OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 1-seed Lady Bears advances to the Big 12 Championship game after suppressing the No. 5-seed Oklahoma Sooners with an 84-57 win on Sunday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Freshman post Kalani Brown has been dominant for the Lady Bears in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship tournament. In both games, Brown has come off the bench in the past two games for the Lady Bears scored 17 points (Texas Tech) and 13 points (Oklahoma).
Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale tested multiple schemes against Brown, but none of them seemed to slow down the Lady Bears’ offense, or Brown for that matter. Even when the Sooners would foul Brown, she did well for herself at the line (7-8 free throws). Oklahoma’s efforts of obstructing Baylor’s attack
Baylor saw an uptick in turnovers from its last game against Texas Tech. The Lady Bears committed 21 turnovers as opposed to Oklahoma’s 16 turnovers. However, Baylor’s mistakes were far between each other to gift the Sooners with any significant momentum.
Sophomore guard Alexis Jones had the most points (19) and the most assists (11) on the night. Jones was perfect from the free throw line (5-5) and 6-12 from the field (2-5 3FG).
The Lady Bears mounted a 14-point lead after one quarter played and they never lost it for the rest of the game. Although the Sooners were producing quality looks on offense, their shooting was mostly off the mark. Oklahoma finished the game shooting 20-66 (30.3 percent) from the field.
Baylor also dominated the rebound battle 41-31, which is mainly in thanks to Brown who’s 6-foot-7 stature diminishes any opposing team’s hope of rebounding well.
Oklahoma hardly had any moment in the game in which it looked up the task of overcoming the Lady Bears. Baylor’s physical dominance and dynamic schemes, once again, were too much for the opposition.
Baylor plays in the championship game Monday at 8 p.m. on FS1 and will be broadcasted live on Baylor Lariat Radio.
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