Texas takes down Baylor to claim Big 12 women's basketball tournament title

KANSAS CITY — The last time Texas won the Big 12 women's basketball tournament title — March 15, 2003 — Longhorns freshman guard Rori Harmon was not quite 2 months old. She was born in late January of that year.

On Sunday, she was named the most outstanding player of the tournament as the No. 3 seed Longhorns upset No. 1 seed Baylor 67-58 to take a long sought-after title, the program's second since the Big 12 began in the 1996-97 season.

The Longhorns' win was just their second against Baylor since 2011 and kept the Bears — who have dominated the conference for the past decade — from their 12th Big 12 tournament title. It also might have cost Baylor a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, something the Bears will find out at 8 p.m. ET when the selection show airs on ESPN.

Harmon had 20 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds Sunday, and took a charge in the second quarter against Baylor's NaLyssa Smith that was game-changing. Smith tweaked her knee and left the game for the remainder of the first half, although she returned in the second half. But it was her third foul and reinforced that the tone of this game would be set by Texas' defense.

«Yes, she's pretty big, and I'm pretty small,» the 5-foot-6 Harmon said of the 6-2 Smith. «But you have to know the stats at the moment. Know that, 'If I take this charge right now, they're probably going to have to take her out.' So I took the charge, didn't feel nothing, got right back up. I'm not worried about it. I will sacrifice my body for my teammates.»

Coach Vic Schaefer, in his second season at Texas after taking Mississippi State to two national championship games, beamed while Harmon spoke. As both an assistant and head coach, he has been known for defense. Having snapped Baylor's