FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Jalynn Gregory scored 22 points, Kseniya Malashka had 18 points and 14 rebounds and No. 25 Middle Tennessee beat fourth-seeded UTEP 68-62 on Friday to advance to the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament.
Middle Tennessee led for 37 minutes with UTEP’s last lead at 48-47 after N’Yah Boyd scored the first five points of the fourth quarter.
Middle Tennessee will face Western Kentucky, a 70-55 winner over University of Texas-San Antonio, in Saturday's title game.
Courtney Whitson finished with 18 points for Middle Tennessee (27-4). Savannah Wheeler, who entered averaging 15.8 points per game with 28 points on Thursday, finished with one point after going 0 for 7 from the field.
Elina Arike finished with 23 points and Boyd scored 18 for UTEP (20-11).
NO. 14 OKLAHOMA 77, TCU 76
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Skylar Vann scored 21 points, including the game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds left and Oklahoma avoided possibly the biggest upset in Big 12 Tournament history with its quarterfinal round win.
The Horned Frogs appeared poised to be the first 10th-seed to ever beat a two-seed when Lucy Ibeh scored inside with 4.8 seconds to play. But after a timeout, Taylor Robertson threw a deep inbounds pass to Vann, who was set up on the right side of the lane, and she spun to her right and went across the lane for the basket.
Robertson made 5-of-6 3-pointers and scored 17 points for the Sooners (25-5), who will face Iowa State, a 74-63 winner over Baylor, in the semifinals on Saturday. Aubrey Joens came off the bench to score 15 points.
Ibeh had 24 points for the Horned Frogs (8-23), who went 1-17 in league playing. The game was also the last for TCU coach Reagan Pebley, who announced last week she was stepping down after nine seasons.
NO. 15 TEXAS 60, KANSAS STATE 42
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — DeYona Gaston scored 12 points and Texas dispatched Kansas State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
The Longhorns (24-8) will face fourth-seeded Oklahoma State in a semifinal game on Saturday.
Jaelyn Glenn led the Wildcats (17-16) with 15 points. Through three quarters they were shooting 25% (9 of 35) but went 7 of 14 in the fourth with three of their four 3-pointers.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
