KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KUAthletics.com) – Texas Tech staved off a late run by Kansas on Wednesday night to outlast the Jayhawks, 57-53, in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the T-Mobile Center.
Kansas (16-14) trailed by 11 more than halfway through the third, before eventually grabbing a one-point lead in the fourth. But Texas Tech (16-16) responded, outscoring Kansas 12-7 over the final five minutes of the game to secure the win.
Brittany Harshaw led Kansas with 15 points, while Regan Williams (13) and Laia Conesa (12) also finished in double figures.
“I was proud of the way we defended; we just didn’t have enough offensive punch to win the game,” Coach Brandon Schneider said. “We’re all really proud of how our young women have competed for each other, especially the last two games, despite a lot of adversity.”
Harshaw got the Jayhawks on the board to open the game, before Nadira Eltayeb gave Kansas its first lead of the game on a jumper from the free throw line. Less than two minutes later, Conesa hit a 3-pointer to give Kansas a 9-6 lead. But Texas Tech then hit its third 3-pointer in just more than four minutes to tie it at nine.
The Lady Raiders scored the next four to take a 13-9 lead and held Kansas scoreless for four-plus minutes. But Kansas kept it within four and then used a 3-pointer from Carla Osma to pull within one at 13-12. Harshaw then canned a jumper to give Kansas a 14-13 lead with 52 seconds left in the first quarter. Texas Tech scored the final hoop of the quarter – a Jasmine Shavers jumper with 33 seconds left – to take a 15-14 lead, which held up to be the score at the end of the first.
The Jayhawks opened the scoring in the second and quickly regained the lead with an and-one from Williams to make it 17-15. Following a Tech bucket to pull it tied, Williams hit two more free throws and then Harshaw hit a 3-pointer to put Kansas up 22-17, marking its largest lead of the game to that point. Texas Tech responded with the next six points, however, to grab a 23-22 lead halfway through the second quarter.
The two teams then traded buckets for the next couple of minutes with Williams scoring four straight for the Jayhawks. Conesa hit one of two free throws with 2:37 left in the half to give Kansas a 27-26 lead. But Texas Tech scored the next seven points to grab a 33-27 lead with 35 seconds to play in the half. S’Mya Nichols then hit her second bucket of the half with four seconds left in the half to make it 33-29 at the break.
Williams led the Jayhawks with nine points in 14 first-half minutes. Harshaw also had a strong half with seven points in 18 minutes.
Texas Tech extended its halftime lead early in the third and built an 11-point lead when Shavers hit a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 42-31 with 4:40 left in the third. Conesa got it back to single digits on the next possession with a jumper. Nichols then hit two free throws with 3:53 left in the third to make it 42-35 in favor of Texas Tech. Nichols’ points stood up to be the final points scored by either team in the third with the Lady Raiders leading by seven at the end of the third.
A free throw from Texas Tech pushed the lead to eight at 43-35. But the Jayhawks then went on a 11-2 run over the next four minutes. It was capped when Williams scored on a layup with 5:14 to play to give Kansas a 46-45 lead. Kansas got eight points from Harshaw in the 11-2 run, including a pair of 3-pointers and a layup.
Texas Tech scored the next six, though, to take a five-point lead and never trailed from there.
