Completed Event: Women's Basketball at #23 Alabama on February 15, 2026 , Win , 79, to, 71
Final
Women's Basketball
79
at #23 Alabama
71
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Baylor Gets Chance to End OU's Perfection
March 11, 2006 | Women's Basketball
DALLAS -- The Baylor Lady Bears are right where they wanted to be at the Big 12 Tournament.
Not only are the 10th-ranked Bears (24-5) in the championship game Saturday night with a chance to defend their conference tournament title, they get another shot at No. 8 Oklahoma.
"There's not really much to elaborate on,'' said Sophia Young, the Big 12 player of the year. "We just wanted to get a shot at them, and we're finally getting that chance.''
Oklahoma (28-4) hasn't lost a Big 12 game this season, sweeping through all 16 games in the regular season and its two tournament games. The Sooners beat Baylor twice, but only by a combined seven points.
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While both are going to the NCAA Tournament, it seems fitting that Oklahoma and Baylor will play to determine the Big 12 tournament title.
"I think that Baylor is clearly -- and you guys gave me all kinds of grief for saying this during Big 12 play -- but clearly they are the second-best team in the league,'' Sooners coach Sherri Coale said. "They finished in second place and they separated themselves from the guys that where behind them.''
The Sooners played only one conference game closer than their two victories against Baylor. That was a 60-59 victory at Texas Tech in the regular-season finale that was retiring Lady Raiders coach Marsha Sharp's last home game.
Kendra Moore made two 3-pointers in the final 17 seconds in Waco on Jan. 21 -- the last with 0.8 seconds left -- for a 73-70 victory that ended Baylor's 25-game home winning streak. Three weeks later in Norman, Courtney Paris had 31 points and 19 rebounds, but the Sooners needed overtime to pull out an 81-77 win.
The 6-foot-4 Paris was the league's freshman of the year, and shared the defensive player of the year award with Baylor's Abiola Wabara. Paris has 53 points and 26 rebounds in two tournament games, and pushed her record of double-doubles to 30 games.
Baylor advanced to the championship game for the third time with a 53-52 victory over Texas A&M (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today; No. 22 AP) on Thursday night. The Bears won their first Big 12 Tournament last year en route to winning the NCAA title, and lost 84-69 to Oklahoma in the 2002 Big 12 tournament title game -- the only other time they've met in the event.
"I hope it will be a showcase,'' Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. "I hope that both teams play well.''
The Sooners had a much easier time in the semifinals. They ran out to a 46-17 halftime lead and got to rest Paris and the rest of the starters in the second half of a 75-54 victory over Missouri.
"Courtney, we were able to play her 24, 25, 26 minutes on a number of occasions in Big 12 play,'' Coale said. "So we get a chance to rest her ... and trust me, she's already given me grief about 17 minutes. 'What's up, coach, 17 minutes?' I already heard that.''
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