By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
After falling in a winner-take-all regular-season finale, No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball is set on claiming the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship. Earning a double bye, the Bears will start the journey in the quarterfinals against No. 7 Iowa State at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
A 51-48 loss to No. 1 seed TCU on Sunday at Foster Pavilion only made the Bears (25-6) hungrier. But standing in the way of their Big 12 tournament title pursuit — after coming within a 3-pointer of the regular-season crown — is Iowa State (22-10), a recent tournament nemesis for Baylor.
“We had to get over the loss before we could move on to this tournament,” head coach Nicki Collen said. “You don’t want your last memory in a place that’s been so good to you to be painful. So I think from that perspective, everyone would love to get a win in Foster to finish the year because if that means we get a win, we’re in the Sweet Sixteen … but the reality is, we’re not in control.”
The green and gold have been booted from the Big 12 Tournament by Iowa State in each of the last two years — a 67-62 loss in 2024, when then-freshman center Audi Crooks dropped 23 points and the Bears shot just 30.8% from the floor, and a 74-63 loss in 2023, despite four Bears scoring in double figures.
In the only meeting between the teams this season, Baylor snapped a four-game losing streak against the Cyclones with a 67-52 win. Crooks managed just 14 points in 29 minutes, and Iowa State shot just 1-for-14 from 3-point range.
“I think we’re really ready. I know we have a lot to work on, but we’re really eager to win,” senior guard Jada Walker said. “We have a lot of seniors that are eager. This is our last conference tournament, it’s our last NCAA Tournament, so we want to go out strong.”
Collen said the Bears will be without junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, a finalist for the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year and an All-Big 12 First Team selection, for the entirety of their Big 12 Championship run but expects her to return to the rotation in time for the NCAA Tournament. In her place, senior guard Yaya Felder, the Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year, has filled the void, averaging 13.5 points per game since joining the rotation.
“We’ve been resilient,” Collen said. “If you look at our numbers, February was a beautiful month for us for offensive purposes and defensive purposes. But if you look at our numbers, we were so efficient offensively. And all of a sudden, we played TCU and ran into a buzz saw. And that was the first game where it was like, ‘Wow, we desperately missed Buggs!’”
The seventh-seeded Cyclones will be playing their second game in as many days, as sophomore forward Addy Brown led them to the quarterfinals with a 41-point performance in a 94-83 win over No. 15 Arizona State on Thursday night. Brown’s career-high scoring night marked the third-most points scored by a player in a Big 12 Tournament game.
But earning a double-bye has Baylor feeling confident they have what it takes to earn a spot in the finals for the first time since 2022.
“It’s definitely a blessing just to get a double bye and being able to prepare more for the tournament and not just coming right in having to play, play, play, play,” Walker said. “Everyone’s coming to win now. Records and all that go out the window — it’s tournament time, win or go home, and we don’t want to go home.”
Baylor starts its charge for a Big 12 Championship in the quarterfinals against No. 7 Iowa State at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The victor will face the winner of No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 3 Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
