Cowgirls Fall To Baylor In Big 12 Semifinals

Nina Davis scored 29 points in 25 minutes and No. 6 Baylor advanced to play for its fifth consecutive Big 12 Conference tournament title after beating Oklahoma State 69-52 in a semifinal game Sunday.

Alexis Prince added 12 points and Niya Johnson 10 for the Lady Bears (29-3), the Big 12 regular-season champion for the fifth year in a row. They have won 14 consecutive conference tournament games.

Roshunda Johnson had 16 points while Brittney Martin had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma State (20-11), which lost to Baylor in a Big 12 semifinal for the third year in a row.

Davis, a 5-foot-11 sophomore post, was the league's player of the year as picked by the coaches, after a league-best 20.7 points per game in the regular season. She then scored 30 points as the Lady Bears beat Kansas State in their first Big 12 tournament opener Saturday.

After Davis converted a three-point play with 13:39 left to put Baylor up 59-32 over Oklahoma State, she came out for good with a third game in three days upcoming Monday night. She finished 12-of-17 shooting.

Johnson, the point guard and national assists leader, joined Davis on the bench less than a minute later.

Baylor will play in the championship game Monday night against Oklahoma or Texas, who played in the other semifinal later Sunday. The Sooners are one of the two Big 12 teams to beat the Lady Bears this season.

The Cowgirls had their only lead when LaShawn Jones scored on a breakaway layup on their first shot of the game.

Jones scored the first eight Oklahoma State points, but the Lady Bears were ahead to stay after Prince's 3-pointer from the top of the key made it 7-4 less than 2 minutes into the game.

Oklahoma State's scoring in the second half was again started by Jones, who had a three-point play only a minute after halftime. That got the Cowgirls within 42-24, but they never were closer.

Baylor stretched its lead to 53-28 after Davis scored seven points in a 72-second span.

Davis has a strong inside shot after a pass from Prince, then scored on another pass from Prince while being fouled before making the free throw. That quick scoring spurt ended when Davis rebounded her own miss and went back up strong inside with 15:32 left for the 25-point lead that was the largest at that point.

The Lady Bears led by 31 points with 11:38 left before all their starters were out of the game.