Kansas State women's basketball claims No. 3 seed and double-bye in Big 12 Tournament
The Kansas State women's basketball team should be well rested for the postseason.
With a dominating 73-49 victory at Texas Tech on Saturday to close out the regular season, the Wildcats not only broke a two-game losing streak, but also secured the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The top four seeds in the 14-team tournament receive byes for the first two rounds Thursday and Friday and advance directly to the quarterfinal. The Wildcats (24-6 overall, 13-5 in the Big 12) will play their first game at 8 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday's second-round game between No. 6 West Virginia (23-6, 12-6) and either No. 11 Cincinnati or No. 14 Central Florida.
K-State still has an outside chance of being a first-round host in the NCAA Tournament, but needs to climb back into the top 16 after dropping out in the selection committee's latest reveal last week. A successful Big 12 run could get the Wildcats back in the mix.
In the Big 12 Tournament, regular-season champion Oklahoma (21-8, 15-3) is the No. 1, followed by Texas (27-4, 14-4), K-State and Iowa State (18-10, 12-6). No. 5 seed Baylor (23-6, 12-6) has the longest current winning streak of five games, followed by Iowa State (18-10, 12-6) with four straight and No. 7 seed Kansas (18-11, 11-7) with three and eight in its last nine.
K-State, which has dropped three of its last six games, will look to build on the momentum its lopsided road victory at Texas Tech. The Wildcats were unbeaten against all three potential quarterfinal opponents during the regular season.
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Women's Big 12 Tournament schedule
Thursday, March 7 — First RoundGame 1: No. 12 Texas Tech vs. No. 13 Houston, 5:30 p.m.Game 2: No. 11 Cincinnati vs. No. 14 UCF, 8 p.m.Friday, March 8 — Second RoundGame 3: No. 5 Baylor vs. Game 1 Winner, 11 a.m.Game 4: No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 TCU, 1:30 p.m.Game 5: No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 BYU, 5:30 p.m.Game 6: No. 6 West Virginia vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.Saturday, March 9 — QuarterfinalsGame 7: No. 4 Iowa State vs. Winner Game 3, 11 a.m.Game 8: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Winner Game 4, 1:30 p.m.Game 9: No. 2 Texas vs. Winner Game 5, 5:30 p.m.Game 10: No. 3 Kansas State vs. Winner Game 6, 8 p.m.Monday, March 11 — SemifinalsGame 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 1:30 p.m.Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 4 p.m.Tuesday, March 12 — ChampionshipGame 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 8 p.m.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State women's basketball secures No. 3 Big 12 seed with victory
