The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
Women’s Basketball falls to No. 6/7 Baylor in Big 12 Championship final
03.10.2015 | Women's Basketball
Imani McGee-Stafford named to Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team.
DALLAS -- Texas Women's Basketball lost to No. 6/7 Baylor, 75-64, in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship final on Monday night at American Airlines Center. It was the Longhorns first appearance in the final round of the event since 2004.
Texas (22-10) was led by junior center Imani McGee-Stafford's second consecutive double-double -- 15 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. McGee-Stafford was named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament team after averaging 11.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in 20.6 minutes through three postseason games.
Junior guard Empress Davenport contributed 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes, while junior guard Celina Rodrigo dished out five assists on Sunday to finish tournament play with 13 assists and only five turnovers.
The Longhorns and Lady Bears traded 6-0 runs to start regulation. But Baylor followed with a 14-2 run to take a 12-point lead with 13:00 remaining in the first half. Behind seven first-half points from McGee-Stafford, Texas chipped away at its deficit and went into the locker room down by five, 40-35.
The Lady Bears did not give up their lead in the second period, finishing with 25 points off 15 Texas turnovers. Texas made six of their last eight field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, for a final score of 75-64.
Baylor (30-3) shot 48 percent from the field, led by 16 points and 11 boards from Nina Davis, to gain the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Texas will learn its seeding in the NCAA Championship next Monday at 6 p.m. Central on ESPN.
• TEXAS-BAYLOR SERIES: Texas leads the all-time series with Baylor, 57-32, but Baylor has won the last 11 meetings. Monday marks the first loss to Baylor in a conference postseason play (3-1)
• BIG 12 FINALS: Texas made its fourth appearance in a Big 12 Championship final, and second as a No. 6 seed, on Sunday. The last time UT advanced to the conference tournament final was in 2004, losing to Oklahoma 66-47.
• BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS: In the Big 12 Championship, Texas is now 21-18 overall, 13-13 against current Big 12 members, 8-5 as a No. 6 seed, and 3-3 under Head Coach Karen Aston. The Longhorns are 5-11 as the lower seed in the Big 12 Championship.
• OFF THE BENCH: UT's bench had a 33-15 scoring advantage over Baylor's bench on Monday night. In the last seven games, Texas' bench has out-scored the opponent's bench by a total of 195-49.
• POINTS IN THE PAINT: Texas held a 34-26 edge in the point in the paint on Sunday.
• OUT-REBOUNDED: For just the third time this season, Texas was out-rebounded by its opponent. Baylor had a 38-31 advantage on the boards.
