KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Odyssey Sims scored 18 points and Brittney Griner had 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to power No. 1 Baylor over Texas Tech 72-48 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 women's tournament on Thursday.
The Lady Bears (32-0) move into Friday's semifinal against Kansas State. Against the Lady Raiders (19-13), they built a 24-point halftime lead and kept up the pressure in the second half.
While Griner dominated inside, Sims came through with four three-pointers. Monique Smalls led Texas Tech with 11 points and Shauntal Nobles had nine points and six rebounds.
The Lady Bears, who had two single-digit wins over the Lady Raiders in the regular season, didn't let Texas Tech hang around for long in the quarterfinals. Baylor needed a few minutes to get adjusted to Tech's zone defense but never looked back after taking a 6-4 lead 4:04 into the game.
At that point, Sims got things rolling with a couple of assists over the top of the zone, and then Baylor went to a full court press to speed up the game. With the intimidating Griner stopping drives to the basket, Texas Tech shot 18.5 percent (5 of 27) in the first half and had 12 turnovers. Baylor, meanwhile, shot 61.5 percent from the field (16 of 26).
The Lady Raiders were called for a technical foul for an illegal substitution while trying to slow down Baylor, which ended the first half ahead 40-16 following a three-point bank shot from reserve Ashley Field at the buzzer.
Texas Tech, which beat Texas in the opening round Wednesday, were within 11 points with 3:53 left in the half before Baylor went on a 13-0 run.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.