After the conclusion of the first day of first-round play in the women’s NCAA Tournament, here’s how each Big 12 team did in their first-round matchups.
No. 2 TCU defeated No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson by a score of 73- 51. Senior Madison Conner led the Horned Frogs with 23 points on 9/17 shooting. They will now face No. 7 Louisville in the second round on Monday, Mar. 23 at 6:00 p.m. EST, the game will be televised on ESPN.
No. 4 Baylor defeated No. 13 Grand Canyon 73-60. Baylor was led by Senior center Aaronette Vonleh, who had 25 points and shot 10/13 from the field. Grand Canyon senior guard Trinity San Antonio had a game-high 27 points, three rebounds, and three assists in the loss. Baylor will now matchup against No. 5 Ole Miss in the second round on Monday, Mar. 23 at 4:00 p.m. EST, the game will be televised on ESPN.
No. 5 Kansas State defeated No. 12 Fairfield in blowout fashion by a score of 85-41. KSU senior guard Serena Sundell led the way with 18 points and nine assists. The Wildcats will now have a matchup with No. 4 Kentucky on Monday, Mar. 23 at 2:00 p.m. EST, the game will be televised on ESPN.
No. 6 West Virginia will lay their first-round matchup against No. 11 Columbia on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN News. The Mountaineers come into this game as -9.5 point favorites and will look to win their first-round matchup for the second consecutive season.
No. 7 Oklahoma State is set to kick off its tournament run on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 3:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2 against No. 10 South Dakota State.
No. 8 Utah lost their first-round matchup to No. 9 Indiana by a 76-86. The Utes were led by junior guard Gianna Kneepkens, who dropped a game-high 24 but it wasn’t enough to get past the Hoosiers. Utah finished the season sixth in the Big 12 after going 22-9 and 13-5 in conference play in the regular season.
No. 11 Iowa State was defeated by No. 6 Michigan in an intense 80-74 game. Despite a 28-point and seven-rebound performance by Iowa State sophomore center Audi Crooks, the Wolverines were simply too much for Iowa State and they will move on to the next round against No. 3 Notre Dame.
The Big 12 went into the first round of the NCAA with seven teams making the tournament, trailing the Big 10, who sent a record 12 teams to the tournament this year, the SEC sent 10, and the ACC has eight. The Big 12 is going into the second day of the first round and will now have five, depending on the outcome of the WVU game.
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