Van Lith leads No. 8 TCU to first Big 12 Tournament title

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tournament MVP Hailey Van Lith had 20 points, including a layup with 48.8 seconds left, and top-seeded TCU beat No. 2 seed Baylor 64-59 on Sunday to win the program’s first Big 12 Championship.

The Horned Frogs won their first conference tournament title since 2005, when they were members of Conference USA.

TCU made its first appearance in the Big 12 title game, while Baylor leads the conference with 16 appearances and 11 titles (Oklahoma, which is now a member of the SEC, is second with four).

Sedona Prince had 12 points and 14 rebounds for No. 8 TCU (31-3). Madison Conner and Donovyn Hunter each scored 11.

Aaronette Vonleh led No. 17 Baylor (27-7) with 20 points. Sarah Andrews scored 13 and Yaya Felder 12.

Conner made 1-of-2 free throws with 9.7 seconds left to give TCU a three-point lead. Vonleh missed a potential tying 3-pointer before Agnes Emma-Nnopu made two fouls shots to cap the scoring.

Andrews scored Baylor's first six points in a 12-2 run that tied it at 57-all with 3:43 to go. Prince answered with a layup and TCU led the rest of the way.

Takeaways

TCU: The Horned Frogs, who also won the conference's regular season title, consistently got stops — and Van Lith made plays for herself and others — in crunch time.

Baylor: The Bears struggled to execute down the stretch, committing four of their 14 turnovers in the final three minutes.

Key moment

Hunter stole a pass by Vonleh with about a minute to play that led to Van Lith's layup that made it 61-57 with 48 seconds remaining.

Key stat

The Horned Frogs shot 91% from the free-throw line, where they outsored Baylor 21-15.

Up next

Both teams are likely to host opening-round games in the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 19. The tournament's field will be announced on March 16.