WACO, Texas – There was a slight murmur from Sedona Prince's TCU teammates when the standout center mentioned growing up as a fan of Baylor, the 13-time Big 12 champion that the 10th-ranked Horned Frogs will be trying to beat for their first title in the league.
“C’mon, man. I watched Brittney Griner growing up. It’s special,” Prince said while sitting at the podium with Hailey Van Lith and Madison Conner after a blowout win over Houston in the final regular-season home game for the three seniors.
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The Frogs (27-3, 15-2 Big 12) went 19-0 at home, where it could start the women's NCAA Tournament. That included their first win over Baylor in 35 years, since the Texas teams were together in the long-defunct Southwest Conference.
Now they play Sunday at 17th-ranked Baylor (25-5, 15-2) for the outright Big 12 title. This is the first time in the league's 29-season history with a winner-take-all game on the final day of the regular season, and it comes in the last of the 144 conference games.
“Going to be a crazy game. Not only is it for the league title, it’s also a rival game and it’s their senior night. So they’re gonna have a lot of emotions behind it,” said Conner, the national leader with 106 made 3-pointers. “But I think we’re ready to go in there and handle business. We beat them at home, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s going to be a very intense game.”
Baylor has a nine-game winning streak since that 80-75 loss at TCU on Jan. 26 to set up the finale for a trophy.
“You’re welcome, Big 12. Great job, TCU,” fourth-year Baylor coach Nicki Collen said. “I think this sets up to be a really big game for our league, for both teams. ... They stand in the way of a goal of ours, and certainly it's a goal of theirs.”
“It’s what March Madness is all about,” second-year TCU coach Mark Campbell said. “In June, we sat down as a team to map out our goals. And No. 1 was win a league title, and two was put yourself in position to host and earn a top 16 seed. It’s the best.”
TCU has won its past six games and already set school records for overall and conference wins. The Frogs, who haven't won a league title since 2010 in the Mountain West, also have wins over Atlantic Coast Conference co-leaders No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 9 NC State to go with that big one over their instate rival.
Prince, Van Lith and Conner combined for 64 points in the win over Baylor five weeks ago. That trio has also combined to score at least 60 points in seven other games.
Baylor senior guard Sarah Andrews, who has played a Big 12-record 162 games, was part of league titles in her first two seasons with the Lady Bears in 2021 and 2022. She would like to get another on her senior day.
“It'll be bittersweet, because I’m going to hate leaving," said Andrews, who this week had memories of those titles pop up on her Snapchat app. “But I think when we have the confetti dropping down on our heads, then it’ll all come together.
“I think TCU should be a little more nervous than us, because there’s a lot of pressure on them, honestly,” she said. "They’re ranked higher than us, and we’re the underdog going into this game.”
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AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report.
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