March 7, 2007

Box Score | Photo Gallery

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -Bernice Mosby scored 12 points in 22 minutes as No. 18 Baylor won its Big 12 Conference women's tournament opener with a 71-54 victory over Kansas on Wednesday.

Baylor (25-6) has won its opening Big 12 tournament game in each of coach Kim Mulkey's seven seasons and has beaten Kansas (11-20) nine straight times.

The third-seeded Bears will play second-seeded and No. 11 Oklahoma in the semifinals on Thursday. Baylor has lost five straight games to the Sooners, including an 88-61 decision in Norman in the teams' regular-season finale on Feb. 28. But the Bears have reached the past two Big 12 tournament title games.

Eleventh-seeded Kansas, an upset winner over sixth seed Oklahoma State in the first round, couldn't continue a surprising late-season run during which the Jayhawks won five of their previous eight games entering Wednesday.

Baylor trailed only once, at 3-2. Kansas started the game by missing 14 of its first 16 shots and had a 7 1/2-minute drought, allowing the Bears to build an 18-6 lead with 8:32 left in the first half.

Kansas cut the margin to eight points twice, but Baylor answered with nine straight points and the Bears - who shot 53.8 percent from the field in the half - led 35-19 at halftime.

The Jayhawks got no closer than 12 points in the second half. Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson received a technical foul with 12:28 left and the Jayhawks down 15. Within four minutes, the Baylor lead grew to 26 points.

The Lady Bears used mostly reserves in the final minutes, allowing their starters to rest.

Baylor had five blocked shots, giving the Lady Bears 233 on the season, breaking the Big 12 record of 232, set in 2005 by Texas Tech.

Baylor's 17-point margin of victory matched its largest this season against a Big 12 opponent.