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No. 7 Women's Basketball preview: No. 3 Baylor
03.05.2018 | Women's Basketball
The Longhorns and Lady Bears meet at 8 p.m. CT Monday in the Big 12 Tournament Championship.
No. 7/7 Texas Longhorns (26-5, 15-3 Big 12) vs. No. 3/3 Baylor Lady Bears (30-1, 18-0 Big 12)
Big 12 Tournament Championship
Time: Monday, March 5, 2018 | 8 p.m. CT
Location: Oklahoma City, Okla. | Chesapeake Energy Arena (18,203)
TV: FS1 (Ron Thulin, Brenda VanLengen, Missy Heidrick)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio
OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 7 Texas women's basketball team seeks its second all-time Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship on Monday when it faces No. 3 Baylor. Tip-off in Chesapeake Energy Arena is slated for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised by FS1. It is the Longhorns' sixth all-time appearance in the championship final and the third in the last four years.
The Longhorns (26-5) advanced to the championship with an 81-69 win against Iowa State in the quarterfinal round and a 68-55 victory against West Virginia in the semifinals.
Texas holds an all-time record of 26-20 in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The Longhorns are 1-4 all-time in the championship final, winning the event in 2003. The six appearances by Texas in the final tie the Longhorns with Oklahoma for second-most championship final appearances in the tournament's history. Baylor will be making its tournament-leading 12th all-time appearance in the finals on Monday.
Junior forward Jatarie White has led the Longhorns in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, posting back-to-back double-doubles in her first two games in Oklahoma City. On the week, White is averaging 14.5 points per game and a team-high 12.0 rebounds per game. She is shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Ariel Atkins has averaged a team-high 17.5 points per game through two games in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. She is also averaging 4.5 rebounds per game and has a team-leading three steals and two blocks. Atkins tied her season high with 25 points in the quarterfinal against Iowa State, including a career-best five three-pointers.
On the season, Atkins averages a squad-best 14.9 points per game, while senior guard Brooke McCarty follows with 13.8 points per game. Junior guard Lashann Higgs contributes 12.6 points per game and White adds 10.4 points per game and a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game. Higgs is expected to play in her 100th career game for the Longhorns on Monday.
Texas and Baylor meet for the 97th time in the history of the two programs. The Longhorns lead the all-time series 58-38, but the Lady Bears have won 17 of the last 18 meetings. Texas is 2-2 all-time against Baylor in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The two teams met for the tournament championship in 2015 and 2016, both won by the Lady Bears.
The Lady Bears enter Monday's game with a 30-1 overall record and an 18-0 mark in Big 12 Conference play. Baylor advanced to the championship with an 83-54 win against Kansas State in the quarterfinals and a 94-48 victory against TCU in the semifinals.
QUICK NOTES
- Texas women's basketball is in the midst of its 44th season of intercollegiate basketball.
- Texas ranks fifth all-time in NCAA history with 1,063 all-time victories.
- The Longhorns have made 30 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, which is fourth-most of any NCAA D-I Women's Basketball program.
- Texas head coach Karen Aston is 140-60 (.700) now in her sixth season at the helm of the Longhorns. She is the program's second-winningest coach in UT history behind Jody Conradt's 783 victories on the Forty Acres.
- This year's Texas team tied the school record for most Big 12 wins in a season at 15. The 2002-03, 2015-16 and 2016-17 squads also posted 15 Big 12 victories.
- Texas has advanced to three consecutive NCAA Sweet 16s for the first time since the 2002, 2003 and 2004 campaigns.
- Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Texas has earned 19 wins against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25. The Longhorns are 5-4 against AP Top-25 teams this season.
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 87 of 101 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in 27 of 31 games this season and ranks second nationally in rebound margin (+10.8). The Longhorns are averaging 43.0 rebounds per game, which ranks 17th nationally.
- Texas ranks 14th nationally in scoring offense (81.1 ppg) and 11th in scoring margin (+17.8).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 235 career three-pointers made, which ranks third all-time in program history. She is one of only four players in school annals to make 200 or more career three-pointers. McCarty needs three more three-pointers to surpass Kathleen Nash (237 career threes) for second place all-time.
- McCarty ranks fourth in program history in three-point percentage at 39.7 percent (235-of-592). Just three players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kathleen Nash and Vicki Hall) have shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc for their careers. Carey is the school's all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 41.8 percent.
- McCarty leads the Big 12 Conference and is 18th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7.
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks fourth in program history in free-throw percentage with an 83.0 percent clip (269-of-324).
- Atkins ranks 30th nationally and second in the Big 12 in steals per game at 2.6.
- Atkins ranks 36th nationally in field-goal percentage at 54.2 percent.
- Atkins (117) and McCarty (135) have each played in more than 100 career games for the Longhorns.
