Year Amy Okonkwo scored 21 points and Amber Ramirez added 19, leading the parade to the foul line in the closing minutes as fifth-seeded TCU held off No. 4 seed Oklahoma 90-83 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Saturday.
Kianna Ray had 14 points and Oklahoma City native Dakota Vann 13 for the Horned Frogs (19-11), who advance to their first conference semifinal since joining the Big 12. Their reward is a meeting Sunday at 2 p.m. on FS1 against third-ranked Baylor, top seed in the Big 12.
Baylor, 29-1 and winners of 26 in a row, defeated Kansas State 83-54 in another quarterfinal on Saturday.
TCU led the Sooners by 21 late in the second quarter, courtesy of hitting 9 of 15 3-point attempts in the first half, but the Sooners charged back with a 15-0 run in the third quarter to get within one. A 3-pointer from Maddie Manning had the Sooners within 71-67 with 4:42 to play but seven straight misses followed.
The Horned Frogs made 15 of 16 free throws in the final two minutes with Ramirez going 4 of 5 in the last minute.
Oklahoma shot 32 percent and TCU 61 percent in the first half, which ended with the Frogs ahead 50-35.
Manning had 24 points and Shaina Pellington 22, each netting 16 in the second half, for the Sooners (16-14).
Texas State 75, UTA women 58
A 10-0 first quarter run put Texas State in charge early and the Bobcats never let off the gas in a 75-58 win over UTA in the final regular season game for both women's teams.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for UTA (18-11, 12-6) and slides them to the third seed in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament in New Orleans. The Lady Mavericks' first game will be Thursday at 5 p.m. against the winner of Tuesday's matchup between the No. 7 and No. 10 seeded teams.
The Lady Mavs were lead by a Crystal Allen offensive showcase. The senior from Trimble Tech poured in a career-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting and three 3-pointers. She was 6-for-6 from the free throw line and pulled in six rebounds. Rebekah VanDijk added 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Texas State (21-8, 14-4) was led by Taeler Deer's 28 points and 25 from Toshua Leavitt, the nation’s leading 3-pointer shooter, who nailed 6 of 9 from long distance.
This story was originally published March 3, 2018 at 6:09 PM with the headline "TCU women reach milestone with trip to Big 12 semifinals."