KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With three- game sweeps this season of Oklahoma and Texas A&M, No. 10 Texas has already accomplished something it had never done before.
Now, with No. 2 Kansas looming today in the conference title game, the Longhorns have a chance to do something else for the first time.
If they beat the No. 2 Jayhawks, they’ll be the first team from the Lone Star State to capture the championship in the 15-year history of the Big 12 Tournament.
“It would mean a lot,” said Texas guard J’Covan Brown, who had 14 points Friday night in a 70-58 semifinal victory over Texas A&M. “We have to go out there and have fun. Like Coach said, if we execute, everything else will take care of itself.”
Jordan Hamilton scored 17 points and second-seeded Texas (27-6) had four players in double figures while beating the third-seeded Aggies (24-8).
“Each time we played (A&M), the scoring margin got closer and closer,” Texas freshman Tristan Thompson said. “We knew this game was not going to be a blowout.”
Thompson had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Texas, which finished second to Kansas in the regular season but beat the Jayhawks 74-63 in January, snapping their 69-game home court winning streak.
WomenNo. 8 Texas A&M 81, No. 21 Oklahoma 68
The Aggies are back in the tournament finals for a fourth consecutive year, and they didn’t need a big scoring game from Danielle Adams to get there.
Oklahoma held the Big 12’s leading scorer to 16 points — seven below her average — but the No. 8 Aggies (27-4) easily advanced.
“The key to it in this tournament is to quit waiting for Danielle to score 40 and have balanced scoring,” Aggies coach Gary Blair said. “That’s what we had.”
Adams was limited to 27 minutes because of foul trouble, but guard Sydney Carter scored all of her 19 points in the final 20 minutes.
No. 3 Baylor 86, Kansas State 53
Brittney Griner scored 21 points and Destiny Williams added 18, and the two left the game midway through the second half with the Lady Bears (30-2) up by 30.
