Cowgirl Hoops: Big 12 Tournament Bracket Set

The field is set for the Big 12’s Women’s Basketball Championships this week in Kansas City.

Oklahoma State earned the 3 seed after one of the best regular seasons in program history. The Cowgirls are 24-5 headed to KC, finishing with a 14-4 record in in the Big 12.

The top four seeds (TCU, Baylor, OSU and West Virginia) receive a double bye in the 16-team Big 12 bracket. OSU will play either Utah (6), Kansas (11) or Texas Tech (14) at 8 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals. The Cowgirls are 3-1 against that group this season. The loss came to Kansas, but OSU avenged that on Sunday with a 57-51 win in Lawrence.

Should the Cowgirls win on Friday, they’d play the winner of Baylor’s portion of the bracket in the semifinals. The Cowgirls beat the Bears 84-61 on Jan. 1 in Waco. OSU is 3-1 this season against the others top four seeds. The only loss was to West Virginia, as the Cowgirls and Mountaineers split their season series.

The Big 12 championship game is at 4 p.m. on Sunday on ESPN (unless BYU makes the title game, in which case it would be at 3 p.m. Monday).

Full Bracket

OSU in the Big 12

The Cowgirls are excellent on both ends of the floor, ranking fourth in the league in scoring (77.3 PPG) and fourth in scoring defense (59.2 opponent PPG). Teams are shooting just 36.3% against OSU, which is narrowly second-best in the league behind Kansas State (36.2%).

Superstar sophomore Stailee Heard is the Cowgirls’ leading scorer, as she heads to Kansas City averaging 15.8 points a game, which ranks 11th in the Big 12. Heard also ranks fourth in the league in rebounding, averaging 7.8 boards a game. Micah Gray (14.1) and Anna Gret Asi (11.8) join Heard with double-figure averages.

Center Tenin Magassa has played a big role in the Cowgirls’ defensive success. She ranks third in the league with 70 blocks this season. Magassa goes to KC off one of the best games of her career, as she had 20 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks in a Sunday win against Kansas.