KANSAS CITY, Mo.– As the buzzer sounded in the Big 12 Tournament championship game, jordan harrison ran and jumped into her waiting arms West Virginia Teammates, who pressed him so hard it felt like he was hurt.
This was almost the only time anyone bothered Harrison on Sunday.
The senior guard wreaked havoc on defense, scoring 20 points, and sydney shaw Added 17 points, helping No. 15 Mountaineers avenge regular season loss to No. 10 TCU with win 62-53 In the title game.
“I just need to see the ball go through the hole to get me ready and going,” said Harrison, the tournament MVP. “I mean, I just knew I needed to start, be ready to give my team a chance to win.”
The Big 12 Tournament title is the second for No. 2 seed West Virginia and the first since the 2016–17 season.
“I don’t know if we put together all four quarters, but we’re getting closer and closer,” Mountaineer coach Mark Kellogg said. “Our kids were bought into the game plan. They executed it. But they competed. They come out and they go after you, and they’re just relentless, and Jordan set the tone with his defensive ability.”
West Virginia led 56–43 with 90 seconds remaining before TCU scored seven consecutive points to provide some hope. But Harrison, a senior from Oklahoma City, helped seal the victory by making two free throws with 33.4 seconds remaining.
“We knew the things that were on the line,” Harrison said. “The most important thing is that we wanted to live in the present.”
olivia milesThe reigning league player of the year, scored 17 points for No. 1 seed TCU (29-5), even though she played in foul trouble most of the time. marta suarez Added 16 points but shot just 6 of 19 from the field and fouled out in the final minute.
“He played a great game today,” Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell said. “They did a great job defensively, and they outshot us. Give them credit. We’ve had great battles with them the last few years, and today, they were the better team.”
TCU lost two of its six regular season games to the Mountaineers, both in defensive slugfests: 51–50 on January 14 and 59–50 exactly a month later. And their meeting for the conference championship felt very similar to the first two in the trilogy.
Whichever team scores 50 runs first will win.
The Mountaineers took a 26–23 lead at halftime, relying on their full-court pressure to take TCU out of its offensive rhythm. At one point, the pesky Harrison converted a turnover by Suárez into a coast-to-coast layup, and on the next possession, Shaw created another turnover that was taylor bigby Converted to a more simple layout.
“When you beat a team twice, they were hungry,” Campbell said.
Miles provided the only sustained offense for TCU in the first half. But he picked up his third foul with 2:54 left and took a seat next to Campbell on the bench, and West Virginia scored seven unanswered to take control at halftime.
Then, Miles picked up his fourth foul just 39 seconds into the second half.
“You know, stupid things happen,” she said, “and I’m upset with myself that I put myself in that situation.”
“When you beat a team twice, man, they were hungry.”
TCU coach Mark Campbell
The transfer from Notre Dame played most of the time, but he wasn’t as aggressive, and his supporting cast struggled to pick up the offensive slack. West Virginia put constant pressure on the Horned Frogs on defense, and Kellogg’s team turned that defense on offense and began to pull away.
Harrison said, “It felt great. It felt a little bit like a dream.” “I was very happy. Very excited. Very excited about it. But I’m proud of our team, and proud that we got this opportunity.”
The Mountaineers have locked up the No. 4 seed for the NCAA Tournament and will hit the road for their first round matchup.
The Horned Frogs are likely to host first- and second-round March Madness games on campus, as they did last season. If they advance, they can play in one of two regional arenas at Dickies Arena near their campus in Fort Worth, Texas.
