By Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
After capping the regular season in Fort Worth on Sunday and securing its 25th consecutive 20-win campaign, No. 20 Baylor women’s basketball turns its focus to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., where one more opportunity at a conference title awaits.
With the bracket finalized, Baylor enters the weekend as the No. 3 seed following a tightly contested Big 12 slate that saw TCU secure the top spot and West Virginia claim No. 2. The Bears earned a double-bye into the quarterfinals, and will face the winner of Colorado’s second-round matchup against either Kansas or UCF at 8 p.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center.
“The parity in the Big 12 is that it feels like anybody can win on any given night, especially among the top seeds,” head coach Nicki Collen said. “I think about the coaching jobs across this league and the number of teams that have had unbelievable years. There are so many things I’m proud of as a league.”
Redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott echoed that sentiment entering postseason play.
“We’re coming in with a new vengeance,” Scott said. “This team is hungry, and I don’t think that’s wavered at all. We want to come back and prove that we can still beat good teams. Everybody in our locker room is ready to go, step up to the challenge and that’s the conference tournament.”
For Baylor, now in head coach Nicki Collen’s fifth season, the journey has stretched four months from a top-10 season-opening win over Duke in Paris through the highs and lows of conference play. With four of its five starters playing their final season and a healthy roster entering postseason play, the Bears will look to battle through the bracket and secure the program’s 16th appearance in the Big 12 Tournament final.
If Baylor advances past the winner of Colorado, Kansas and UCF, the Bears would await the winner of No. 2 West Virginia’s matchup against either No. 10 Arizona State or No. 7 Iowa State, setting up a potential rematch with a Mountaineer squad that overwhelmed Baylor in a turnover-filled contest earlier this season in Morgantown.
“Believe me, if we play them in the conference tournament, we’ll look different,” Collen said.
There is no easy path in the Big 12. The Bears will take things one game at a time as they chase a conference tournament title that has eluded them under Collen — and one that painfully slipped through their fingertips last March.
“Every night you come in, you’re playing a really good team and it’s big time,” Scott said. “There are a variety of styles in this league. I feel like in other conferences it might be about physicality or straight skill, but here [in the Big 12] we have that variety that makes this league so tough to play in. Anybody can win on any given night.”
And if anybody can win on any given night, Baylor’s moment comes when the lights are brightest — an 8 p.m. Friday tipoff followed by possible evening showdowns at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.
“The Big 12 is different, and it needs more respect because we are a league that’s built differently and you have to respect everyone,” sophomore forward Kayla Nelms said.
Beyond a conference title, more could be waiting for Baylor in Kansas City. A Big 12 Tournament championship would likely position the Bears to host an NCAA Tournament regional — a reward reserved for the nation’s top 16 seeds and one that could bring March Madness back to Waco.
“That would mean a lot to us. You always want to play at home,” senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs said. “We’re comfortable at home. It’s less hectic, so that just means we need to go out in Kansas City and do what we do best.”
Four days separate the Bears from the start of their run through the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., with the game streaming on ESPN+.
