Senior guard Danielle Green will try to lead the Cowgirls to a Big 12 Tournament championship starting tonight against Kansas.
A recurring theme concerning the Big 12 tournament dominated the Cowgirls’ Monday morning shootaround.
“Do some damage baby!” senior Danielle Green said.
So, like a wrecking ball or a heavyweight champion, the third-seeded Cowgirls will begin their quest for a Big 12 title today at 8:30 p.m against 11-seeded Kansas.
“I think this year (our players) understand that if we play how we’ve played all year long, which is to just compete for forty minutes every night, that we’ve got a legitimate chance to go up there and do some damage,” Cowgirl coach Kurt Budke said.
The damage they speak of could refer to seeding in the NCAA tournament, for which at least four Big 12 teams are a lock.
No. 18 Oklahoma State can certainly improve its NCAA seed by winning the Big 12 championship because, in all likelihood, it will have to beat perennial power Baylor and then either preseason favorite Texas A&M or the regular season champs Kansas State.
All three teams are ranked ahead of the Cowgirls in the national polls but the Cowgirls will try to “do some damage” in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee before Selection Monday.
Oklahoma State has won two straight games entering postseason play, but sophomore guard Andrea Riley cautioned her team against looking too far ahead.
“We have a lot of momentum going in there because of our last two games but then again, last year we had three-game momentum,” Riley said. “We just want to build on that because last year we went in there and lost in the first round. So now we just want to focus one game at a time and we can go in and try to win this tournament.”
The Cowgirls earned the sixth-seed in the Big 12 tournament last season but fell 71-62 to 11th-seeded Kansas.
Oklahoma State has lost its latest five games in the Big 12 tournament.
“What happens in these kinds of tournaments is the most desperate teams normally win because it’s their last chance to get in the [NCAA] tournament,” Budke said. “Or, the most talented team normally wins because it’s three games in three or four nights and they’ve got the talent to do it.”
The difference between the squad heading into this year’s tournament compared to last season is confidence, Budke said.
“Last year, we weren’t sure how good we were because we did win three in a row to lead up to the Big 12, but we didn’t beat any of the ‘big boys’ last year,” he said. “I don’t know if we deep down felt we could go over there and win.”
This season, Oklahoma State beat each Big 12 team at least once excepting Kansas State and Iowa State who face each other to kick off second-round play on Wednesday.
Fox Sports Net will televise second-round games and beyond.
Kansas defeated Nebraska 72-67 Tuesday night. OSU beat Kansas 59-54 in Lawrence on Jan. 9.
“We’ve played these teams over and over again,” Green said. “We understand how good they are and we understand how good we have to be and we’re ready to play. We know we have the talent and willpower as a team to win so we’re ready to go in there and do some damage baby!”
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