No. 5 Kansas State Wildcats 68

No. 12 Colorado Buffaloes 51

RECAP:

OKLAHOMA CITY – In a rematch of each team’s regular season finale, Kansas State took care of last-place Colorado for the third time this season with a 68-51 victory in the opening game of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Colorado hung around with the No. 22 Wildcats for the opening seven minutes of the first half, but a 12-0 run in a short three minute span gave Kansas State more than enough cushion to cruise to a first round win for the first time since 2006.

The Wildcats, which boast the top-ranked scoring defense in the conference (52.6 ppg), were able to slow down Colorado all game and never let them settle into any type of offense rhythm.

A Colorado zone defense was no match for an often low scoring Kansas State offense, which ranks tenth in the conference in total offense. The Wildcats sliced and diced their way to their third straight game of scoring 66 points or more.

Colorado’s Brittany Spears led all scorers with 23 points and also pulled town a team-high eight rebounds. The loss ends Colorado’s season at 11-19.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ashley Sweat, Forward, Kansas State (Team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting)

WHAT IT MEANS:

No. 4 Texas A&M vs. No. 5 Kansas State

1:30 pm Friday, Fox Sports Net

This conference quarterfinal game, which could easily be mistaken as an NCAA Sweet Sixteen matchup, will pit two teams that faced off against each other just two weeks ago in Manhattan, Kan. On March 1, the Aggies pounded the Wildcats on the road by a score of 71-45. The Wildcats are looking to avenge the upset they experienced as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed last season, when they lost a heartbreaking quarterfinal game to No. 8 seed Iowa State 66-65 in overtime.